For decades, the Bible has been an inspiration for quilters who depicted stories from its pages in cloth. Among them – the Song of Solomon’s Rose of Sharon, King David’s crown, the guiding Star of Bethlehem, as well as many other Bible inspired blocks. In the 1800s, the Bible was one of the few books accessible to quilters across all societal levels, so it’s not surprising that it sparked many quilted creations.

Harriet Powers’ Bible Quilts

One of the most famous and unique Bible quilts from the 1800s is the “Bible Quilt” made by Harriet Powers (1837-1910) in about 1886 and exhibited by her at a grand fair in Georgia that year. Harriet was born into slavery in Georgia and would never have imagined in her wildest dreams that her work would eventually be housed in the Smithsonian (National Museum of American History) in Washington, D.C. She used a whimsical, folk-art style to depict appliqued human and animal images from both the Old and New Testament. She described her quilt as showing “Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, a continuance of Paradise with Eve and a son, Satan amidst the seven stars, Cain killing his brother Abel, Cain goes into the land of Nod to get a wife, Jacob’s dream, the baptism of Christ, the crucifixion, Judas Iscariot and the 30 pieces of silver, the Last Supper, and the Holy Family.”

Harriet also created a second appliqued folk art Bible quilt referred to as her pictorial quilt which is in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA. Collecting note: a Smithsonian licensee reproduced Harriet’s Bible Quilt in China in the 1990s, and with a bit of searching you too can own your own replica Bible Quilt. If you want to learn more about Harriet and her quilts, pick up a copy of Kyra Hicks’ This I Accomplish.

Ruby McKim’s Bible History Quilt

The Bible continued to inspire quilters into the 1900s, and it clearly guided early quilt entrepreneur Ruby McKim to develop a 24-block embroidered quilt pattern named the “Bible History Quilt.” First published in 1927 in The Kansas City Star newspaper and other publications as a special weekly feature printed in the Sunday edition. A simple outline embroidery pattern (line drawing) was published each week.

The quilter had to get all 24 editions to complete the quilt. The series depicts an assortment of Bible stories, including the well-known and easy to decipher, such as: Adam and Eve (“Father Adam” and “Mother Eve”), Noah’s Ark (“The Ark”), and Baby Moses in the Bulrushes (“Moses adopted by Pharoah’s Daughter”). Also shown are more obscure stories that may send you back to the Bible, Sunday School, or at least to Google. These include a man being fed by birds (the prophet “Elijah and the Ravens”), a man releasing water from a rock (Moses and “The Rock of Living Water”), two men carrying large fruit on a pole (“The Spies”), and a man with a piece of fabric or a pelt (“Gideon and the Fleece”). 

Like many of today’s popular blocks, this pattern was first published during the 1930s Quilt Revival, a time when many antique quilt patterns were updated and named, or renamed several times with newspapers and other publications regularly featuring quilt patterns.

Almost all were said to have early American origins, even if just drafted in the writer’s studio; however, the origins of the Honey Bee pattern do go back to one of the earliest pieced blocks – the humble 9 Patch. In the early 1800s, as quilters began expanding beyond whole cloth designs, they started with simple geometric blocks like the 4 Patch and 9 Patch. A 19th-century Honey Bee quilt is shown here, an elegant circa 1860 indigo blue and white beauty.

This earlier version is based on a single 9 Patch block with appliqué details and is the pattern one finds when searching for the Honey Bee quilts made before 1930. The pattern dates back to the 1840s with a documented example that is date 1844 (on the quilt) and perhaps back to the 1830s.

The block has evolved throughout the years and become more complex. The current version actually features two different 9 Patches – an even 9 Patch center incorporated into an uneven 9 Patch block (a pleasing repetition and variation). The earlier versions tend to have a solid, unpieced center but with the same three appliqued leaves in each corner.

In looking at the pattern, one can almost hear the buzzing and see the bees flying home to their hive in the center of the block. Nature clearly was the inspiration for the Honey Bee moniker, first published in The Kansas City Star (1929) and soon followed by Ruby Short McKim (1930), Nancy Cabot (Chicago Tribune, 1933), and Hall and Kretsinger (1935). Nature also inspired the lyrical “Birds in the Air” name from thread makers Coats and Clark’s (1942). Perhaps the most unusual name for the block, “Blue Blazes” (Hall, 1935), was also inspired by some soaring bluebirds.

What do you picture when I say, “Colonial Quilts”? Betsy Ross and Martha Washington sewing scrappy quilts by candlelight or quilting around a frame at a quilting bee? That is the idealistic picture painted in early quilt history books by creative writers harkening back to quilters of yesteryear. An early quilt history book was tellingly titled, “The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt in America” (Hall and Kretsinger, 1935). As lovely as it sounds, most quilters did not do their fine needlework by candle or fire light, and few worked together in quilting bees. Yes, quilting bees did occur, but not nearly as often as depicted in idyllic literature.

Historians have since examined wills and household inventories to learn what textiles were made at the time. They have found that despite the charming images, there was very little quilting in the Colonial or Revolutionary eras. Early Americans were working to build a country, and quilting fabric was not plentiful. Also, the type of quilting we are most familiar with, the pieced block quilt, had not been developed.

Few quilts were made in the 1600s or even by the Revolution. Those made in the 1700s were generally wool bed rugs or whole cloth quilts, and almost all were made in high-income homes. “It has long been a cherished notion that it was the colonists’ need for warm bedding that inspired them to piece together all available scraps of fabric. But the reality is that most women were too busy with the tasks necessary for basic survival, such as growing and preserving food, to spend precious time making quilts for bedcovers where there were other, less expensive sources available” (Kiracofe, “The American Quilt,” 1993). People commonly used woven blankets instead of quilts.

In the early part of the 1800s, quilting was a rich woman’s game, and there were many large quilts made from yardage of expensive imported fabric like chintz and toiles. But on some of those same quilts, you will see that the maker used small bits to piece together segments next to an expensive chintz border. Only women of means had access to a variety of fabric, and even for them fabric was expensive, and there was not a lot of variety. Imagine trying to buy imported fabrics during the War of 1812 when we were battling England. Quilters had their favorites that they wanted to use down to the last bit. They were prudent and careful because they treasured the fabric not because of economics. 

Knowledge is power

With all the online resources available today, it is easy to become an educated consumer. It just takes some determination and time to develop your eye. It can be quite fun to learn history through quilts. Nothing is better than looking at beautiful quilts and learning their stories online and in person. I love to share my collection in antique quilt trunk shows and quilt study classes and I am available to bring my treasures to you.

The American Quilter’s Society quilt appraisal classes are another terrific way to learn about antique quilts and their value. The program’s reading list is a comprehensive resource for your own self-study course in quilt dating and history. The American Quilt Study Group is the best quilt history group with wonderful networking and amazing education seminars. There are also several antique quilt Facebook groups that are like a daily masterclass in quilt history.

Buyer beware

Unfortunately, there are sellers who try to pass off mass-produced Chinese imports as antiques, and since so many imports were made (and are still being made), you need to learn how to recognize them. A few quick clues: no applied binding on edges, large quilting stitches, and matching pillow shams.

Uneducated sellers often unintentionally misrepresent their items especially if they do not deal in textiles. This can work in your favor; just as there are 1930s Grand-mother’s Flower Garden quilts being billed as an 1800s treasure, there are actual 1830s quilts being labeled as Depression-era quilts. You can also learn a great amount by following reputable knowledgeable dealers. Reading their item listings and descriptions on eBay, Etsy, Ruby Lane, Instagram, and on their websites is a fantastic way to learn. Several dealers have released highly informative books about their collections.

Move onward and upward

Your interests will likely change over time and as you grow and mature as a collector. You will probably make a few missteps along the way as you develop your collector’s eye and see what is truly still out there to collect. It is sometimes hard to believe how many amazing quilts there are that have not yet been discovered. Quilts are still coming into the market from family collections, private collections, and even being released from museums. Savvy museums call it de-accessioning and sell off some of their quilts to upgrade, raise funds, fine-tune focus, etc. So follow their lead and let some earlier quilts go to beginning collectors and use the money to improve your own collection.

Quilters cannot sew without thread and other sewing notions, and most have collections of sewing supplies. You never know what you may find in that box of vintage lace, rickrack, and bias tape. I belong to several antique and vintage quilting, sewing, and sewing tools Facebook groups and have seen photos of charming spool animals. A bit of context, the Spool Pets are small advertising cards with an animal printed on them (see photo). They are designed to be cut out and glued onto a thread spool for a cute toy.
Recently, I was scrolling and read more about the Spool Pets. I learned that the cards were in bias binding packages but hidden in the center of the package with yards of bias trim around them. I went to see if there was a spool toy cached away in the sewing box. Imagine my surprise and sheer delight when I discovered my own spool animal – Clara Cow – quietly biding her time for nearly 100 years (copyright 1935) in an old binding package. What a find! Now another quest – learning the story of the Spool Pets.

Effective and adorable advertising

Spool Pets from J. & P. Coats were the brainchild of famed adman G. Lynn Sumner. In another stroke of luck, I discovered he detailed their creation in his popular book: How I Learned the Secrets of Success in Advertising (1952) see Google Books. Sumner’s agency represented The Spool Cotton Co., distributors of J. & P. Coats and Clarks ONT (Coats and Clark). The chapter aptly stated the Company’s goal: “Getting More Spools of Thread into the Sewing Bas-ket.” The Spool Co. had 10 different thread sizes (from a thick size 8 to the finest size 200) designed for various fabrics and tasks but most women bought 50 weight as an all-purpose thread especially during the Depression. The agency created informative Thread Charts but still wanted an “interesting, dramatic way” to illustrate the importance of picking the right size thread for the task.
Inspiration at the Toy Store

Sumner saw a simple, fun toy animal with a block body and “the head and front legs and the tail and hind legs two flat pieces mounted at front and rear.” Kismet – a spool toy with different size spools for various animals. “A kitten made with a tiny size 200 spool! A fine fat cow with a size 8 spool!” Spool Pets were born.

The initial set featured six different farm animals: Kitty Kat, Hal Horse, Pete Pig, Clara Cow, Puppy Dog, and Bob Bunny, with a simple drawing, animal poem, and instructions for making the animal using the right size spool. They then turned to children’s author and poet, John Martin, who improved the poetry and made the cards more decorative and appealing to little ones.

A great example of indirect selling, the cards were marketed to children. Sumner noted, “the child, in its persuasive way, is a powerful little sales agent,” and once they had the cards, they would be “after mother for spools to make the toy.” The cards and their advertising material had the thread information to sell her more spools and it was a very successful campaign.

There was also a second collection: the Spool Zoo with Teddy Bear, Jim Fox, Old Hippo, Elephant, Zebra, and Lion. Join in on the hunt, the Spool Pets are waiting for you!

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