Quilt, Indigo Resist- Printed Cotton

Date1740-1770 (textile), pieced out 1953

MediumCotton, with stray linen fibers (fiber identification by microscope)

DimensionsOW: 76 1/4"; OL: 104 3/4"; Repeat: 20"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1953-399

DescriptionThis is a double-sided whole cloth quilt made of eighteenth-century indigo resist (also known as "paste print") pieced out with large panels of similar reproduction printed fabric. The resist design, arranged in half-drop repeats, includes single full-blown flowers, bouquets of smaller flowers, and large feathery leaves growing from thick, entwined stems in two shades of light and dark blue on white ground. The quilt is bound around the edges with blue and white resist-dyed tape in two patterns. The quilting is worked with running stitches through thick cotton batting in large diamonds with significant areas re-quilted.
Label TextThis indigo resist textile features large-scale florals and leaves in two shades of indigo blue on a white ground. The quilt was enlarged with reproduction fabric in the mid twentieth century and large portions of the diamond pattern requilted.
ProvenanceFlorene Maine Antiques, Ridgefield, Connecticut, by sale to Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.