Butterfly Quilt top made by Jenny Cole Stevens, Woodstock, Vermont, in the 1940s. Sandwiched and quilted by Charlotte Croft in 2007. photo taken by the quilter.

Butterflies Galore

The butterfly is a happy sight and one which uplifts the human soul. The number of “butterfly” quilts that I have seen, both in person and in books, is absolutely astounding. Most of these quilts, with the exception of modern reproductions, date from the years of the Great Depression, an economic downturn that began with the crash of stocks on Wall Street in 1929 and led to the period that inspired the folksong, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime”?

In the 1930s, times were tough. People were unemployed and the federal government scrambled to create work with various make-work projects sponsored by the "New Deal's" Works in Progress Administration (the WPA.)

Since money was tight and women had to stretch a dollar, “Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do, or Do Without” became the slogan of the decade, as women, for the sake of economy, removed shirt collars, turned them, and sewed them on again, with the good side “up,” to make shirts last a little longer. At the same time, they patched their children’s clothes, and often made new coats for younger children by cutting out good fabric from older siblings' outerwear.

Antique Quilt Blocks Used to Construct Lovely Quilt

Marie Johansen has shared a photo of a quilt that she constructed using quilt blocks that she purchased. Not having enough blocks to make the size quilt she wanted, she constructed additional ones. She reports that she has forgotten which ones are hers and which are original because they all blend in so well! This photo shows a partial view of the quilt. Thanks, Marie!

Appliqué Butterflies Preferred

Quilting must have been a welcome respite in the everyday lives of women. Those who had access to a lot of different scraps, or fabrics they picked up from the floors of mills where they worked, would piece or appliqué butterfly quilts.

Several companies are responsible for the pieced designs of the times. Home Arts Magazine published a pieced butterfly in 1928. The Kansas City Star published the design, “Butterfly,” in 1936, according to a computer program entitled Blockbase.

Some of the appliqué butterfly quilts are very crudely done, as though the quiltmaker was just doing something to keep her hands busy but her thoughts were preoccupied. I  have seen at least one butterfly quilt that was made with collected pieces from remnants picked off the floor at a mill.

Often, the butterflies were attached to the background cloth with buttonhole stitch in black embroidery floss. Frequently, the edges were left raw and were not turned under, protected only by the embroidery stitches around them. The pieces were simply pinned onto a background, either a sheet or a square piece of muslin, and then they were secured with embroidery.

Tops were layered with batting and backing and were knotted (tied, or tufted are other names for the process), and most were not quilted by hand, or by machine. Of the antique quilts I have seen, constructed in this manner, it is clear that these were bed quilts were definitely intended for use. Consequently, they were washed. Most of these 100% cotton quilts have faded due to light exposure and strong cleaning detergents. The manner in which they were washed has accelerated the aging process.

Types of Cloth

As with many of the appliqué quilts of the 1930s, the pieces of pieced blocks were cut from cotton calico, or sometimes shirting prints, or in some instances, pieces of rayon, a new type of fabric that came on the market in the 1920s. Rayon, composed of wood pulp and cotton linters, was seen as a pseudo replacement for silk and as a good fabric for the fashion industry. I have seen one pieced quilt in which squares of rayon were used as background fabric for butterfly motifs.

Monarch Butterfly photo by James Cummings

“Summer Coverlets”/ “Summer Spreads”

Often, old blankets were used as a filler in quilts of this era. Sometimes, there was no filler at all, just two layers of cloth. These were called “summer coverlets” in the northeast, and “summer spreads” in Pennsylvania. Those individuals who call “summer coverlets,” summer spreads, are not people indigenous to New England, or else have been influenced by hearing the terminology of Pennsylvania.

Coverlet collected in Vermont by Patricia Cummings

Two butterfly coverlets that were published in our article, "Coverlets from the 1930s," in The Quilter magazine, January 2003 issue, were collected in Vermont and both were very nicely appliquéd. Each coverlet had different sized butterflies rendered in a different configuration. Both had butterflies whose edges were needle-turned, and both coverlets share one very distinctive geometric print fabric. On one, the needle workers had chosen to add buttonhole stitches, for decorative purposes only.

Any quilt encyclopedia will turn up a number of different examples of configurations. There is a surprising variety of ways that butterflies can be constructed!

Reader Creates Quilt from a Quilter’s Muse Pattern

One of our readers, Carol Milford of New Jersey, purchased a butterfly pattern that is an antique reproduction, from our website sales page, and created the outstanding quilting shown below. We love the colors that Carol chose for this project! At last report, she was going to send this out to be machine quilted. Pattern link: Butterflies of Happiness Coverlet.

Carol Milford's quilt she made from a Quilter's Muse pattern

                                        Butterfly as a Symbol

In other cultures, the butterfly is a symbol of the human soul. Sometimes, don’t we wish we were all butterflies and that we could just take to flight and go far, far away from our earthly woes and those who hurt and distress us? Butterflies, during the Great Depression, were an enduring symbol of hope. They have remained the same in this age.

Another Emily Dickinson Butterfly Poem

1685

The butterfly obtains
But little sympathy
Though favorably mentioned
In Entomology -

Because he travels freely
And wears a proper coat
The circumspect are certain
That he is dissolute -

Had he the homely scutcheon
Of modest Industry
“Twere fitter certifying
For Immortality -

Resources for Butterfly Quilt Designs

There have been several books in recent years on the subject of making butterfly quilts. One is called Garden of Butterflies: Designs by Marian Shenk, 4 Butterfly Designs to Appliqué & Piece (IN: House of White Birches, no date provided). At this writing, a current source for this book can not be found.

Another beautiful book is one by Carol Armstrong, Butterflies & Blooms: Designs for Appliqué & Quilting (CA: C&T Publishing, 2002).

Butterfly Album: Monarchs & More by Bea Oglesby (KY: American Quilters Society, 2004) has a variety of named, lovely, life-like butterflies to make.

Finally, The New England Quilt Museum Quilts by Jennifer Gilbert (CA: C&T Publishing, 1999) has an antique, pieced butterfly quilt on the cover and instructions inside.

Related book links to amazon are listed for your convenience.

Copyright revised 2007. Patricia Cummings, Quilter's Muse Publications. All text and photos rights reserved. To inquire about anything in this file, please write to:  pat@quiltersmuse.com