Quilted Petticoat Fragment

Date1745-1760

OriginAmerica, Connecticut or Rhode Island

MediumWool

DimensionsLength:34 3/4"; Width: 20 3/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1967-510,2

DescriptionRectangular fragment of red glazed wool, once a woman's petticoat. It is quilted with half- or spaced back stitches to mustard wool back with woolen batting. Diamonds filled with flowers and other diamonds form the design of the top. The bottom half (20") border is quilted with animals, flowers, and a fish pond with turtle using yellow silk thread. The sides and top cut edges are folded back and hemmed with running stitches.

Construction History:
1. 1745-1760: Initial Construction
2. The hem and facing of red tape was done later.
Label TextFragment of Petticoat
Design attributed to Sarah Osborn or her school
Rhode Island, 1745-1760
Although only small fragments survive, this must have been a striking petticoat when it was new. In this panel, a squirrel bends over an acorn, completely out of scale with a deer nearby. Near the center, an oval pond features fish and a turtle seen from the top.

Some petticoat quilters in southern Connecticut and nearby Rhode Island favored pictorial designs of humans, real and mythological animals, and scrolling foliage. These distinctive motifs appear to be the inspiration of Sarah Osborn, a boarding schoolteacher in Newport, Rhode Island, who drew designs for her students and neighbors to quilt.
ProvenanceEx. Coll. Katherine Prentis Murphy, estate of.
Maker unidentified.