Scrap Bag: WWII hankie quilt, antique mini sewing machine, Pulse comfort quilts update, and more

I don’t know about you, but I feel like it’s time for some sewing therapy. Here are some stories from around the quilt world to fuel your weekend’s endeavors.

The wedding of “General Tom Thumb,” as entertainer Charles Stratton was popularly known, to Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump in 1863 was the celebrity wedding to top all celebrity weddings, even by current gossip-drenched standards. The couple, both of whom were under 3 feet tall and worked for P.T. Barnum, were later received by President Lincoln in the White House, such was their popularity at the time. One of the wedding presents “Mrs. Tom Thumb” received was an elaborately decorated miniature sewing machine and cabinet from Wheeler and Wilson Manufacturing Company, which is now in the collection of the Smithsonian.
americanhistory.si.edu/blog

___________________________________

Using antique cutter quilts for garments is nothing new; Ralph Lauren famously stirred up controversy in both the quilt and fashion worlds when he showed a women’s collection made from vintage quilts in the early 1980s. Young New York designer Emily Adams Bode is readying a men’s wear line in which she incorporates a wide variety of vintage textiles including quilts, such as a pair of LeMoyne star trousers.
www.nytimes.com

___________________________________

Oregon resident Doris Smith was the recipient of an enormous “gift of love” from her friend and fellow assisted living facility resident Joanne Smith (no relation) when Joanne and another quilter made a lovely quilt out of hand-stitched handkerchiefs Doris had received as a young Army cadet nurse during World War II.
www.thedalleschronicle.com

___________________________________

Color trends throughout history have come and gone due to a variety of factors beyond the fickle preferences of designers. For instance, the vogue for black-and-white fashions during and after World War I was a direct result of the war itself according to this very interesting article on the Smithsonian blog: “In March 1915, several months after the beginning of World War I, the British navy began to blockade German ports, preventing any exports of goods overseas. As a result, the textile and paper industries in the still-neutral United States suffered a serious shortage of good quality synthetic (chemically based) dyes. ‘Sulfur black’ was the one dye that firms outside Germany produced in quantity and of consistent quality.” Even though My Fair Lady (and Pygmalion) are set in the Edwardian era preceding WWI, I can’t help but think the costume designer for the film was heavily influenced by this trend when it came to designing the famous Ascot scene.
americanhistory.si.edu/blog

___________________________________

Fiber artist Karen Reimer has created a site-specific large-scale installation of fabric and sand entitled Shoreline Spaceline, on view this summer at the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago, for which she made a pieced canopy from more than 200 yards of hand-dyed indigo fabric. “From the gallery floor, the fabric resembles a stylized sky overhead. The experience of the same fabric from atop the Jackman Goldwasser Catwalk turns sky into an ascending wave of water on the cusp of washing over our feet.”
www.hydeparkart.org

___________________________________

A couple of weeks ago I reported that the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild was accepting heart blocks to make comfort quilts for survivors, victims’ families and first responders involved in the Pulse nightclub mass shooting. It pleases me to no end to report that the quilt industry has stepped up to help out; according to the OMQG’s website:

The guild has received numerous donations from a wide assortment of companies: Robert Kaufman donated 99 yards of wide backing; Andover donated 11 bolts; Windham donated 10 yards, 2 bolts, and a box of scraps; Aurifil donated spools and cones of light gray thread for assembling blocks into quilts (one spool per member was distributed at the meeting); Filtec donated cones of white and gray thread for longarm quilters; The Sewing Studio donated a bag of 2-1/2”scraps for binding (after asking what was most needed); StoryPatches is donating fusible labels featuring a heartbeat line on a rainbow (which will arrive next week); Spoonflower donated 2 yards of fabric to color and cut up; Warm & Natural has said it will provide all the batting needed (sending one roll at a time); Dream Batting and Hobbs have also donated rolls of batting; Beth’s embroidery people have donated batting. Sew Mini Things in Mount Dora has held Sew Days at which people use the shop’s machines, fabric and thread, and have made 90 blocks in 3 days so far.

Meanwhile, boxes of blocks and quilts arrive daily, and longarmers including Karen McTavish are donating their services. Click the link to read more, especially if you want details on how you can contribute.
theorlandomodernquiltguild.blogspot.com

___________________________________

Kate Colleran is a top-notch designer who works often with Quilters Newsletter and our sister publications Quiltmaker and McCall’s Quilting. She’s also a friendly and lively person who I’ve gotten to meet on a few occasions when she’s dropped by the office for a project (she lives here in the Denver area).

Both of those traits will be on full display in Kate’s new online course, Creative Quilting for Home Decor. In this course, Kate will demonstrate designs and techniques for making quilted pillows, table runners, table toppers and placemats in a variety of styles. She’ll even show quilters like me who have avoided zippers like the plague why they’re not anywhere near as scary as we think they are.