QUILT INDEX RECORD

12-8-1073

Who documented this quilt?

Michigan Quilt Project; Michigan State University Museum Collection

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Michigan State University Museum

Michigan Quilt Project Number:

01.0252

If this quilt is owned by a museum, enter the accession number:

2001:160.11

Object label:

Little Miss Muffet Quilt
Maker unknown
Possibly made in Pennsylvania
c1921-1923
Deborah Harding Redwork Collection, Michigan State University Museum, #2001:160.11

Essay:

The "Little Miss Muffet" quilt may have been made either by or for children. It features an array of motifs whose subjects would appeal to children, including animals and nursery rhyme characters. The term "kindergarten blocks" is used to describe this type of outline work, Redwork designs appealing to children that were stitched by children as young as six or seven.

Several of the blocks in this quilt are done in cross-stitch, one of the first styles of stitches a beginner learned. Several of the figures are small in scale indicating they could have been taken from patterns for children's clothing and accessories. Six of the designs in this quilt appeared in the 1920 editorial, Simple Designs That Little Miss Can Embroider or Paint.

By Mary Worrall

Quilt's title:

Little Miss Muffet

Names for quilt's pattern in common use:

Redwork

If you are the quilt owner, how did you acquire this quilt?

Purchased the quilt

Where the quilt was made, country:

United States

Time period:

1901-1929

When was the quilt started?

1921

When was the quilt finished?

1923

Quilt is presently used as:

Museum collection

Quiltmaker's country:

United States

This is a:

Finished quilt

How wide is the quilt?

77 3/4"

How long is the quilt?

75 3/4"

Shape of edge:

Scalloped

Quilt's condition:

Very good/almost new

Type of inscription:

Message

What is inscribed on the quilt?

"Good Night", "Little Miss Muffet", "Good Morning", "Winter", "Autumn", and "Monday". Monday is spelled backwards.

Number of quilt blocks:

64

Size of quilt blocks:

7 1/2"

Arrangement of quilt blocks:

Straight

Number of borders:

1

Describe the borders:

8"

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Embellishment techniques used to make the quilt top:

Embroidery

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton

Number of pieces of fabric in the quilt back:

3

How is the binding made?

Edges turned in/ no separate binding

What kind of filling is used in the quilt?

Cotton

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 1:

8

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 2:

8

Quilting designs used, overall motifs:

Outline

Describe the quilting designs used:

Rope

Features or notes about the quilt's appearance, materials, or construction:

Harding theorizes blocks stitched by children, sewn together by adult.

Where did the maker find their pattern?

Commercial/Published source: Pattern

Commercial name of the pattern for the top:

Six of the patterns appeared in a 1920 editorial "Simple Designs That Little Miss Can Embroider or Paint." Blocks 21, 25, 30, and 42 were transfer patterns from an editorial titled "Fruit, Flower, and Kiddie Motifs for Applique and Embroidery." Little Mis

Related items such as diaries, obituaries, wills, household inventories, or pictures of the quiltmaker:

Deborah Harding, Red and White: American Redwork Quilts and Patterns, Rizzoli, 2000 p 120-125.

Source of the information on this quilt:

Museum employee

Ownership of this quilt is:

Public- Michigan State University Museum

Quilt owner's name:

Michigan State University Museum

Quilt owner's city:

East Lansing

Quilt owner's county:

Ingham

Quilt owner's state:

Michigan (MI)

How was this quilt acquired?

Purchase

Tell the story of how the quilt was obtained:

2001, Deborah Harding purchase from a dealer in upstate New York who found it in Pennsylvania.

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

Copyright holder:

Michigan State University Museum