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American Coverlets
| Place: | Cheney Cowles Memorial Museum |
|---|---|
| Summary: | An exhibition of coverlets, both from the museum's collection as well as from private collections. Interpretive panels were provided by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. |
| Description: | from exhibit publication: Handwoven coverlets provided warmth and color in many barren American rooms in the late 18th and early 19th century. Early coverlets were made from locally grown and processed wool and linen. Machine spun cotton, readily available in the early 19th century, generally replaced linen and was woven with home spun and dyed wool; usually by the skilled "professional" weaver and not the housewife as frequently credited. Women coverlets, in their order of complexity, were: Overshot, Summer-and-Winter, Double Cloth, and Jacquard. Patterns ranged from simple geometrics to complex naturalistic designs. Coloring came from indigo or madder dyes, as well as leaves, barks, and grasses of the natural environment. Due to the width of early looms, most coverlets were woven in strips about 36" wide which were then seamed together. The simplest type of coverlet, the overshot weave, was woven on a four to six harness loom. Patterns produced were geometric and created by a supplementary wool weft (called floats or overshot) over the basic cotton (or homespun linen) warp and weft weave. The rarest coverlet type was of the Summer-and-Winter weave, which was made sporadically in the early 1800s. Few were woven, perhaps because the weave was too complex for the home and not challenging enough for the professional weaver. Doublecloth coverlets, woven on multiple harness looms, were undoubtedly the work of professional weavers. Two layers of cloth in plain weave - one of wool, the other of cotton - switched from back to front to create the pattern. The final visual effect was reversible with one side lighter (where the cotton dominates ) and the other side darker (where the wool dominates). Jacquard coverlets were woven with the aid of the "jacquard attachment" - punched cards on a device similar to a piano roll. Instead of being confined to geometric patterns, elaborate naturalistic designs were woven. The borders of the coverlets often included the name of the person for whom the coverlet was woven, the date, the place and the weaver's signature. Hazel Burrows, Exhibition Curator (Museum Registrar) Larry Schoonover, Curator of History |
| Related Objects: |
1320.2 (Coverlet, "Sarah Easton Jordan's Woven Coverlet", 1825-1865)
1483.7 (Coverlet, "Overshot Coverlet", 1820-1860)
1678.2 (Coverlet, "St. Peter's Woven Coverlet", 1841)
1764.7 (Coverlet, "Floral Figured and Fancy Coverlet", 1820-1860)
2014.1 (Coverlet, "Sarah Jane Farmer Ellis Doublecloth Coverlet", c 1830)
2124.1 (Coverlet, "McEachern Overshot Coverlet", c. 1894)
2149.3 (Coverlet, "Overshot Coverlet", 1800 - 1860)
2384.1 (Coverlet, "James William Ellis Doublecloth Coverlet", c 1830)
2428.1 (Coverlet, "Overshot Coverlet", 1800 - 1860)
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