Baltimore Album Appliqué

Baltimore Album Appliqué

Susan T. Franklin, PhD

June 5^th, 2017

Every experience deeply felt in life needs to be passed along.  Whether it be through words and music, chiseled in stone, painted with a brush, or sewn with a needle.  It is a way of reaching for immortality.  Thomas Jefferson.

I’m happy to share with you my passion for Baltimore Album appliqué.  First, about the quote I read by Thomas Jefferson.  I discovered this on a quilt block made by Marylou McDonald, a noted Baltimore Album authority and teacher.  I loved it and have since incorporated it for other presentations and someday, will on my work.  Meanwhile, consider a couple phrases, “sewn with a needle” and “way of reaching for mortality.”  Isn’t that what we’re about?

Today, we’ll learn more about quilts, sewn with a needle, made by mostly middle and upper-class women.  These quilts represented their best work; perhaps their masterpieces.  In some instances the quilt makers are noted; other times they are not.  Regardless, these beauties are a testament to the skill and lasting endurance of the talents of their makers.

Later, I’ll have reproduction examples of Baltimore appliqué wall hangings and a quilt.  Now, for the rest of the story!  To set the stage for this period, let’s briefly look at two broad categories:   technology and culture and how they intermingle.

1830…Block printing of fabric was rarely used; instead fabric was printed with an engraved copper cylinder, using a separate cylinder for each color.

1830-40 …A myriad of fabric choices was available.  New England textile mills produced millions of yards annually.

1830-40…Rapid railroad expansion meant more fabrics were quickly available to more distant places.

1840s…Baltimore was a prosperous port town, on the brink of full industrialization

1844…John Mercer introduced “mercerizing,” aimed at increasing the strength of cotton and aiding its ability to accept dye.

1844…Elias Howe invented the sewing machine.

1849…Walter Hunt invented safety pins.

1850…12 year old Margaret Knight had an idea for a device to “stop motion” of machinery in textile mills-thus preventing injury.  Incredibly, one of her inventions, a machine to make flat bottomed bags, still is in use today.

1850…Turkey red solidly is in use.

1851…Singer Sewing Machine Company is founded…time payments made machines affordable to anyone with a steady income;  sewing machines freed women from the tedious work of sewing and allowed time for handwork creativity.

1856…The discovery of aniline (aniline = indigo plant) dyes increased the range of colors available for weaving and printing of textiles (Kiracofe).

Productivity increased on the farm.

1831…Cyrus McCormick invented the reaping machine, able to cut 10 -12 acres, rather than one acre by hand.

1837…John Deere invented the steel plow.

Comfort also increased in the home. 

2^nd quarter of the 19^th century. 

·        Steam radiators, ice machines, new stoves, and lamps became available.

·        There was more delineation between the city and the country.

·        Quilt designs took longer to get to the country. 

Appliqué quilts and their story

Late 18^th century and early 19^th century

Medallion quilts were popular and done with chintz appliqué.  A dominant central design was framed by smaller appliquéd pieces.  The technique used was Broderie Perse (Persian Embroidery) and was done with chintz fabric imported from England until about 1840.  We discussed that in a previous continuing education program.

Mid-19^th Century Appliqué quilts 

Robert Shaw refers to the period 1840 -1860 as the Golden Age of Appliqué.  Appliqué quilts increased in popularity in the 1840s per Elizabeth Warren, curator of the American Folk Art Museum in New York for four reasons:

1.     “Fashion” for album quilts…made with a variety of techniques… conventional, cut out chintz appliqué, piecing, or embroidery.  However, piecing is rare to find in an album quilt.

2.     Increased availability of relatively inexpensive fabric by mid-century; quilters found the fabric better for conventional appliqué than chintz.  Chintz prints had a limited number of repeats that could be used; thus not as useful for appliqué.  Also, quilters began to prefer blocks over medallions for their quilts.

3.     Adoption of quilt-making tradition of their English American neighbors by Pennsylvania Germans.  Previously, they slept under heavy home woven ticks filled with straw and feathers.  Circa 1830, quilters began incorporating German motifs such as rosettes, flowers in pots, birds, lilies, and tulips into their quilts.

4.      Red and green are popular in much Pennsylvania German folk art.  This enjoyment transferred into a traditional appliqué color choice

Fabrics used

Ombre’ prints, rainbow effects (fondue/fondu = to dissolve or melt) very popular during the period of 1830 – 1850, were used to create the illusion of dimension.  Also, all over prints (vermiculates), Turkey red prints or solids (pinks, chrome yellow and cheddar), and many novelty prints were available (Trestain, p. 44).  Wool and velvet were occasionally incorporated.  Both European and U.S. block and roller printed fabrics were used.  The makers employed wide selections of fabrics to create variety and dimension in their work (Kiracofe, p. 92).

Techniques

Just like quilters today, those of the mid-19^th century employed a variety of techniques.  These include Broderie perse with cut out chintz appliqué, paper templates for appliqué, cross stitch, overcast embroidery, traditional and reverse appliqué, layered appliqué, ruching, cording, stuffed work (trupunto),interwoven strips, inking, outline embroidery with wool, and beading (steel beads).

Appliqué with white thread and sometimes thread to match pieces, was the norm.  The appliqué usually was done with invisible stitches, but sometimes blanket, buttonhole, chain, or other obvious stitches were used to attach the pieces to the background.

Cutwork, patterns made like paper snowflakes, also happened.  Do you remember making them or dancing dolls as a child? 

Popular Motifs

Wreaths, oak and laurel, oak reel, stylized floral designs, roses (one of the most popular), were frequent design elements.  I’ll have more examples when I discuss Baltimore Album quilts. Borders with either appliquéd swags or pieced works were common.

Quilting

The quilts were mostly hand quilted; machine quilting was very unusual.  However, a quilt, circa 1860, in the collection of the State Historical Society of Iowa is machine quilted.  Was it done later?  (The Quilt, p. 214)  We’ll never know.  We do know that when a woman had a sewing machine, she was proud to use it and show the stitches.

Quilting Designs 1840s – 1870s (Kinney p. 47)

·        Simple motifs, filler patterns of closely stitched diagonal parallel lines, cross hatch, or double or triple lines of quilting.

·        Alternate blocks… simple or ornate patterns, sometimes the outline of a Baltimore Album pattern.

·        Elaborate appliqué… hearts, flowers, prince or princess feathers with variations.

·        Desire to add symbolism, sentiment, superstition, and fill all spaces.

·        Inspiration from all sources especially nature, particularly with flowers.  Background grid added emphasis to botanical shapes.

·        Elaborate quilting in alternate blocks using combination of elements just mentioned.

General Information

The blocks were usually large, about 18” with the smallest being about 12.”  Some blocks were separated by sashing.  Some quilts had borders; others did not.  Some were fringed.  Most bed quilts didn’t have a cut out for a four poster.  This was a change from earlier periods.

Sampler quilts included non repeating blocks…Baltimore Album quilts were first identified by Dr. William Rush Dunton, early in the 20^th century. 

Dr. Dunton was affiliated with a psychiatric hospital in Baltimore.  While looking for a craft project for his “nervous” ladies, he stumbled on some old quilts and subsequently Baltimore Album quilts and blocks.  In 1946, he published Old Quilts. 

A Baltimore Album quilt is defined as one made by someone living in Baltimore during the period 1846-1854.  Its height of popularity was in 1850.  Robert Shaw notes that the best of these have long been considered to “represent a pinnacle of American quilt-making technique and design sophistication.” 

The designs were similar to those on other media of the 1840s such as theorem paintings, samplers, transfer printed ceramics and illustrations.  There also were similarities to earlier printed fabrics.  Also, Baltimore Album quilts contained specific pictorial images of urban Baltimore life…ships, churches, people, monuments, and military heroes that were presented in a rigid and segmented form (Baltimore Album Quilt Tradition, p. 16).

Many were made for Methodist ministers who were given new assignments every two years.  Also, some were made for other men, possibly those who served in the Mexican war or for other patriotic reasons.  It’s common to find names, dates, and other inscriptions on quilt blocks.  Inking was common.  Sashing usually was not used, although it’s present on some quilts.

Unfortunately, none of us have a Baltimore Album quilt, although at least two exist in Arizona (Grand Endeavors).  The best available today would be a reproduction.  Some of you may have seen an article in the American Quilter, January 2010, by Janet Esch and titled “Tracing History.”  In it, Janet describes how Marylou McDonald, Margo Cramer, and Eleanor Layman, without payment, spend hundreds of hours tracing these antique treasures housed in museums.  My reproduction examples are from quilts in the Lovely Lane Museum in Baltimore.

First, I have a quilt with the following blocks:  From the Elizabeth MacCullough Hervey quilt (circa 1848-52) Red Basket with Squared Bottoms, Blue Floral Urn, Overflowing Fruit Basket with Exotic Birds, Kind Lucy, a Frigate, and the Hunter.  My other completed examples are wall hangings.  One is a Cornucopia block from the Reverend Hezekiah Best quilt, circa 1846-1847.  The quilt was given to Reverend Best when he left the interdenominational Seman’s Bethel Mission.  He served as Chaplain from 1844-1847. 

The other is an Eagle from the Captain Russell quilt. Captain Russell was presented his quilt for excellent seamanship during a violent storm on the Chesapeake in 1852. These are examples of elaborate, high style design.  The Eagle block I finished in January, 2015.  Guess when it was started?  In 2007! 

A year ago, I completed a block from a newly discovered album quilt, The Gold Rush quilt.  Incredibly, I was attending a Baltimore Album workshop at Cactus Quilts when the original owner came to the shop with the quilt.  Marylou McDonald, Nancy Landon and the students were in awe; the owner was bored!  The quilt, now housed in Winterthur Museum, had the pattern carefully traced by Marylou and her team.  My block is “Oh Susanna, don’t you cry for me.”  I recently started a basket block from that quilt.  My goal is to make 4-6 blocks.

Another type of sampler quilt, but not a Baltimore Album quilt is an album quilt made by an individual or a group, not living in Baltimore, but living anywhere from the East coast to the Mississippi between 1840 -1860. The movement began in Pennsylvania and Maryland.   In an album quilt, the motifs in each block are different, but with enough in common that they work well stylistically.  Generally, a group album quilt would be coordinated by someone to ensure the blocks would complement each other.

These quilts are part of the sampler tradition as the block motifs usually don’t repeat.  The quilt style is a continuation of the autograph album so popular in the early part of the 19^th century especially with the middle and upper-class.  Often, the quilts had a decorative outer border, usually a trailing vine or floral wreath, but occasionally pieced blocks were used.

One example of an album quilt includes the Bird of Paradise quilt top (housed in the American Folk Art Museum in New York).  The top, made in the mid-19^th century, was found with newsprint and paper templates that dated from 1858-1863.  These included a bride and groom. The finished top omits a groom; instead leaves and vines are substituted on block two, next to the bride.  It’s theorized to be a wedding quilt due to the numerous indicators of fertility (fruit, pairs of birds, animals, eggs in a nest).  Perhaps the bridegroom to be was killed in the Civil War. 

This famous quilt, altered slightly, also is known as the Civil War Bride quilt (Australian version), the Lost Boy quilt (traced from the original Bird of Paradise top), and an adaptation by Karen Mowery published in A Bountiful Life.

My Civil War Bride reproduction includes a four block un-quilted wall hanging: The Apple Stem, Bride, Two Peacocks, and Peacock.  It will be hand quilted eventually.  I have one more block, but decided not to use it as I’d have to make a sixth to make it workJ

Closing

We’ve covered much this morning.  We noted the rapid technological and cultural changes of the first half of the 19^th century.  Some enabled women, particularly from the middle and upper-class, to indulge in the creativity of handwork.  They made their best quilts; their masterpieces.

They appliquéd with a myriad of wonderful fabric choices, used an array of techniques, and created outstanding quilts.  These women very aptly demonstrated that “sewn with a needle” is indeed a way of “reaching for immortality.”

Thanks for your attention.  Now, what questions or comments do you have?