QUILT INDEX RECORD

12-8-10168

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:

87.0145

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

2006:114.1

Object label:

The Sarah Haynes Quilt
Sarah Haynes
Gladwin, Gladwin County, Michigan
1892-1909
Collection of Michigan State University Museum acc.#2006:114.1

Essay:

This dazzling quilt, made from 33,782 tiny silk triangles, was the 17-year task of quilter Sarah Haynes. Haynes, the wife of a Civil War veteran from Gladwin, Michigan, began the quilt in 1892. She purchased the silk in half-yard lengths, and, for each of the half-inch pieces of silk, she cut a tiny paper template. The quilt was then pieced with mathematical precision in the English manner, overhand, from the back of the quilt. Haynes finished the quilt with a maroon silk ruffle and silk-covered buttons at six-inch intervals. The result has been described as a "tribute to obsession."

In 1929 Sarah Haynes won a $15 First Prize at the Women's International Exhibition at Detroit's Convention Hall. Sometime later the magnificent quilt passed from the family's hands to a Detroit attorney in lieu of a fee. Before it was accessioned by the Michigan State University Museum, the quilt was a part of the Esprit Collection of Esprit, Inc., San Fransisco, California.

From Michigan Quilts: 150 Years of a Textile Tradition.

Owner's name for the quilt:

Hexagons

Names for quilt's pattern in common use:

Tiny Triangles

Quilt top made by:

Haynes, Sarah A.

Quilted by:

Haynes, Sarah A.

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

Purchased the quilt

Where the quilt was made, city:

Gladwin

Where the quilt was made, county:

Gladwin

Where the quilt was made, state:

Michigan (MI)

Time period:

1901-1929

When was the quilt started?

1892

When was the quilt finished?

1909

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's city:

Gladwin

Quiltmaker's county:

Gladwin

Quiltmaker's state:

Michigan (MI)

This is a:

Finished quilt

How wide is the quilt?

74"

How long is the quilt?

88"

Shape of corners:

Rounded

Overall color scheme:

Multicolor

Quilt's condition:

Poor/very worn

Damage:

Disintegration of fabric

Number of quilt blocks:

approximately 40 blocks, 33,782 pieces

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Silk

Materials used to make the back:

Silk

How is the binding made?

Ruffles

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Contests entered:

Women's International Exhibition, Detroit, MI, 10/15/1929, $15. Sponsored by the Detroit Free Press.

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

Michigan Quilts (1987) book, figure 86, page 65. The Twentieth Century's Best American Quilt, page 44. Detroit Free Press, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 1975

Person filling out this form is:

Quilt owner

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 state:

Michigan (MI)

Quilt owner's country:

United States

How was this quilt acquired?

Purchase

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

Suspenseful Tale of a Quilt Will it Come Home? by Lillian Jackson Braun Free Press Good Design Writer A fabulous pieced quilt, made by a Michigan woman at the turn of the century, has come to light in California. Its past is well documented; its future is uncertain. What will happen to the quilt of 33,782 triangles? It is a suspensful story that began in 1892, when Sarah A. Haynes of Gladwin, Mich., wife of a Civil War veteran, commenced a 17 year task. She pieced half-inch triangles of grosgrain silk, averaging 11 stitches to the half inch, to make a dazzling hexagonal design. The multicolor quilt was backed and ruffled with maroon silk and anchored at six inch intervals with silk-covered buttons. Chapter two: In 1929 Mrs. Haynes' quilt was one of 700 in the Women's International Exhibition at Detroit's Convention Hall, where it won first prize in its class. The award - a grand sum of $15 - was announced in the Detroit Free Press and the Gladwin County Record, copies of which have been preserved with the quilt. Mrs. Hayne's hometown paper gave all the details. The many-colored silks had been bought in half-yard lengths. For each tiny triangle, a piece of paper was cut and covered with silk. The patches were then sewed overhand on the wrong side. Corners of the triangles met with mathematical precision. The quilt was insured for $3000. Chapter three: Some time laater the quilt was given to the colorful Detroit attorney, O.K. Underwood, in lieu of fee, and subsequently it passed on to his granddaughter in California. Chapter four: The scene shifts to the west coast, and two young quilt connoisseurs from the Detroit area enter the story. Julie Silber and Linda reuther, who now operate a quilt gallery in California, recently discovered the Sarah Haynes quilt at an exhibition and learned that the owner was ready to dispose of it. "She needed the money to finance her children's education," they said. "The quilt has been stored under a bed for 30 years. "The asking price is $5000 and California collectors are interested, but we think the quilt belongs in a Michigan museum, where it can be displayed and enjoyed by the public." The grosgrain silk is in good condition except for minimal "whisker damage," where it has been pulled up under chins on cold nights. The maroon silk backing is weakening with age, however, and requires expert conservation measures. If the quilt does not go to a Michigan institution by Jan. 1, one of the California bids will be accepted. Further information may be obtained by writing Ms. Silber and Ms. Ruether at their gallery, 936 R Street, San Rafael, Calif. 94901. Hexagon (The Sarah Haynes Quilt) Made by Sarah Haynes 1892-1909 74" x 88" Silks, hand pieced and tied Esprit Collection The personal challenge undertaken by Sarah Haynes in 1892, was to create a quilt with nearly 34,000 pieces. It took her seventeen years and one day. Using a tin template made by her husbanc, Sarah cut paper pieces to back each of the on-half-inch grosgrain silk triangles she had also cut. The silks were sorted by color and kept in cigar boxes, allowing her a measure of control over color placements of the segments, which are arranged in mosaic hexagons. The equilateral triangles are whipstitched in the English manner, 22 stitches per half-inch side. In 1929 the quilt was exhibited at Hudson's Department Store in Detroit, and insured for $10,000. It also took the $15 first prize at the Detroit Women's International Exhibition. Sometime later Haynes gave the quilt to Detroit attorney William Underwood in lieu of a fee. It passed to his daughter and then his granddaughter, who received it when she was ten years old. She kept it under her bed in a box and it was not seen publicly until the late 1980s when it appeared in a local California quilt show. It was subsequently appraised and sold to Doug Tompkins, and became part of the corporate collection of Esprit, Inc., San Francisco. According to the collection's curator, Julie Silber, the quilt is in fragile condition and in need of restoration. Xenia Cord for The Twentieth Century's Best American Quilts, page 44.

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

Who photographed this quilt?

The Quilt Complex

Copyright holder:

Michigan State University Museum