NEW ENGLAND QUILT MUSEUM
Lowell, Massachusetts
For Immediate Release
The museum calls this quilt the “Grandpa Quilt.” This mid-20th century necktie/portrait quilt was created by an unknown maker. photo by Fletcher Boland
The New England Quilt Museum is pleased to announce their first exhibition of the Fall season, “MASTER PIECES: Haberdashery Textiles in Antique Quilts.” Featuring quilts made from menswear, some of it recycled clothing, this remarkable exhibition brings together over 40 intriguing graphic works made from simple utilitarian fabrics long overlooked in the study of antique quilts. The guest curator for the exhibit is noted antiques dealer and author, Laura Fisher, of FISHER HERITAGE in New York City.
The antique quilts on exhibit are made of menswear fabrics recycled from suits and shirts, neckties, pajamas, military uniforms, work clothes—even woolen underwear and socks. Some also resulted from the artful salvage of menswear swatch sample books and fabric mill remnants.
Popular for about a century, these quilts are compelling and often whimsical. Simple squares arranged in a diagonal pattern prove on close inspection to be made from scraps of patterned jersey socks. A shimmering kaleidoscope of diamonds in rust reds and yellows is pieced from 1950s rayon neckties. Thin lines going in every direction look like a contemporary drawing but are actually random scraps in a crazy quilt pieced of circa 1915 striped silk shirting. The narrow serpentine strips in the blocks of a 1905 Amish quilt are cuttings from woolen long johns. Bright, dimensional pinwheels are embroidered on an unlikely foundation of tailor’s wool suiting swatches, as are a flock of vividly colored birds on branches.
Visually stunning and strikingly modern, these antique textiles make distinct graphic statements out of the most everyday materials.
In addition to the quilts themselves, the exhibit will feature historic advertisements, swatch books, and catalogs from menswear businesses, dating from the 1900s through the 1950s, including several items from the vaults of Brooks Brothers, the chief sponsor of the exhibition.
The tradition of making unique, often very personal quilts from re-purposed menswear textiles gained popularity around 1850, and lasted through the 1950s. Today, the tradition revives in memory quilts made from old T-shirts and clothing that has personal sentiment. Recycling these materials is now considered environmentally aware, adding further appeal to their inherent design potential.
Laura Fisher will be speaking about the exhibition’s content at the opening reception on September 26. In addition, historic textiles expert, Pam Weeks, will deliver a lecture about textile production in New England mills on October 17.
Support for this exhibition is provided in part by Brooks Brothers and by P&B Textiles.
Fabrics inspired by one of the quilts in the exhibition, in the style of the early 1900s, have been produced by Marcus Fabrics and are currently available in the Museum shop, with proceeds to benefit the museum.
The opening reception is sponsored by School House Quilters.
About the New England Quilt Museum
The New England Quilt Museum, 18 Shattuck Street in Lowell, MA, preserves, interprets, and celebrates America’s quilting past and present.
Museum hours are 10 AM – 4 PM, Tuesday- Saturday; and Sundays 12 – 4 PM, May through December. Admission is $7 for adults, $5 for students/senior citizens; Museum members are admitted free.
Visit http://www.nequiltmuseum.org or call 978-452-4207 for more information.
This announcement is brought to you, courtesy of Quilter’s Muse Publications.
