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2022.609.1, Quilt
Quilt Top, Pieced from Tobacco Pouches
2022.609.1, Quilt

Quilt Top, Pieced from Tobacco Pouches

Dateca. 1920
Maker Unidentified
OriginAmerica, Connecticut (probably) (quilt top) and North Carolina, Winston-Salem (textile)
MediumCotton, paper, metal, and glue
DimensionsOverall: 83 × 63in. (210.8 × 160cm)
Credit LineGift of Sue Reich
Object number2022.609.1
DescriptionThis is an unfinished pieced rectangular textile made up of 103 unmade tobacco pouches and three partial pouches. The majority of the pouches are marked on one side: “SMOKE AND CHEW/ GEORGE WASHINGTON/ CUT PLUG/ READY FOR THE PIPE” on a blue label against a red striped background and on the other side is a medallion with the image of George Washington, thirteen stars, and "GEORGE/ WASHINGTON/ GREATEST AMERICAN/ CUT PLUG” on a blue label against a red striped background. The pouches are also marked: “GEORGE WASHINGTON/ MANUFACTURED ONLY BY/ R. J. REYNOLDS TOB CO/ WINSTON-SALEM. N. C. U. S. A.” One odd pouch is labeled “Union Leader.” Some of the pouches still retain the metal grommets, which were originally used to tie the bags closed. Bits and pieces of the paper federal tobacco tax stamp are still attached to the pouches and there is glue residue. The unmade pouches were pieced together by the maker to form a design of alternating red stripes. The textile has a sawtooth edge on one side. It is unlined and machine stitched.
Label TextMaterials for making quilts could be expensive. Frugal housewives often used mended, patched, remade, and recycled clothing and home furnishings in their quilts. Fertilizer and animal feed sacks were taken apart and used for quilt backings, as were old linen bedsheets. The cotton fabrics from sugar and flour sacks were used in quilts as well.

Utilitarian in its materials and design, this quilt top makes use of 103 unmade tobacco pouches that were pieced together by the maker to form a design of alternating red stripes.

Art of the Quilter:
On May 8, 1909, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, introduced "George Washington Great American Cut Plug" tobacco. The company packaged the popular product in cloth bags. Based on paper tax stamps glued to each bag, a thrifty quilter collected 103 bags between 1910 and 1926 and assembled them into this quilt top. Only one bag, “Union Leader Cut Plug Tobacco,” deviates from the George Washington brand.
Inscribed“SMOKE AND CHEW/ GEORGE WASHINGTON/ CUT PLUG/ READY FOR THE PIPE”
"GEORGE/ WASHINGTON/ GREATEST AMERICAN/ CUT PLUG”
“GEORGE WASHINGTON/ MANUFACTURED ONLY BY/ R. J. REYNOLDS TOB CO/ WINSTON-SALEM. N. C. U. S. A.”
“Union Leader”
ProvenanceThere is no known provenance other than donor who found the quilt top in Connecticut.