QUILT INDEX RECORD

25-21-367

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_0034

Person filling out this form is:

Quilt owner; 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 present owner of this quilt is the grandson of the quiltmaker.

This is a:

Finished quilt

Owner's name for quilt:

Sunflower

How wide is the quilt?

88 in.

How long is the quilt?

99 in.

Shape of edge:

Straight

Shape of corners:

Rounded

What color is the quilt?

Blue or Navy; Brown; Green; Orange; Red; White

Overall color scheme:

Bright or primary colors

Quilt's condition:

Good/moderate use

Damage:

Fading; Fold marks or creases; Stains; Tears or holes; Wear to edge or binding

Describe the damage:

two small mouse holes

Repairs:

Tear or hole sewn together

Describe the repairs:

Karey noted at the time of her review of this quilt that two small mouse holes have been expertly repaired on the top. However, no attempt has been made to hide them at the back. Repairs have been documented on the quilt.

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.

Type of inscription:

Date; Initials; Message

What is inscribed on the quilt?

S E Davenport April 6 1885 / Navarro Co / Kirvin Community 1885

What is the date inscribed on the quilt?

1885

Location of inscription:

multiple locations

Describe where the inscription was found:

inscriptions are on quilt blocks

Time period:

1876-1900

When was the quilt finished?

1885

Family/owner's date for quilt:

1885

Date estimated by an antique dealer, quilt historian or appraiser:

1885

Who estimated the quilt's date?

Karey Bresenhan

Further information concerning dates:

inscription dated

Describe the quilt's layout:

Block pattern

Number of quilt blocks:

20

Arrangement of quilt blocks:

Straight

Spacing of quilt blocks:

Separated by inner only sashing (no sashing along outer edge of outer blocks); Separated by pieced pattern sashing

Number of different block patterns used in the quilt:

1

What is the shape of the quilt blocks?

Squares

Number of borders:

4

Describe the borders:

Inner plain red border, orange narrow border, then plain red border and outer green (faded to tan) border.

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Fabric styles used in the quilt top:

Print; Solid/plain

Piecing techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Piecing

Can you feel or see paper on the quilt that was used as a construction aid?

no

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton

Describe the back:

Solid/plain

Materials used in the quilt binding:

Cotton

Describe the binding:

thin red binding does not go all around quilt; green, now faded, is a one end and part of both sides.

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

Color of thread used in the quilting:

various (contrast quilting)

Quilting designs used, overall motifs:

Double parallel lines

Describe the quilting designs used:

Double parallel lines set diagonally into sunflower; double parallel lines in sunflower center form cross. Contrast quilting on back from use of thread to match top colors.

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

Original dark green fabric has faded to olive drab. Probably never washed and rarely used. The blocks in this quilt are all of the same design, although they feature a variety of fabric combinations.

Name of the group that made the quilt:

Kirvin Community

Where the quilt was made, city:

Kirvin

Where the quilt was made, county:

Freestone

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:

This quilt was made in 1885 as a presentation quilt for Thomas Chatman Simmons. Although some of its makers may have hoped to marry Thomas, he returned to his home state of Georgia, where he married Achie Anna Askew in 1887. The couple returned to live in the Kirvin Community, near Wortham, in 1900. When Anna Simmons died in 1913, the oldest daughter, Ola Mae, raised the children. She also inherited the quilt. She passed the Sunflower quilt on to her oldest son, Tom, who in turn passed it on to his brother, Emmett Frank Hardie, the present owner.

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

Karey Bresenhan notes that this quilt is a Freedom Quilt, traditionally a quilt made for a young man by his female friends--the only quilts made especially for men. Typically they were made for and given to men when they became twenty-one years old and reached their legal majority or when they finished an apprenticeship in a trade or occupation. When the quiltmaker's oldest daughter Ola Mae married, her friends in the Kirvin Community also made her a quilt.

Why was the quilt made?

Gift or presentation

The quilt was made to be used for:

Bedding, special occasion

Was the quilt used for something other than what it is used for now?

never washed, rarely used

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. 90-91.

Ownership of this quilt is:

Private

Quilt owner's name:

Emmett Frank Hardie

Quilt owner's state:

Texas (TX)

Quilt owner's country:

United States

Quiltmaker's gender:

Group

Does/did the quiltmaker belong to a group? Name of the group?

Kirvin Community

Where does/did the group meet?

Kirvin, Texas

Who photographed this quilt?

Sharon Risedorph

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

Copyright holder:

Assistant Director Winedale