Quilt, Pieced "Stars and Stripes"

Date1861-1875

MediumPlain and printed cottons

Dimensions92 x 91 3/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, From the Estate of Foster and Muriel McCarl by The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund

Object number2012.609.4

DescriptionThis is a pieced, square quilt in plain and printed cottons, featuring a blue center field with 34 white eight-pointed stars, surrounded by stripes of red and white, with blue and white stripes in each of the four corners. The quilt is backed with white cotton and quilted through thin batting following the geometric shapes of the piecing. It is quilted in seven running stitches per inch. Half-inch cotton strips cut on the straight grain are folded over the edges to bind the outer edges of the quilt, leaving a quarter-inch visible on the front.
Label TextThis quilt was made as a patriotic Union statement during the American Civil War. Thirty-four stars in the center of the quilt represent the number of states in the Union, including those that had seceded at the beginning of the war. A pattern for a similar "Stars and Stripes Bed-quilt" was published in the July 1861 issue of Peterson's Magazine, a popular periodical for ladies. The author hoped to inspire readers to document their Union sympathies through their quilting.

Although the U. S. flag inspired this quilt, its techniques and star shapes differ significantly from the flag itself. Unlike the five-pointed appliquéd stars on most flags, these nontraditional eight-pointed stars, and this quilt in general, are constructed using the piecing technique. Tiny star-patterned and dotted textiles in the blue areas give this bold graphic design visual appeal.
ProvenanceNo known provenance other than donor.