Material
Pleasures, LLC Summer Newsletter
Material Pleasures,
LLC
Material
Pleasures, LLC Free Shipping Policy:
all
domestic orders less than 1 pound - No Minimum Order!
You still have the
option of paying actual charges for Priority Shipping.
Orders
over $100 are shipped for free in the US, International Orders will receive
a discount. Consignment Items Excluded and clearly marked Consignment.
Calendar
No Shows Scheduled for
the Summer.
Next Show is Sept
27th. See our Calendar Page for more details.
I have been
busy listing new acquisitions.
Over 40 vintage
aprons! Vintage towels with novelty embroidery! Table linens including
vintage napkins and placemats and doilies! Antique fabrics! Antique
quilts!
Coming
soon…more table linens: heirloom and printed! more Antique and vintage quilts
and tops! Feedsacks! More Vintage fabrics!
Keep watching our What’s ‘New’ page. You can even sort
the listings by Newest to Oldest.
A
Common Question: "How do I wash an antique quilt with inked
signatures?"
These quilts with
inked signatures are sometimes called Album Quilts, and most date to the mid
19th century. Autograph books or albums were very popular during
this time. The signatures could have been collected for a variety of reasons:
wedding gift, going away gift, friendship quilts, or to raise funds. Album
quilts were made for decades, the earlier ones, usually were inked in pen in
long hand or stamped with their signature. Closer to the late 19th
century we find the signatures embroidered, like in Redwork Quilts.
But to answer your
question, you probably have a very early quilt in your hands if it has an inked
signature. DO NOT wash it. DO NOT dry clean it. Visit the American Quilters
Society to find a Certified Quilt Appraiser in your area so you can discern its
age if you need assistance, and they may be able to guide you further.
http://www.americanquilter.com/about_aqs/appraisers.php
Feature
Article: “Signature Quilts”
Last month, I discuss
inked signatures on quilts…this month I seem to be haunted by Signature Quilts,
in a good way of course. I recently acquired two signature quilts from
Bergen County, NJ and am actively researching the names. I
was just given an early Signature Quilt for consignment, the fabrics are
fantastic, and we have provenance of this little piece of history. And if you
get Country Home Magazine, you’ll know that Signature Quilts came in at #2 on
their Top 10 Collectibles List.
 
Quilt collectors will
often focus on a specific type of quilt to collect…because unfortunately, we
just can’t have them all, now can we? And I imagine, as collectors, our
curiosity of where a quilt comes from is the reason why Signature Quilts have
grown in popularity. When we look at a quilt without a label, or with certain
provenance, we can still accurately date a quilt, we might even be able to
assign a general geographical origin a quilt may come from…bur Signature quilts
offer us other clues. We can research the names and pin point a town a quilt
originates. Possibly even the school or church, ladies group, fundraising
occasion, etc. Sometimes this information is written on the
quilt.
We can romanticize how
the quilt brought people together, or maybe the quilters bickered about the lay
out. We can imagine the recipient’s gratefulness, awe, and wonder when the
quilt was presented to them. Or how the funds earned through the quilt help put
a roof on a church, or support our soldiers in a foreign war. How, if the quilt
traveled west, did the owner look at the quilt and fondly remembered her
friends. Quilts generally give us a feeling of comfort, warmth, and love, but
Signature quilts seem to stir something deeper.
Until the end of the
summer, I will offer $100 off each of my Signature Quilts. If you would like to
make an offer on the Consigned Signature Quilt, I will gladly present it to the
consignor.
My best,
Dana
Balsamo
Material Pleasures, LLC
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