QUILT INDEX RECORD
25-21-359
Who documented this quilt?
Texas Sesquicentennial Quilt Association, Texas Quilt Search
Where are the records for this quilt housed?
Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin
Texas Quilt Search Number:
tqs_0025
Person filling out this form is:
Quilt owner; Relative of quiltmaker; Other
Source of the information on this quilt:
This quilt was identified and reviewed during the Texas Sesquicentennial Quilt Association's Texas Quilt Search, 1983-1985. Karey Bresenhan served as quilt historian.
When was the form filled out?
1983-1985
Choose the best description of the source to the quilt:
Quilt owner
If you are the quilt owner, how did you acquire this quilt?
Inherited
Describe the relationship to the quilt's maker:
The quiltmaker was the grandmother of the quilt's present owner's husband.
This is a:
Finished quilt
Owner's name for quilt:
Crown of Thorns
Names for quilt's pattern in common use:
New York Beauty, Rocky Mountain Road
How wide is the quilt?
72 in.
How long is the quilt?
81 in.
Shape of edge:
Straight
Shape of corners:
Rounded
What color is the quilt?
Green; Red; White; Yellow
Overall color scheme:
Bright or primary colors
Quilt's condition:
Excellent/like new
Describe the damage:
very slight discoloration
Notes on condition, damage, or repairs:
In 1985, as part of the preparations for the “Lone Stars: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, 1836-1936” exhibit in the Texas Capitol Rotunda, the Texas Sesquicentennial Quilt Association sponsored a Quilt Conservation Seminar. Part of the seminar was a two-day intensive hands-on laboratory attended by quilt experts who stabilized, backed, or otherwise prepared the quilts, including this one, for this exhibition.
Time period:
1850-1875
Family/owner's date for quilt:
ca. 1876
Date estimated by an antique dealer, quilt historian or appraiser:
ca. 1875
Who estimated the quilt's date?
Karey Bresenhan
Further information concerning dates:
Owner believes quilt was made close to the time of the quiltmaker's marriage, which was in 1876.
Describe the quilt's layout:
Block pattern
Number of quilt blocks:
six full blocks, six half blocks, two quarter blocks
Arrangement of quilt blocks:
Straight
Spacing of quilt blocks:
Separated by cornerstones or connecting blocks sashing (different fabric in intersection); Separated by inner only sashing (no sashing along outer edge of outer blocks)
Number of different block patterns used in the quilt:
1
What is the shape of the quilt blocks?
Squares
Number of borders:
0
Describe the borders:
quarter circles with rays and sashing at top do not extend all the way to the edge, creating a bit of border at top. This is created by machine sewn binding at top.
Fiber types used to make the quilt top:
Cotton
Fabric types used to make the quilt top:
Muslin
Fabric styles used in the quilt top:
Print; Solid/plain
Describe the fibers or fabrics in the quilt top:
small pink print fabric binding
Piecing techniques used to make the quilt top:
Hand Piecing; Machine Piecing
Describe the techniques used to make the quilt top:
binding and white strip at top are machine pieced; all else is hand pieced
Can you feel or see paper on the quilt that was used as a construction aid?
no
Materials used to make the back:
Cotton
What color is the back of the quilt?
White
Describe the back:
Same fabric used throughout; Solid/plain
Materials used in the quilt binding:
Cotton
Describe the binding:
Print pink binding is machine sewn on. Karey Bresenhan notes that this strawberry print fabric is widely available at this time which is why it is seen in so many quilts where no other pink is found.
How is the binding made?
Machine sewn
What is the width of the binding (measure on the top only)?
less than a half inch
What kind of filling is used in the quilt?
Cotton
How thick is the quilt?
Thin (Less than 3/16?)
How are the layers held together?
Hand quilting
Thread type used for the quilting:
cotton
Width between quilting lines:
1 in.
Quilting designs used, overall motifs:
Grid/crosshatch; Other
Describe the quilting designs used:
concentric circles in the fan-shaped corners of each blocks; quadruple quilting in set; half-inch grid elsewhere
Features or notes about the quilt's appearance, materials, or construction:
Quilt features exceptional curved-seam piecing, tiny pieced rays, and two exquisite twelve-pointed pieced stars. There are eleven red rays and twelve white ones, all hand pieced. The white strip in the sashing is pieced in, not appliqued. Quilt remains bright and crisp and is in excellent condition.
Quilt top made by:
Griffin, Virginia Catherine Sears
Quilted by:
Griffin, Virginia Catherine Sears
Where the quilt was made, city:
Whitewright
Where the quilt was made, county:
Grayson
Where the quilt was made, state:
Texas (TX)
Where the quilt was made, country:
United States
How was this quilt acquired?
Inheritance
Tell the story of how the quilt was obtained:
Quiltmaker Virginia Catherine Sears was born in 1860 near Whitewright, Texas. She made this quilt when she was sixteen, the year she married. The quilt was passed on to her daughter, who in turn passed it on to her son, Morris Biffle, the present owner's husband.
Describe anything about the history of the quilt that wasn't already recorded in a previous field:
Virginia Catherine, known as Kate, grew up in Whitewright, Texas, which is where her parents settled in 1855, having moved from Alabama by oxcart. Their daughter Kate married John Griffin in 1876. The couple lived in or near Whitewright or Gainseville all their married lives. Kate died tragically in 1937 in an automobile accident.
Why was the quilt made?
Wedding
The quilt was made to be used for:
Bedding, special occasion
Quilt is presently used as:
Keepsake/memento
Where did the maker get their materials?
Unknown
Where did the maker find their pattern?
Public domain/traditional pattern
Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:
One of 62 Texas quilts exhibited in “Lone Stars: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, 1836-1936,” Texas State Capitol Rotunda, Austin, Texas, April 19-21, 1986.
Related items such as diaries, obituaries, wills, household inventories, or pictures of the quiltmaker:
Texas Sesquicentennial Quilt Association’s Texas Quilt Search Archives
Publications (including web sites) where this quilt or maker was featured:
Bresenhan, Karoline Patterson and Nancy O'Bryant Puentes, Lone Stars: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, Vol. I, 1836-1936 (Austin: University of Texas Press), p. 72-73.
Ownership of this quilt is:
Private
Quilt owner's name:
Biffle, Dorothy G.
Quilt owner's state:
Texas (TX)
Quilt owner's country:
United States
Quiltmaker's maiden name:
Sears, Virginia Catherine
Quiltmaker's gender:
Female
Quiltmaker's birth date:
06/11/1860
Quiltmaker's birthplace, state:
Texas
Quiltmaker's birthplace, country:
United States
Quiltmaker's date and place of death:
09/17/1937
Quiltmaker's occupation:
homemaker
In which kind of environment did the quiltmaker live?
Rural
Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and/or partner's/partners' occupation:
farmer, store owner
Number of children:
1
How many of the quiltmaker's children were girls?
1
When did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?
Age 11-19
Why does the quiltmaker quilt?
Necessity; Pleasure
Who photographed this quilt?
Sharon Risedorph
Access and copyright information:
Restricted
Copyright holder:
Assistant Director Winedale
Details
Cite this Quilt
Griffin, Virginia Catherine Sear. Crown of Thorns. 1850-1875. From Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin, Texas Sesquicentennial Quilt Association, Texas Quilt Search. Published in The Quilt Index, https://quiltindex.org/view/?type=fullrec&kid=25-21-359. Accessed: 03/28/24
-
Essay
I Love New York Beauties: A Brief Hist...
Jenison, Leslie