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2012.609.3, Quilt, R.2013-23_TC2012-68
Quilt, Pieced from Alamance Plaid Cottons
2012.609.3, Quilt, R.2013-23_TC2012-68

Quilt, Pieced from Alamance Plaid Cottons

Date1880-1910
OriginAmerica, North Carolina, Alamance County
MediumCotton solids and plaids
DimensionsOH: 76 1/2" x OW: 74"
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Robert (Faye) Kilpatrick
Object number2012.609.3
DescriptionRectangular quilt made of a variety of check, striped, and solid cottons in blues, light browns, and off-whites. The other side of the quilt is a larger-scale plaid cotton of blue and brown. The quilting is worked with black running stitches, four per inch, in a pattern of concentric fans. Thick cotton batting.
Label TextPieced Quilt
Member of the Gurley or Hines family, probably Margaret Gurley Hines (Mrs. Edwin Hines) (b. ca. 1852)
Wayne County, North Carolina, 1880–1910
Cottons, cotton-wool mixtures
4 running stitches per inch
76 1/2 x 74 in. (194 x 188 cm)
Gift of Mrs. Robert (Faye) Kilpatrick, 2012.609.3

This quilt top is constructed from a wide variety of checked, striped, and solid cottons and cotton-wool mixtures in blues, light browns, and off-whites and backed with larger-scale plaid cotton of blue and brown. The pieces document important but ephemeral utilitarian textiles once used for clothing and household furnishings. The quilting is worked with black running stitches in a pattern of concentric fans through thick cotton batting.
Although fragile and much worn, the charming quilt documents the popular Alamance plaids made in that county of northern North Carolina since the mid-1850s. In 1880, seven mills in Alamance County were producing the popular cotton plaids, and by 1884, the Southern Plaid Manufacturers’ Association represented 2,300 plaid looms. By the early 1890s, the textiles were exported throughout the southern states and as far away as New York, California, and Wisconsin. The quilt itself is utilitarian in its choice of materials and design, making use of scraps and small pieces stitched together in a slightly haphazard pattern that echoes the popular crazy quilts of the day.

ProvenanceThe quilt descended from the donor’s grandparents Edwin H. Hines and Margaret Gurley Hines, who married in 1877. They were Quakers and farmers in Wayne County, North Carolina. Donated by Mrs. Robert (Faye) Kilpatrick to Colonial Williamsburg in 2012.