American Quilt Classics 1800-1980:
The Bresler Collection
July 25, 2009 - February 6, 2010
Mint Museum of Craft + Design
BULL'S EYE QUILT (ca. 1860)
Unknown Artist
Gift of Fleur and Charles Bresler . 2001
Over 30 years ago, Fleur Bresler purchased her first quilt, an occurence that was, for her, both magical and momentous. What began as a personal hobby soon evolved into an overwhelming passion to learn about quilts - inside and out. Printed fabrics enthralled her. Quirky applique designs tickled her fancy. Over a quarter of a century later, Fleur Bresler had established an impressive and historically important collection of quilts. Between 2000 and 2001, Fleur and Charles Bresler donated their 36-piece American quilt collection to the Mint Museum of Craft + Design. Historically vast, the collection features a diversity of designs which illuminate both patterns and process.
Originally exhibited in 2004, this collection ranges from late eighteenth and early nineteenth century whole cloth, white work, indigo resist dye, and block-printed chintz quilts to mid-nineteenth century applique, stenciled, mosaic-template pieced, and album quilts. It also includes fine examples of late nineteenth century log cabin, crazy and charm quilts and a handful of unique twentieth century quilts. [adapted from the introduction by Meriday Waldvogel of American Quilt Classics 1800 - 1980: The Bresler Collection]
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Check out the downloadable docent fact sheet.pdf created for this exhibition in 2004
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American Quilt Classics exhibition catalog is available in The Mint Museum Library and in the Museum Shops. For more print resources in the Library and how to find them, see the bottom of this page.
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More information is available about the Bresler Collection on the exhibition cart in the Jones Library at the Mint Museum of Art.
- For a fun road trip, check out the Quilt Trails of North Carolina!
Quilting Types and History
17th and 18th Centuries
Whole Cloth/White Work
Whole cloth quilting is the name given to quilts made of a solid piece of fabric where the three layers of top, batting and backing were quilted together. The quilting itself became the decoration.
White work quilts employ a wide variety of techniques including cording, quilting, and stuffing as well as white-on-white embroidery and candle-wicking. This style of quilting originated in the Mediterranean region in the 17th century, where they became known as Marseilles quilts. The style remained popular in the United States, particularly in the Southeast, until after the close of the Civil War in 1865. Today, white work quilts are known as trapunto or stuffed quilting.
Mosaic
Mosaic quilts are also called English Template-Pieced Quilts - English because the technique originated in England and template-pieced because the paper template is used to back each piece. It is thought the technique originated in the late 1700s or early 1800s to mimic mosaic tile patterning. The pattern appeared in the United States in January 1835 in the Fancy Needle-Work section of The Lady's Book.
19th Century
Appliqué (early 19th century)
Appliqué is a needlework technique in which pieces of fabric, embroidery, or other materials are sewn onto a bottom piece of fabric to create designs. The term "appliqué" as a needlework term is derived from the French verb appliquer, meaning to apply or attach. The 19th century appliqué quilts in the Bresler Collection represent the full gamut of 19th century appliqué styles from broderie perse to Baltimore album.
- Illinois State Museum - description of appliqué quilting including a section on basic technique
- Appliqué Society - a site dedicated to to educating and promoting public interest in the world of applique with helpful links, patterns and information on other artists
Album Quilts (1840s)
Early album quilts appeared in the 1840s at the same time autograph collecting came into fashion. With the introduction in the mid-1830s of non-corrosive ink suitable for writing on cloth, women inscribed their names, penned sentimental messages, and left fragile written legacies in the album quilts. Used as presentation pieces in honor of a friend's wedding, a minister's good works, or a child's birth, album quilts were usually planned and coordinated by one person, but individuals contributed and signed the blocks. Some album quilts are single repeated block while others incorporate multiple designs.
Charm Quilts
A charm quilt is a type of quilt in which no two patches are cut from the same fabric. Usually just one shape is used. Making charm quilts became a fad as quilt makers throughout the nation went to great lengths to acquire enough pieces of cloth. In household and farm magazines beginning in about 1876, women used the reader's columns to swap cloth pieces and pattern ideas.
Late 19th Century - 20th Century
Foundation Pieced Quilts:
Log Cabin Quilts (Cival War-early 1900s)
Log Cabin quilts, perhaps because of the volume of multicolored fabric pieces within their borders, were one of the first quilt types to become popular as quilt collecting became popular in the 1970s. Unlike paper template pieced quilts, these quilts were pieced on cotton foundation blocks. Names of log cabin blocks were based on the arrangement of light and dark strips added to the center block. Typical names were Barn Raising, Courthouse Steps, Straight Furrow, Sunshine and Shadow, and Trip Around the World.
Crazy Quilts (1880-1920)
Crazy quilt blocks are composed of random-sized pieces of cloth arranged and basted down to cover the entire foundation cloth. Though recycled textiles, including commemorative ribbons, were often used, crazy quilts are most noted for their elaborate use of luxurious fabrics, such as silk and velvet embroidered with birds, flowers, and stars. These quilts were more than simple utilitarian bed covers.
Redwork Quilts (1885 - 1925)
The name given to the embroidery technique where pictures are "drawn" with a series of joined stitches. Preferred stitches are usually a backstitch or stem stitch, and the picture is embroidered in a single, red color. Often this will also be stitched in all black or blue for a variation.
Amish Quilting
Lancaster County, PA has a long history of quiltmaking within its Amish community and it is their unique traditions which comprise this portion of the Bresler collection. These quilts used solid colored fabrics, usually blue, teal, and red. Amish quilts also featured abundant quilting in black thread to create feather wreaths and vines.
Teacher's Resources
- PBS site on American quilts - Includes more resources, games and classroom projects and a collection of interesting personal quilting stories on themes such as family, technique, inspiration and healing
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Lesson plans from the Craft Revival Project website - an online archive hosted by Western Carolina University.
Local Resources and Quilting Associations
Selected Print Resources:
- American Quilt Classics 1800-1980: The Bresler Collection. Charlotte, NC: Mint Museum of Craft + Design, 2003.
- Bowman, Doris M. American quilts. Washington, D.C. : Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991.
- Great American quilts. Birmingham, Ala. : Oxmoor House, c1987-.
- Woodard, Thomas K. Classic American quilts. New York : Portland House, 1987, c1984.
- Houck, Carter. American quilts and how to make them. New York : Scribner, 1975.
- Nelson, Cyril I. Treasury of American quilts : including complete patterns and instructions for making your own quilts. New York : Greenwich House, 1984, c1982.
The Mint Museum Library contains over 250 titles on quilts and quilting. To search, use MARCO-The Mint Art Research Catalog Online
Some search terms to use: quilts, American quilts, quilting, Amish quilts, quilting history, quilting patterns, and quiltmakers. For more narrow searches, use terms for the specific type of quilt, such as: whole cloth, applique, album quilt, log cabin, crazy quilt.
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Created by Rebecca Stockin, volunteer for the Mint Museum Library