Quilt Stories from the Museum of Texas Tech University
Quilt Stories from the Museum of Texas Tech University
Dr. Marian Ann J. Montgomery, Ph.D., Curator of Clothing and Textiles at the Museum of Texas Tech University shares images of vintage quilts from their collection and tells their fascinating stories.
Movies Represented in Fabric
Licensing of Disney products around their movies began in 1929 when Mickey Mouse was first featured on a children’s writing tablet. It is thought that the merchandizing around the Disney movies kept the studio afloat during the Great Depression (1929-1939).
When Alice in Wonderland opened on July 28, 1951, Disney entered into an agreement with the Percy Kent Company to place their images on feed sack bags.
Mystery Quilt with Texas Motifs Seeks Original Maker
The Museum of Texas Tech University acquired a quilt with Texas Motifs and are now going about trying to discover more of its history.
New York Beauty Variations on a Mountain Mist Batting Wrapper Pattern
Mountain Mist began printing quilt patterns on the inside of batting wrappers in 1929 to increase sales. By 1930 Mountain Mist began including what they called Pattern X for New York Beauty on their batting wrappers. In addition to the usual patterns and instructions, the batting wrappers also suggested quilting designs and the color combinations for the quilt. Learn about how different quilts were made from the same pattern.
Not All Carolina Quilts Were Made in Carolinas
The Carolina Lily Pieced quilt block pattern is one that has been made since the 19th century. Many variations of the basic three blossom pieced block exist. Barbara Brackman’s An Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns records drawings of about four dozen variations, most with different names.
Oklahoma Quilters Ensure Family Quilt Gets Museum Care
The dream of every curator of quilts is to be contacted by someone offering to donate an absolutely beautiful quilt for the collection. An e-mail of that sort came into the Museum’s general e-mail mailbox on April 23, 2018, while I was in the Netherlands looking at their quilted treasures. When the pictures arrived I knew immediately that we wanted the quilt for our museum collection.
Old Glory Quilt a “Nickname” Quilt Designed by Mary Erckenbrack
As we celebrate patriotic holidays this summer Mary Erckenbrack’s Old Glory Quilt is a great piece to consider.
Organized Feed Sack Quilt
At this warm time of year, a sweet quilt made from feed sack fabrics seems a good piece to consider. This circa 1940s quilt was made in LaGrange, Texas, a small town between Houston and Austin, known in quilting circles as the home of the Texas Quilt Museum.
Pie Town, New Mexico Quilt
Pie Town is a small town in western New Mexico that was on the road taken by many who were escaping the Dust Bowl on their way to California during the Depression. Pie Town and its people were photographed in 1940 by Russell Lee, a photographer for the Farm Security Administration of the United States Government during the Great Depression.
Plainview, Texas Signature Quilt
A donation to the Museum of Texas Tech University of a Butterfly signature quilt from Plainview, Texas came as a result of a quilt documentation day. Due to the COVID-19 virus (2020), graduate students needed work to do from home. They used information collected from Quilt Documentation days in 2016 and prepared it to be uploaded onto The Quilt Index a valuable and searchable index on the internet.
Puff Quilts
Recently my husband came home telling me about a woman whose mother made lots of quilts and stuffed them with pantyhose. I can hear the hand and machine quilters in the group groaning now! After thinking about it for a while I remembered that there was a time during the early years of the quilt revival when puff quilts were popular and often stuffed with clean, used pantyhose.