Mrs. Wilson's Heirloom quilt, or Hedges quilt, or Pictorial quilt

Mrs. Wilson's Heirloom quilt, or Hedges quilt, or Pictorial quilt , circa 1790–1810

Where object was made: England, United Kingdom

Material/technique: linen; cotton; silk; wool; paper; raffia; embroidering; appliqué; piecing; ink; stumpwork

Dimensions:
Object Length/Width (Length x Width): 99 x 98 1/2 in
Object Length/Width (Length x Width): 250.19 x 251.46 cm

Credit line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold D. Hedges in memory of Mr. and Mrs. M. R. Lockard

Accession number: 1980.0019

Not on display

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Label texts

Exhibition Label:
"Quilts: Flora Botanica," Jun-2008, Barbara Brackman and Susan Earle
This early English quilt is quite unusual in its depictions of small scenes from everyday life. Each character in the center and border is portrayed in a type of three-dimensional stump work known as a “dressed picture,” figures cut from paper and clad in fabric. Over the past 200 years the paper bodies and silk faces have deteriorated, but embroidered and tucked details of their costume remain. Note the wool uniforms of the “redcoat” soldiers fighting in the Napoleonic wars.

Quilt historian Nancy Hornback writes: “Some of the scenes, viewed in sequence, seem to tell a story: a woman and a man meet; he proposes; he goes off on a ship; they marry, she gets news of peace; he rides home; she presents him with twins.” She interprets the center area, the oval medallion, as a wedding party. The churchyard is framed by a pair of classical columns hung with floral vines, much like the pillar prints of the era. She has identified several possible makers in the donor’s family of vicars, farmers, and military men who lived in Yorkshire, in England’s north.

The patchwork coverlet, like many early English quilts, was never meant to be quilted. Before the piece came to the Spencer collection the donor’s aunt, worried about deteriorating fabrics, attached a bedsheet backing and brought the edges over the front for support.

Archive Label:
In 1790 Mrs. Wilson began this elaborate quilt that depicts a variety of scenes from Wilson family history around its border. The quilt is made from two tones of homespun, hand-printed linen, and fabric from family garments. The appliqued figures around the border are stuffed with paper, and the fabric of the costumes is pressed around paper and tacked down. The quilt was incomplete when Mrs. Wilson died in 1825.