Yup! Another antique wool coverlet purchase on eBay. I'd been watching this one for a while last summer, not bidding, and not wanting to buy it outright, so I made the seller an offer that I didn't think would fly -- and then my offer was accepted and I got this one, too.
It was sold in 3 panels, I think because they don't quite match up if you wanted to sew them together. That's ok by me. I am more interested in studying it anyway! This is a lighter weight coverlet compared to the heavier double weaves-- but also heavier than the Goodwin Guild coverlets. And scratchier like some of the older coverlets can be.
I have not yet identified the pattern, either. Does anyone recognize it? I may see the drafts in my travels, but it's hard to tell what it will look like woven up with the repeats.
Each panel is about 25-26 inches wide. That's about what I can do on my own loom.
I wanted to study it, so I don't mind that it's in 3 panels. I
believe this one is old. It's in the classic indigo blue and white
colors everyone recognizes. In part -- I wanted to know if the
indigo-dyed fibers smelled like indigo? [Not that I can tell at this point. Sometimes you find a pair of
denim jeans that has that indigo smell ...]
How well do the
panels match up? I was wondering if that's why this one was in
pieces--because they did not match up very well, so the maker left them
in pieces. Or was it sewn together at one time, and the seams fell
apart well before the weaving did?
How does the pattern repeat break in the panels? The width of the panels seems to match my loom, so this is something I might have been able to do -- which is helpful when I'm trying to re-create something.
As a side note:
My husband asked me where this interest in coverlets came from. He thought it came out of the blue ... When I thought about it, it stemmed from quilting, and going to Laura's quilt show and seeing the bed turning with the antique quilt tops that she and Pat S. and other collect ... I thought I could start collecting some of the key quilt patterns I may never get around to making myself ... and in searching eBay and etsy, some of these coverlets popped up along the way.
Also,
making the bath towels earlier this year made me piece together panels
in order to make it wide enough to be usable. That went so well, it
opened up a world of other possibilities for me--like coverlets!
There are some important similarities between quilting and weaving coverlets:
- They both cover beds.
- They keep people warm.
- They are home made - though with weaving you can make ALL of it right down to spinning the yarn from the sheep you raised yourself.
- They can be valued as keepsakes and heirlooms.
- Some of the patterns in the coverlets are laid out like quilt blocks.
Someone
on one of the Weaving Groups said that making coverlets in the early
days was an act of dissidence against the English government and
colonialism. People did not want to be so dependent on England, so they
broke the chains of economic colonialism by making their own homespun
cloth and coverlets -- even though they could have purchased English
textiles for much less. It was an act of patriotism for American
weavers to make their own textiles. The technology for a time was
tightly held by The English / British Crown, so that the colonies would
not break out on their own. See that dependence clause again? The
patterns that American weavers came up with were pretty amazing, too -- A
blossoming of creativity -- and many designs for 4-shaft looms!
Here is the original posting on ebay (for the record. Plus the photos)
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