PATCHWORK ON THE SILK ROAD 

Up-Cycling in the Ninth Century 

    In case we thought that making do and mending – currently more trendily known as ‘re-purposing’ or ‘up-cycling’ – was a relatively recent idea, some surviving ancient textiles prove  that it is a concept which has been around for many centuries, although the motivations for it have been, and are, many and various. A silk valance* dating from the C9th/C10th, an example of a Buddhist devotional object, is a case in point. It was found in 1907 by the Hungarian-British explorer and archaeologist, Sir Marc Aurel Stein, in a previously sealed cave, designated Cave 17, connected to the now famous complex known as the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas in Dunhuang, Western China. The carving of Buddhist shrines out of solid rock began in India and was transmitted to China along the Silk Roads. Those at Dunhuang were carved from sandstone cliffs between the fourth and the fourteenth centuries and even by the C7th there were over a thousand caves, lavishly decorated with paintings and sculptures, and attracting thousands of devotees and other travellers. 

Stein found three valances in Cave 17, two of which are in New Delhi, but the most complete of the three is in the Collection of the British Museum (Object MAS.855), where I was able to examine it. There are many examples of textiles salvaged from sites along the trading routes which have come to be known collectively as The Silk Road, but this one has special relevance to the history of patchwork. It demonstrates that the technique of piecing together scraps of fabric is long-established and exemplifies one of the many motivations for the use of that technique – in this case devotional. Valances feature in many of the paintings in the caves, illustrating the ways in which they were used. The size of this one, 281.5cms long and 42cms deep, suggests that it could have had several uses, for example as a hanging in front of an altar or a Buddha statue. It could also have served as part of a canopy, which was a religious object often used to shelter a statue of Buddha or carried as a banner symbolising the victory of Buddha’s teachings.

The valance incorporates sixteen types of silk, three different embroideries and one type of printed silk. Stitches used include satin stitch, split stitch and running stitch. The upper section is a 6” wide border pieced from ten patches, with eight suspension loops either of plain weave or of samite, which is a rich silk fabric interwoven with gold and silver threads. The lower section comprises streamers of damask, twill damask, samite and both printed and embroidered silk of different shapes, all of which are sandwiched between triangular double-sided tabs attached to the lower edge of the border, with tassels attached to the bottom of each tab. 

Some of the streamers are looped and knotted, some are roughly patched together and some also have tassels hanging from them. Surprisingly, close examination reveals that some streamers which look like carefully patterned patchwork are in fact constructed by overlapping rectangles, also double-sided, with mitred ends, secured together with small running stitches down the middle. To twenty-first century eyes they look convincingly like mens’ striped ties. Although shabby and faded today, one can imagine how bright and colourful the valance must have looked when it was made, over 1200 years ago.

As well as the valances, the caves contained other examples of silk patchwork in various states of preservation. Patchwork has historically had an important role in Buddhist practice, stimulated by the Buddha’s precept against waste. As a result, to piece together patches of valuable silk was seen as an act of serious piety. Silk fabrics were given as votive offerings by affluent visitors to the shrines, some perhaps spontaneously torn from their own clothing.

The way in which this valance, and many other artefacts from Dunhuang, ended up in western museum collections is in itself a fascinating story.  Stein was but one of many western explorers and archaeologists who, from the end of the nineteenth century, heard rumours of manuscripts and artefacts being offered for sale in local markets in Western China and set out to acquire whatever treasures they could find. Their activities eventually led the Chinese authorities to clamp down on ‘foreign devils’ simply loading their finds onto camels and horses and transporting them back to the West. But that clamping down didn’t happen until the 1930s, by which time many thousands of items had been acquired by museums both in the UK and in many other countries. Of course, the collection and acquisition of historic artefacts has been the subject of controversy for many years, the Elgin Mables being the most famous example. But it can be argued that the acquisition of such artefacts, including those from Dunhuang, was justified since it ensured their survival and facilitated the scholarly attention they have since received. 

Aside from their significance to contemporary patchworkers, the silk patchworks found at Dunhuang are a valuable contribution to the broader research into the subject of textiles on The Silk Road.. They provide unique insight into the probable uses and religious significance of found objects, as well as proving that certain construction and needlework techniques have been used over many centuries. Study of the fabrics yields information about types of silk, their geographical origins and manufacturing techniques. 

 In 1994 the British Library established the International Dunhuang Project, a collaborative effort to conserve, catalogue and digitize manuscripts, printed texts, paintings, textiles and artefacts from the caves at Dunhuang and various other archaeological sites from the eastern end of The Silk Road.

Further reading and information

Aurel Stein on the Silk Road by Susan Whitfield, The British Museum Press, London, 2004

Foreign Devils on the Silk Road  by Peter Hopkirk, John Murray, London, 1980

The International Dunhuang Project Online: http://idp.bl.uk

Thanks to Dr Luk Yu-ping, Basil Gray Curator: Chinese Paintings, Prints and Central Asian Collection at the British Museum, for facilitating access to Object MAS.855.

© CME 2020

A War Lord's Patchwork Coat

The Coat (Furisode) of Uesugi Kenshin (1530 -1578)

In Japan, as in some other cultures, patchwork garments were given as gifts. In those cases, the garment would be made of the most expensive fabrics the donor could afford, since the gift was a mark of respect. A patchwork coat from around 1560 and illustrated in Japanese Quilts by Jill Liddell and Yuko Watanabe, for instance, is constructed from seventeen different kinds of rare Chinese brocades. The coat dates from the Muromachi Period (1338-1573), a time when, due to the financial burden of civil wars, domestic textile production diminished. As a result, fabrics such as silks and brocades had to be imported from China so were scarce and highly valued, and would have been available for consumption only by the wealthy. This particular coat was presented as a gift to the famous war lord, Usuegi Kenshin (1530 – 1578), who had vowed to become a Zen-Buddhist and devoted to the Buddhist God of War, Bishamonten. Thus, ‘The use of patchwork would seem to be in accordance with the aesthetics of Buddhist monks  but the gorgeousness [would be] appropriate for his status as one for the most important warlords of the time.’ 

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A Study in Turkey Red

A Study in Turkey Red

What links this Turkey Red quilt with Charles Dickens, West Cumbrian history and the history of the dyeing industry in Scotland?

 In 2010, I acquired four quilts from Mrs. Oxtoby, of Wigton, West Cumbria. Mrs. Oxtoby and her family have lived in Wigton for many generations and the quilts had belonged to her mother, Mrs. Smith, née Sharp, who had died earlier that year. The quilts were found in a trunk in the attic when Mrs Oxtoby was clearing her mother’s house to put it on the market. (Reassuring to know that, even in the 21^st century, there are still attics which have not been ransacked for items to sell on Ebay!)

 Although the quilts are in various states of wear and condition, I was delighted to be able to add such excellent examples of quilts with local provenance, displaying all the characteristics of quilts made in this region of the UK, to my collection.

  All four quilts are pieced entirely in cotton and contain cotton wadding. The hand-quilting is competent without being outstanding, and appears to be uniform over the four quilts. There are no labels or identifying marks on any of the quilts, but they are typical of those produced in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century.

 Even if local provenance hadn't been available, I would have felt confident in saying that they had been made locally, for two reasons: the four quilts are quilted in the particular pattern traditionally associated with the quilts of West Cumbria and found also in geographically associated regions, which is to say South-West Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man; the pattern is known as ‘All over Wave pattern’ and takes the form of a series of chevrons covering the entire surface. The second clue is in the use of a particular red fabric, known as Turkey red, in one of the quilts. This fabric is ubiquitous in quilts of our region for reasons connected to the dyeing industry in Scotland.

Mrs. Oxtoby was able to tell me that other members of the family remembered the quilts and believed that they had been made by two sisters, Sara and Mary Eliza McMechan, whose family had a close friendship with Mrs. Oxtoby’s mother’s family, the Sharps. It is believed that the quilts were given to the Sharp family as a gift.

The two sisters, neither of whom married, were the daughters of Thomas McMechan, the founder of the Wigton Advertiser.  He had premises in King Street, where he also ran the printing works. He rose to become one of Wigton’s leading citizens and, among other civic roles, had the distinction of leading the deputation which welcomed Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins on their visit to Wigton during their walking tour of Cumberland in 1857.

 After Thomas’s death in 1914, the Wigton Advertiser was published by his two daughters and, on their retirement, by the Wilson brothers, two long-term employees. It ran until 1941, when the Second World War brought paper shortages and severe restrictions on publishing.

 Evidence of the close friendship between the family of Mrs. Oxtoby’s mother, the Sharps, and the McMechans is in the Will of Mary Eliza McMechan, in which she bequeathed legacies to Mr. Henry Sharp and his two daughters, one of whom was Mrs. Oxtoby’s mother.

All over Wave quilting

 What, one might wonder, were Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins doing in Wigton? On 7th September 1857 they had embarked on a walking tour in the north of England. They left London for Carlisle by train, then travelled another 14 miles to the village of Hesketh Newmarket. Here they stayed at the Queen’s Head Inn, close to Carrock Fell. Despite the adverse weather, Dickens insisted on climbing the mountain; their compass broke and they became hopelessly lost in thick mist. Collins, a reluctant participant in this venture, badly sprained his ankle on the descent so they travelled to nearby Wigton, where he saw a doctor. We must assume that this was when they were met and greeted by the town dignitaries, including Thomas McMechan, the father of the quiltmaking daughters. Wilkie, presumably would have been limping badly!

 Their stay in Wigton was brief, because on 9^th September they travelled on to Allonby. Arriving there in time for lunch, they stopped for two nights at The Ship, described by Dickens as ‘a capital little homely inn looking out upon the sea – a clean, nice place in a rough wild country.’ The landlord was Benjamin Partridge whose ‘immensely fat’ wife was ‘very obliging and comfortable.’ The Ship Inn is still there and a wall-plaque commemorates the famous visit.

  So, there’s the Dickens link - tenuous, I admit! But what links this Turkey red and white quilt to the history of the dyeing industry in Scotland?

  Before the introduction of synthetic dyes, the colour red was mainly derived from the use of the dried roots of the madder plant: Rubia tinctorum. But until the C17th no method had been discovered in Europe whereby cotton fabrics could be dyed red which would be fast to light and water - in other words, they would not fade or bleed. So when vividly-coloured, painted and printed cotton textiles, which would withstand washing and sunlight, began to be imported by the East India Company, European producers were keen to learn the dyeing processes by which they were produced. The existing producers, mainly in parts of  the Turkish Empire like Greece and the Levant, hence the ‘Turkey red’ description, were understandably secretive about their processes, but in the 1740s determined efforts were made by Europeans to discover those secrets. Britain’s efforts to succeed in this C18th version of industrial espionage were a failure and it was a Frenchman who eventually found the method of creating the fabulous red dye. The method, it should be said, was complex and involved many stages, some of them noisome: soaking the fabric in ox blood and then in urine, for example!

  Pierre Jacques Papillon was first wooed by the Manchester textile producers but, for various reasons, he settled in Glasgow. Long before the advent of Turkey red there were major dyeing and bleaching works in and around Glasgow, many of which were moved out to the Vale of Leven because of its great resource of clean, unpolluted water. The industry grew to be the major source of employment and industrial output in that area, but the production of Turkey red fabric became the dominant industry, turning regional firms into multinationals, owners into millionaires and giving the Vale of Leven a world-wide reputation for production of superior Turkey red goods. Under the auspices of the United Turkey Red Co. Ltd. an alliance of three major companies formed during the 1890s, the production of Turkey red textiles continued there until the 1960s, when advances in dyeing technology and competition from Japan and India led to the decline and ultimate collapse of the textile industry in the Vale of Levens.

  So there’s the link: my Turkey red quilt reflects the fact that proximity to the centre of production of Turkey red fabric meant that it was easily available to fabric retailers in the North of England, hence the ubiquity of its use in quilts made in our region. Not, of course, that Turkey red quilts aren’t found in other parts of the country, but there are an awful lot of them up North!

 The history of Turkey red dyeing is long and complex and the above is a very brief, and far from scholarly, introduction to the subject. There's lots more information available on-line and it's the subject of several books and academic publications.

©CME 2017

A Maryport Quilt goes National!

A very fine quilt, made in Maryport in Cumbria about 130 years ago, has been accepted into the Collection of the Quilt Museum and Gallery in York. It’s a particularly good example of what is known as the ‘Sawtooth Medallion’ Style, made in red and white fabrics. The red fabric is Turkey red printed in a rich and complex paisley pattern. Only quilts of exceptional interest and condition are accepted into the collection so it is an honour that this one has been accessioned.

The quilt, which belonged to an established Maryport family, was given to me on long loan a few years ago. It is in perfect condition because, as I was told: ‘Grandma always kept it on the best bed, covered with a sheet.’ The owner and I finally decided that it needed to be offered to the Museum and Gallery so that it could be kept and preserved to museum standards. I’m delighted to say that it is now on display at the Museum as part of its current exhibition titled Quilts Then and Now. Full details of the Museum and opening times can be seen here: http://www.quiltersguild.org.uk/index.php?page=71

A Victorian Surivival

Flat shot of table cover

Embroidery has outlasted silk

This Victorian table cover from a house in Cockermouth , measuring 56" square, was brought to me for advice on repair and conservation.  It has a square centre medallion organised round embroidered rectangles which are enclosed in velvet borders. The rest of the patchwork is 'crazy', i.e. randomly shaped  patches stitched together. Each patch is outlined in feather stitching, a very popular needlework tradition in this type of  crazy patchwork. The whole textile is surrounded with yellow cording, suggesting that its likely use was as a table cover or, possibly, a decorative throw.

 The fabrics are predominantly silks and velvets. The embroidery is of a good standard of workmanship and, in many case, the embroidery has outlasted the silks, which have worn away around them.

Unfortunately, it had deteriorated so far as to make any work on it impossible. On the other hand, it is clearly too interesting to simply be thrown away. One possible option would be to conserve it under glass, in which case it could be viewed but wouldn't suffer any further degradation of the fabrics. This, however, would be an expensive undertaking but enquiries are being made to see if it would be viable.

An American Quilt in Guernsey

     It may be that only dyed-in-the-wool quilt anoraks will not be surprised when I tell you that last week I made a visit to the Channel Island of Guernsey, a not inconsiderable distance from Cumbria, just to see a quilt. Add to that the fact that I’m notoriously averse from leaving home and you’ll appreciate that there must have been a very special reason indeed for me to make the trip.

    That’s how special The Ogier Wedding Quilt, which occasioned my visit, is. The quilt, dated 1842, is now in the collections of The Guernsey Museums and Galleries, and I was privileged to have it taken out of storage so that I could examine it. The accompanying ‘flat shot’ will give some idea of the over-all effect. Some more detailed shots show the outstanding needlework skills which created it. But this quilt is just one of many outstandingly beautiful quilts which were made in Ohio County in the early to mid C19th, some of which are documented in Ricky Clark’s book: Quilted Gardens, Floral Quilts of the Nineteenth Century. (Published in 1994 by Rutledge Hill Press) The style combines pieced blocks and trapunto, in this case alternate blocks and borders being trapunto. Infill is very finely worked stippling.

    What is extraordinary about the Ogier Wedding Quilt is that, although it was made in Ohio, it is now in Guernsey. The objects of my enquiries are, precisely, to establish for whom was it made and how and when  it arrived in Guernsey? I began this research in 1997 when a friend of a friend, hearing that I was interested in old quilts, told me about it. The reason it has taken me so long to get round to pursuing my research begins with the fact that between 2002 and 2006 I was working on books continuously, then on other research projects, then gardening etc. etc. Poor excuses, I know. When I know more, I’ll share it.

(Photographs courtesy of Guernsey Museums and Galleries and Robin Le Feuvre.)

The Greystoke Coverlet - a curious textile survival

Recently an interesting-looking coverlet came up for auction at Penrith in Cumbria. The expected price range was given as between £200 and £450. Photographs in the catalogue showed it to be closely covered

in appliqué figures and a great deal of embroidered lettering. The most striking feature was a folded-down panel on which was commemorated Wellington’s victory at the Battle of Vittoria (sic. But it should be 'Vitoria!), 1813. (These panels, often commemorating significant events, were manufactured specifically for use in quilts and other textiles and were widely available. An identical panel is illustrated in two of Averil Colby’s books, Patchwork and Patchwork Quilts, in colour in the latter.) Under the panel, which had been left loose so that it could be lifted, the applique and embroidery are much brighter and in better condition than the rest of the coverlet. It shows a strange scene in which angel’s heads with wings appear above figures showing two couples, apparently flying, as they have wings attached. The men are in what may be military uniforms. On the left is a woman carrying what could be a single rose or a small bouquet followed by a row of three women with arms raised as if towards the flying couples.

Elsewhere on the coverlet other figures have embroidered captions, one of which reads Mary Queen of Scotland, although it was difficult to relate the accompanying illustration to any historical episodes concerning her. This may well be because the fabric in the figures is in many cases worn away almost completely so it’s impossible to decipher what was there originally.

At the bottom of the textile, some female figures have words embroidered under them, for example, ‘Patient woman’ and ‘Hypocrite!’ The embroidered lettering has in places also almost vanished, although it might be possible to read the words using a magnifying glass. The over-all impression somewhat suggests a page of cartoons,with quotes and comments. The embroidered lettering and the appliqué look quite crude and as if done in haste.

Altogether, this is a most intriguing and puzzling textile survival. I learned that it had come from Bushy House in Greystoke, the contents of which were being sold after the death of Adele le Bourgeois Aspel, the widow of a member of the Howard family. The Howards are a long-established Greystoke family whose seat is Greystoke Castle. It seems that many of the items to be auctioned had been found in barns and outbuildings and it could well be that the coverlet had suffered the same fate. Certainly, it is very dirty and clearly hadn’t been stored with a view to its preservation.

I went to view the textile the day before the auction and found it suitably protected by barriers and notices warning of its fragile condition. The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isle would have considered bidding for it but for the fact that the local Museum and Art Gallery, Tullie House in Carlisle, was also interested in it. In such situations, a protocol is observed between museums which means that the local museum has precedence and other museums won’t bid against them. Also, the coverlet was in need of extensive conservation work which would have been very expensive.

Of course, everyone concerned was hoping that Tullie House would win the bidding – they had set a maximum bid higher than the amount the Guild would have gone to. In that case, we would at least have known where it was, that it was being conserved and stored appropriately and, in future, the Guild might even have been able to borrow it.

But I’m sorry to have to report the dénouement to this story: the coverlet went to a private bidder for the stunning sum of £3,500! We shall probably never see it again.

The Spirit of Geometry

Burkhardt: '....the two poles of all artistic expression in Islam: the sense of rhythm and the spirit of geometry. ...'

This wall-quilt is my way of expressing this in the medium in which I most often work. As for how it is created, let's just say that it's not a technique for the faint-hearted!

Wordsworth's River Duddon

I offer this 'Thought' to all who write, or make, or aspire to do either:














‘Enough, if something from our hands have power
To live, and act and serve the future hour;
And if, as toward the silent tomb we go
Through love, through hope and faith’s transcendent dower,
We feel that we are greater than we know.’
Wordsworth: The River Duddon. Afterthought

Mr.Simpson's Dressing gown - continued

Pinning out the pattern pieces on the lined patchwork ready for cutting out. There is some wastage round the edges - I left plenty of excess because of shrinkage during quilting. When the construction is completed, cuffs and a hem are added in velvet (black in this case) because it stands up well to the wear and tear of daily use. Finally, a lining will be added.

A Working Arrangement

This is one corner of my workroom - but I know where everything is, honest!

Mr. Simpson's Dressing Gown 3

As each separate pattern piece is finished and cut out, it is quilted down the strips. After this the pieces can be cut to the exact size required, ready for assembly.

Mr. Simpson's Dressing Gown 2

The yardage is ready for the pattern pieces to be cut. The patchwork is layed on wadding and backing fabric - leaving plenty of leeway to allow for shrinkage during quilting.

Reading List

I kept a running list of the books I read in 2006 and arranged them in approximate categories, beginning with Arts and Crafts
Some of these books are old friends I had occasion to visit during the year, either for reference or just because I find them so valuable and/or useful they are worth re-reading.

M.C.Richards: Centering in Pottery, Poetry and the Person (Out of print and apparently unavailable.) Published in 1962. Re-reading this is pure 1960s nostalgia and yet, and yet... how much of what she says is still true, particularly about the true meaning of education.)

Jonathan Holstein: The Pieced Quilt. An American Design Tradition

Bets Ramsey,Merikay Waldvogel: Southern Quilts. Quilts of the Civil War

Faun Valentine: West Virginia Quilts and Quiltmakers

Carla Needleman: The Work of Craft

Suzi Gablik: The Re-Enchantment of Art

Anne Truitt: Daybook. The Journey of an Artist

Henry Glassie: The Spirit of Folk Art

Garard Degeorge and Yves Porter: The Art of the Islamic Tile

Biography

Richard Holmes: Coleridge –. VolI: Early Visions. Vol.II: Darker Reflections

Hilary Spurling: Matisse. The Master (Two Volumes)

Molly Hughes: A London Childhood of the 1870s (Persephone)

Etty Hillesum: An Interrupted Life. Diaries and Letters (Persephone)

Geoffrey Wainwright: Lucy Duff Gordon

Iris Irigo: The Last Attachment. The Story of Byron and Teresa Guiccioli

John McGahern: Memoir

Claire Tomalin: Samuel Pepys. The Unequalled Self

Philip Callow: Lost Earth. A Life of Cezanne


Travel
A.W. Kinglake: Eothen.

Robert Byron: to OxianaThe Road

Lit. Crit.

Louis McNeice: The Poetry of W.B.Yeats. (“..for existence is still existence, whether the tense is past or future.” “..the poet is a specialist in something everyone does.”


Novels

Norah Hoult: There Were No Windows. (Persephone)

Dorothy Whipple: They Were Sisters. (Persephone)

Kashuo Ishiguro: Never Let me Go. The Remains of the Day. When We Were Orphans. An Artist of the Floating World.

Colm Toibin: The Master (Fictionalised account of later years in the life of Henry James)

Lionel Shriver: We Need to Talk About Kevin

Pat Barker: Double Vision

Michael Frayn: Spies

Noel Streatfield: Saplings (Persephone)

Sebastian Barry: A Long, Long Way

Khaled Hosseini: The Kite Runner

Kay Smallshaw: How to Run Your Home Without Help (Persephone)

Ian Mckewan: The Cement Garden

Alan Hollinghurst: The Line of Beauty

Alexander McCall Smith: Portuguese Irregular Verbs. The Finer Points of Sausage

Dogs. At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances. (Trilogy)

Laura Graham: The Unfortunates

Patrick Gale: Rough Music

Robert Edric: Gathering the Water.

Carol Shields: Larry’s Party

Marina Lewycka: A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

Louise Erdich: The Master Butcher’s Singing Club

Nicola Kraus: The History of Love

Niccolò Ammaniti: I’m Not Scared



Some All-time Favourite Books

Andre Gide: La Porte Etroite. Les Nourritures Terrestre (Translated by Dorothy Bussy as Straight is the Gate and Fruits of the Earth

Proust: A La Recherche du Temps Perdus (In the translation by Scott Moncrieff. I’ve tried some of the contemporary translations but go back to Scott Moncrieff as being, perhaps, less literal, but more true to the spirit of the book.)

Ford Maddox Ford: The Good soldier

Tolstoy: Anna Kerenina

M.C.Richards: Centering in Pottery, Poetry and the Person (Out of print and apparently unavailable.)

Jonathan Holstein: The Pieced Quilt. An American Design Tradition

Carla Needleman: The Work of Craft

Anne Truitt: Daybook. The Journey of an Artist

T.C.McCluhan: Touch the Earth

Henry James: What Maizie Knew. Portrait of a Lady

Flora Annie Steel: The Garden of Fidelity

Edith Wharton: The House of Mirth

Jonathan Holstein: The Pieced Quilt. An American Design Tradition

Yosegire – Symbolism in 16th Century Japanese Patchwork

Patchwork in Japan has historically had religious significance. In Shinto, the predominant religion, all things animate and inanimate are believed to be imbued with a spirit, and this of course includes textiles. In ancient times fabric was so highly valued as to sometimes be used as a form of currency and fabrics were given as tribute to emperors and warlords. Even today old textiles have symbolic meaning: the giving of a patchwork garment, for example, conveys a wish for long life for the recipient, while the care and preservation of textiles is seen as a spiritual exercise. My padded and quilted patchwork dressing gowns are inspired by the 16th Century Japanese patchwork style known as ‘yosegire’. The word means ‘the sewing together of different fragments’ and is a form of what we in the West would describe as ‘crazy patchwork.’

The Patchworks of Lucy Boston

Lucy Boston's Patchwork of the Crosses is one of the masterpieces of English patchwork. Fifty-six blocks were made using only one template, a long hexagon ( known as a 'church window'), the edges being in-filled with squares and triangles. Her skilful and imaginative use of patterned fabrics create the illusion of infinitely varied blocks. A detail only is shown here - the full coverlet is about 88" square.

Wall quilt

Patchwork and the Spirit of Geometry. Part Two

Jonathan Holstein considered pieced quilts superior to appliqué quilts in variety, invention and ingenuity. "For the quilt maker, the pieced block dictated the use of basic geometric forms, the possibilities of which were later sensed and exploited by abstract painters. The beauty of appliqué quilts is more of a decorative nature than that seen in the best of the pieced quilt, which when successful are the results of legitimate questions having been posed and most convincingly resolved. The license to draw freely, if it is encumbered with considerations of what is "elegant" or in "good taste", maybe more confining than finding creative solutions within a given format."

Despite the fact that the period when many of these quilts were made, i.e. the mid-19th to the early 20th century, saw the emergence of geometric form as a consciously employed primary source in design, painting and sculpture, Jonathan Holstein reminds us that when such quilts were made they were accepted as common, utilitarian objects, not "art"; indeed, if presented as such they would certainly have been reviled. Nonetheless,,comparison between the visual effects of some of the best 19th and early 20th century quilts and paintings of that period are irresistible. Holstein points out the similarities between the "total visual effects " of some pieced quilts and examples of modern painting, for instance the retinal stimulation achieved through colour and formal relationships, and optical illusion, in the works of artists such as Vasaraly, while the use of repeated images drawn from the environment reminds us of the sequential use of images exemplified in the work of Andy Warhol. Colour variation on a single format, as seen in some Amish quilts, is compared with, for example, Josef Albers’ Homage to the Square series.

There are other points of comparison between quilts and paintings: quilts have the same format as most paintings, that is to say they are rectangular or square. (Painters fitted their frescoes largely to squared interiors and exteriors, worked on squared panels, used rectangular structures, whereas the square or rectangular format of the quilt was the fitted by the size and shape of beds.) Finally, quilts like paintings are two dimensional.

Holstein goes on to say: "intriguing and startling as the resemblances me be, any direct linking of the two media [i.e. quilting and painting] would be demeaning to the history and presence of both quilts and paintings. Implicit in the art of creating painting is the intellectual process which ties the work of an artist to his disaffected ancestors and his peers, and places sit in the history of objects specifically made to be art. This is precisely the quality which was absent in the making of pieced quilts. The women who made pieced quilts were not "artists", that is, they did not intend to make art, had no sense of the place of their work in a continuous stream of art history, did not, in short, intellectualise the production of handcraft any more than did the makers of objects in the vernacular tradition the world over."
Jonathan Holstein: The Pieced Quilt. An American Design Tradition.

Patchwork and the Spirit of Geometry - Part One

An article I found 10 years ago on The Virtual Quilt, by Catherine Jones, seems to me as interesting and relevant today as it was then. The question she asked was this: what is the status of straightforward geometric patchwork in a time of ever more adventurous experimentation with the medium of the quilt? 10 years on, this trend shows no sign of losing its impetus, to the point where many people describe themselves as "textile artists" rather than quilters and use a huge variety of techniques to achieve their aims. Interestingly, many textile artists who started out in the quilt world tend to at least keep a toe in those waters, to exhibit at quilt shows and to teach and give talks on patchwork and quilting.

Several reasons for this could be advanced; a significant feature of the quilting world at large is the sense of community and bonding it engenders. Even people who have deviated from the mainstream retain affectionate friendships and liaison within the quilting world, while the less adventurous enjoy talks and classes with well-known makers who may challenge their assumptions and inspire them to experiment and explore. (The result is the eclecticism in styles and techniques of quilts seen at exhibitions today - everyone seems to be dyeing, painting, manipulating …….the list goes on.) There is also the fact that growth in the number of people becoming involved in patchwork and quilting, especially through the proliferation of groups and dedicated quilting shops, provides a useful and easily accessed client base for many textile artists.

But back to Catherine Jones's question. Where does this leave today’s patchwork quilt maker, someone who doesn’t wish to paint or dye fabric or turn their quilt into a collage, someone who enjoys straightforward piecing of geometric shapes? Can this be art? Jones broadens her discussion by placing patchwork in the context of geometric art forms found throughout the ages in many cultures and traditions. First, she argues that geometric art, with its straight lines and orderly arrangement which make it look so deceptively simple, challenges common expectations of what qualifies as "art". Furthermore, it conceals the mark of the maker's hand and

Furthermore, it conceals the mark of the maker's hand and discourages last-minute creative revision. "In an era that prizes individuality and the frenzy of artistic inspiration, geometric work can come across as too impersonal, too well-crafted and too deliberate."

Jones also points out that except in certain instances, most notably the world of Islamic geometrical art forms, crafts based on these forms have been traditionally associated with relatively underprivileged social groups, that is to say with people who don't usually function as mainstream arbiters of artistic taste. Both patchwork and basketry, for example, have at times been associated with poverty and a make-two-and-mend ethos. The art historian, Oleg Grabar, in a lecture he gave at the National Gallery of Art, after making a survey of non-Islamic ornament, concluded as follows "….. the areas and claims that most consistently exhibit geometric ornamentation are at the periphery of major cultural centres or at the edges of dominating social classes". He went on to speculate that "….. geometry was the privilege of the illiterate, the remote, the popularly pious, the women using (and/or making) textiles and ceramics". Grabar described the graphic artist M.C.Escher, famous for his geometric works, despite falling in to none of these underprivileged categories, as "an orphan within the pantheon of contemporary painters and draughtsman". All these attitudes conspire, in subtle ways, to relegate patchwork to an inferior status.

Jones is dismissive of attempts to upgrade the work of some contemporary quilt-makers by comparing it to that of celebrated artists, such as Mondrian, or by linking it with jazz. She says "linking quilt-making with jazz - with free-form, urban music performed mostly by men - is a tempting way to upgrade the status of a geometrical and traditionally rural, feminine, textile-based art form. But I question whether the analogy holds and whether the constrained, geometric nature of patchwork may not, in fact, be a positive feature, a source of artistic power.”
I hereby declare an interest: I love mosaic patchwork more than any other style, and will argue in further postings that its possibilities as a channel of artistic expression are inexhaustible.

The Work of Craft

The Work of Craft An inquiry into the nature of crafts and craftsmanship, by Carla Needleman, is an extended meditation on the relationship between Craft and craftsmen. She herself is a potter, and although she doesn't directly focus on textiles as such she shows that the basic material every craftsmen works with is him or her self. Whatever is between one's hands, the clay, the wood, the wool, the fabric, responds to the quality of one's inner state. The product of one's work is not just an object but a way of being.

In reviewing this book, Frederick Franck, author of The Zen of Seeing, said that it is a book "...for anyone whose hands itch to make something - pot, piece of weaving, wooden clog, painting or book - with seriousness, so that it is undivorced from the maker's inner life."

Here are some random quotes taken from Needleman's book:

"The realisation that when I work at my craft in a way that allows each moment to fall of its own weight, without hurrying it or retaining it, such a way of working will produce in me a state of greater sensitivity, can lead me to use this method as an inner technique having as its goal the state itself, solely for the pleasure of it. (P.9)"

"What does it mean that I undertake to study myself? Perhaps it can mean that I extend myself into the Craft, willing to sacrifice any of my own opinions that experience proves false. I undertake to begin a conversation with the craft, to listen to it, to be taught by the effort of trying to understand it. (Pages 12/13)"

Carla Needleman. The Work of Craft. An inquiry into the nature of crafts and craftsmanship. Alfred Knopf. NY. 1979. isbn 0 394 49718 X