Quilt appraiser shares secrets
The best place to store an heirloom quilt is probably on a bed, Alice McElwain, a certified quilt appraiser told a roomful of quilt owners at the Bella Vista Historical Museum last week. The presentation, “Let’s Talk About Quilts,” was open to everyone.
Quilts should be stored flat, if there isn’t a seldom-used guest room available to store quilts, they can be folded and placed in a pillowcase. She folds quilts on the bias, usually starting at one corner and folding diagonally. Valuable quilts can be stored with acid-free tissue paper between layers.
Quilts can be stored in a cedar chest, but don’t allow a quilt to touch the inside of the chest. Don’t store quilts in the attic or garage. They should be in a climate controlled portion of the house and need to be taken out, inspected and refolded every six months.
Several of the participants brought quilts along, and McElwain told them about their treasures.
A quilt is dated according to its newest fabric, she explained. Many quilts, especially scrap quilts, are made from a wide range of fabrics. A quilt might have pieces that are 30 or 40 years apart in age. But, she said, no quilter can use 1920 fabric in 1910.
Sometimes the pattern gives away the age. Historians know when some patterns were published, like the “Flowers of Spring” quilt that was brought. It was probably purchased as a kit, McElwain said, and the pattern debuted in 1936.
The binding can also give quilt appraisers information since specific material for binding wasn’t always available.
Quilters should always label their work, she said. Even the creator doesn’t always remember when the work was done.
By examining stitches, McElwain can determine if a quilt was made by one person or by a group working together.
Looking at a quilt in the “Crown of Thorns” pattern, McElwain quickly identified one of the colors as “poison” green. It’s called poison green because arsenic was used in the dying process. People didn’t realize the danger for mill workers and seamstresses.
Among her audience were several members of the Quilt Detectives, a group that meets monthly at the Peel Museum in Bentonville to talk about quilts.
McElwain has another presentation scheduled at the museum in January when she’ll talk about “The Quilt Code of the Underground Railroad; Fact or Fiction?” That presentation will be on Sunday, Jan. 27, at 2 p.m.