QUILT INDEX RECORD

12-8-7970

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:

85.1118

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

6614.1

Object label:

Wholecloth Quilt
Edmund Bailey (1787-1873) and Mary Bigelow Bailey (1795-1879)
Connecticut; brought to Michigan in 1881
ca. 1812-1813
Collection of Michigan State University Museum acc.#6614.1

Essay:

Edmund Bailey and Mary Bigelow made this quilt during their courtship. Together they quilted the designs that Edmund had drawn on the dark blue top. The top, filling, and backing were made from wool that was grown, spun, and woven on the family farm where the courtship took place. The Baileys moved from Connecticut to Racine, Wisconsin and had eight children. In 1881 their quilt was brought to Hastings, Michigan, by their granddaughter, Malvina More Lombard, who was the grandmother of the donor, Marjorie Suzanne Smith. It was displayed at the Barry County Fair in 1930.

The top consists of two large pieces of solid-blue wool and linen fabric, often called linsey-woolsey, and the backing is composed of four pieces of solid-brown wool homespun. The quilting designs include a central flower basket surrounded by scalloped feathers, tulips, daisies, and pineapples against a background of parallel diagonal lines.

Owner's name for the quilt:

Indigo wool wholecloth

When was the form filled out?

11/19/1985

Quilt top made by:

Bailey, Mary; Bailey, Edmund

Quilted by:

Bailey, Mary; Bailey, Edmund

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

Received as a gift

Where the quilt was made, state:

Connecticut (CT)

Time period:

1800-1849

When was the quilt finished?

1811

Quilt is presently used as:

Museum collection

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's state:

Connecticut (CT)

Quiltmaker's maiden name:

Bigelow

Quiltmaker's birth date:

1795

Quiltmaker's date and place of death:

1879

Quiltmaker's father's ethnic/tribal background:

English

Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and /or partner's/partners' name(s):

Bailey, Edmund

Number of children:

8

When did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?

Age 20-29

This is a:

Finished quilt

How wide is the quilt?

95"

How long is the quilt?

100"

Shape of edge:

Straight

Quilt's condition:

Very good/almost new

Damage:

Tears or holes

What is inscribed on the quilt?

Mary Bigelow

What is the date inscribed on the quilt?

1811

Method used to make the inscription:

In the quilting

Describe the quilt's layout:

Wholecloth

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Wool

Piecing techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Piecing

Materials used to make the back:

Wool

Number of pieces of fabric in the quilt back:

4

How is the binding made?

Edges turned in/ no separate binding

What kind of filling is used in the quilt?

Wool

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 1:

7

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 2:

8

Quilting designs used, background fills:

Parallel lines

Describe the quilting designs used:

Pineapples, Flower Basket, Scallops

Describe the sources of the quilt's materials:

The wool used in the quilt was grown, spun, and woven on the family farm in CT, where the courtship took place. The batting was also wool, made on the family farm. A note found in the records says, "glazed linen made by using beeswax and rubbing with ston

Where did the maker find their pattern?

Original to maker

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

Michigan Quilts: A Celebration of 150 Years of Textile Tradition, East Lansing, MI, September 12-November 1, 1987, Kresge Art Museum, MSU; Michigan Quilts exhibit, Chicago Hilton and Towers, International Quilt Market and Festival, May 9-14, 1989.

Contests entered:

Barry County Fair, Hastings, MI, 1930

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

Michigan Quilts (1987), book, figure 1, page 19.

Publications (including web sites) where this quilt or maker was featured:

Photo of paper label that says, "Quilt displayed by Mrs. J.T. Lombard. Made 125 years ago by her Grandmother Material-Homespun and dyed Padded with wool from her farm Quilting done by grandmother and grandfather during their courtship days" There are also pictures of all the quiltmakers descendants, daughter, Catherine Bailey More granddaughter, Malvina More Lombard great granddaughter, Edith Lombard Smith. There is also a photocopy of the family tree. The flower pot design is his work 1935

Source of the information on this quilt:

Museum volunteer

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?

Gift

Tell the story of how the quilt was obtained:

The quilt was brought to Hastings, MI in 1881 by the makers granddaughter, Malvina More Lombard. It was passed down in the family. Heirs to the coverlet have been: Catherine Bailey Moore, 1825-1919; Malvina More Lombard, 1854-1935; Edith Lombard Smith, 1883-; Marjorie Suzanne Smith, 1926- donor

Describe anything about the history of the quilt that wasn't already recorded in a previous field:

Made during the couple's courtship. Edmund drew the designs, and they both quilted them.

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

Where did the quiltmaker find the pattern for the quilting design on this quilt?

Original to maker

Describe where the quilting design pattern was found:

Designs drawn by Edmund

Copyright holder:

Michigan State University Museum