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Quilt Patches

Date1830-1860?

MediumCottons, paper

DimensionsEach hexagon is 1 3/8 inches across

Credit LineGift of Frances Perry Palmer

Object number2015.609.3,1-137

DescriptionThis is a collection of unmade quilt pieces consisting of paper template piecing intended for a quilt but never finished. Cut paper hexagons made from reused records and other printed sources are covered with printed cottons folded over the papers and basted. Some of the hexagons have been partially assembled from 7 hexagons.

Label TextSome American patchwork quilts were worked in intricately pieced patterns using expensive textiles folded over paper templates. In such work, the tiny textile patches making up a quilt top were folded over precut paper shapes, like we see in this collection of 137 patches. Old books, letters, and newspapers were used for the templates. The textiles were basted to the papers, and the units were stitched together at the very edges. One of the earliest patchwork patterns for a pieced paper template quilt was the hexagon.
ProvenancePurchased by donor's father at an auction, probably in New Hampshire about 1955.