Quilt, Pieced Wool

Dateca. 1895

Artist/Maker Jewett Washington Curtis (1847-1927)

MediumWools

DimensionsOH: 64 1/2" x OW:51"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1993.609.2

DescriptionThis is a rectangular bed cover of heavy woolen suiting materials in a geometric design of stars and diamonds composed from small diamonds, each measuring one inch by 1/2 inch. Three large 6-pointed stars are lined up down the center, with three-pointed saw-tooth motifs to the left and right. These are within a rectangular inner border of repeating small 6-pointed stars; a wider border has strings of diamonds and a 6-pointed star in each corner. The outer edge is unfinished and the cover was originally unlined prior to conservation. Seam allowances about 1 mm.
Label TextWool Bedcover; made by Jewett Washington Curtis (1847-1927); wools; Mill Plain, Washington; ca. 1895; 1993.609.2. Although piecing and quilting are often considered women's work, men such as the maker of this bedcover produced outstanding examples of intricate needlework. Jewett Washington Curtis was a musician in the Civil War; later, he signed on as a career soldier. Curtis may have seen other pieced examples made by soldiers using wool uniform scraps, a tradition that appears to have originated in Great Britain. Curtis assembled almost 11,000 tiny scraps and hand pieced them using backstitches with narrow seams allowances about 1/16 of an inch in width. The family recounts that this was the childhood bedcover of the maker's son, Clark Edward Curtis.
ProvenanceAccording to descendents, the textile, which originally was believed to be a table cover, actually covered the childhood bed of the maker's son, Clark Edward Curtis. Mrs. Richard W. (Marilyn) Curtis, wife of Jewett's grandson, states that Clark was born in Mill Plain, Washington, in 1895 and died in California in 1986. Before his death, Clark spoke to the family recounting his memory of having the quilt on his bed. Jewett Curtis is buried at the Soldiers' Home National Cemetery in Washington, D. C. Jewett's wife was Mary Ann Putnam Curtis.
The bedcover was one of two given by Jewitt Curtis to his youngest sister, Julia Wilkinson, sometime before 1925. She gave the quilts to Rev. George E. Manter. His wife willed the quilts to their daugher, Ruth Manter Wass. At her death in 1992, the quilts were passed to her children. (Annette Gero, WARTIME QUILTS)