PATCHWORK QUILT

Quilts have always answered the physical needs of warmth and comfort. In the antebellum period, however, quilted bedcovers were also created for display of technical expertise and of the latest fashion in high-end imported textiles. These ornamental objects took advantage of colorful and expensive chintz fabrics imported from England, some of which were produced especially for use in coverlets. The central panel of patchwork squares of this diminutive bedcover was constructed and used for some time before it was bound, or rebound, and quilted in evenly-spaced diagonal rows in about 1830.  Although the patchwork panel shows signs of wear and laundering and some of the fabrics appear to have been recycled, the wide cotton chintz fabric used for the new border retains its original glazing. This suggests that the older panel was considered too valuable to be discarded and was updated to make it look more fashionable.

This quit, attributed to Harriet Kirk Marion of Belle Isle Plantation, Saint Stephen’s Parish, is one of three in MESDA’s collection worked by two generations of related and well-to-do Lowcountry planter families, the Marions and Palmers.