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2001-765, Quilt
Quilt, White Cotton Corded & Stuffed Work
2001-765, Quilt

Quilt, White Cotton Corded & Stuffed Work

DateMay 1, 1801 (Dated)
Artist/Maker Lucy Daniel
OriginAmerica, Virginia, Middlesex County
MediumCotton; cotton cord; cotton batting; linen binding; silk marking threads
Dimensions88 1/2" H x 89 3/4" W 10-11 running stitches per inch.
Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund
Object number2001-765
DescriptionRectangular quilt made of white plain-woven cottons with the design worked in corded and stuffed work quilting. The quilting motifs depict a central 8-pointed star-medallion surrounded by a floral vine and a serpentine border. Within the medallion is a spray of grapes, berries, flowers and leaves. Scattered throughout the piece are tulips, leaves, carnations, and other flowers, with an edge bordering motif of repeated star-like flowers. Outer edge finished with a narrow strip of fabric that has been folded under and stitched. It is quilted in 10 to 11 running stitches per inch.
Label TextUsing needle skills that she may have learned as a child working a sampler, Lucy Daniel (b. 1778) signed and dated her quilt. The center medallion format is also seen in pieced and appliqued quilts of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Here, the design is created in a quilting technique sometimes called "trapunto" today, but was actually known as "stuffed work quilting" or "Marseilles quilting" during the period it was made. This quilting technique was taught in fashionable seminaries and by private instructors. Channels created by parallel stitches hold cording, while the individual elements such as the leaves and flowers in this quilt were given extra stuffing for added dimension.

Lucy Daniel was the daughter of Beverly and Milly Daniel of Middlesex County, Virginia. Marriage records support the family tradition that the quilt was made as part of Lucy's wedding trousseau. Just twenty days after dating the quilt "May 1 1801," Lucy wed Mathew Kemp, a local man, on May 21, 1801.
ProvenancePer vendor, the quilt was purchased by couple, now deceased, from an old home in Middlesex County. The former owners wished that the quilt be placed in a museum. The executor of their estate brought the quilt to the vendor.

History of Quilt Maker:
Lucy Daniel, born August 23, 1778, was the daughter of Beverly and Milly Daniel of Middlesex County, Virginia. She married Matthew Kemp on May 21, 1801, twenty days after completing the quilt, which family tradition says was made for her marriage.