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Section of the Lockridge quilt,
made 1830-1832.
Turkey Tracks pattern alternates with blocks
quilted with wreaths and crosshatched lines.
The lovely designs of American quilts, the highly imaginative
names
used for the patterns, and the documentation of the ... quilts
combine to form a little-known section of the American story.
Through quilts, we are able to view history
from a women's perspective
Dolores A. Hinson,
Quilting Manual 1970
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The American quilt evolved from European influences brought to this country
by the early colonial settlers. By the nineteenth century, quilts had become
uniquely American in design, technique and in the social traditions
associated with them. One tradition that evolved in America was the quilting
bee. These popular social events gave women from isolated farmsteads an
opportunity to share news, as well as quilt patterns and scraps of cloth.
Quilting bees were usually held outside, since the quilt frames were larger
than any room in the small cabins. There the women would stitch together the
three layers that compose the quilt -- the backing, the batting and the
quilt tops each woman had made during the winter.
Quilts were often made to mark special occasions in people's lives. Before
1870, no wedding dowry was complete without a Bride's Quilt. Hearts
symbolized the bride, and few had quilts without the conspicuous use of
heart-shaped patches or quilting. Before 1840, heart designs were used only
for a Bride's Quilt -- if it was used on any other kind it was believed the
girl would never get married. In New England, a Freedom Quilt was often
presented to a young man on his 21st birthday. The quilt symbolized
independence; now he could leave home and live his own life. These quilts
were made by the young man's female friends, and was pieced out of scraps of
their prettiest gowns. Women also used quilts as a record of their lives. A
wife might save a piece from every garment she possessed, beginning with her
wedding dress. Adding pieces from her children's clothes, she combined them
into a patchwork quilt that recorded her married life history.
The designs and patterns used in quilts often had special or symbolic
meanings. For example, doves symbolized femininity, pineapples denoted
hospitality, and red roses meant love. Many quilt patterns commemorate
historical events, others have biblical references, and each state and many
cities have quilt patterns named after them. One pattern, Wandering
Foot, developed a superstition that anyone that slept under it would
develop wanderlust and a tendency toward a discontented, unstable, roving
disposition. In an effort to dispel the curse, but save the pattern, it was
renamed Turkey Tracks.
The oldest quilt in the WRVM's collection was made in 1832. The quilt is red
and green on a white background. Pieced blocks in the Turkey Tracks pattern
alternate with white blocks quilted with wreaths and cross-hatched lines.
This quilt was made by Damara Todd Lockridge. Born in 1796 in North
Carolina, she married John Lockridge in 1822. During the period the quilt
was made, the family lived in Illinois. In the 1840s the family moved to a
farm in Iowa. There, Damara Lockridge died in 1857. The quilt was given to
their son, John, who moved to the Enumclaw area in 1884. Over the years, the
rest of the Lockridge children settled in the Auburn-Enumclaw-Buckley area.
The quilt was passed down in the family, and was generously donated to the
museum by Jane Gattavara in 1989. We are proud to feature the Lockridge
quilt in the new exhibits at the museum.
Dr. Tina Brewster Wray
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