Stenciled bedcovers

Magazine Antiques, Feb, 2003 by Lynne Zacek Bassett

The earlier coverlets often show the most creativity Emily Morton took the common stenciled motif of a vessel with flowers and enlarged it for the center of her 1826 coverlet (Pl. X). Stencils could be combined in a variety of ways to create a unique (if not always successful) design. The maker of the coverlet in Plate XII appears to have been rather careless with the planning and placement of her stencils, but it is possible that she meant for the coverlet to be on a bed pushed against the wall. If only one side showed at a time, she could get a different look, and more even wear from the coverlet, by rotating which side was showing.

The willow tree, as seen on the coverlet in Plate XII, was a popular motif for stenciling on walls, as were various other elements and decorative borders found on stenciled coverlets. Hannah Corbin of Woodstock, Connecticut, stenciled her coverlet in stripes, as the design of walls was commonly organized (Pls. XI, XIa), and, indeed, the delicacy of her stenciling suggests a wallpaper pattern; small dots of black on the baskets and flowers add visual texture and detail. The similarities between wall and bedcover designs raise the question of whether women stenciled their chamber walls as well as their bedcovers. Publications focusing on architectural stenciling emphasize itinerant male artisans and give little credence to the possibility that women might have done their own decorative wall painting. For example, Nina Fletcher Little wrote in American Decorative Wall Painting, 1700-1850, "there are persistent traditions which ascribe several stenciled walls to the efforts of amateur members of the family Some o f these designs, however, have been found again in widely separated localities." (25) She logically concluded that itinerant professionals were responsible for the similar stenciled walls within regions. However, it also seems possible that a woman might pass on to her friends a stencil (or stencils) after she had finished with them. Alternatively two different people could have chosen the same precut stencil designs, as in the case of the two coverlets that share the same border. The coloring matter for the two surfaces--textile and Plaster--were different; but if a woman could concoct a dye with dangerous chemicals, she certainly would not have been daunted by the glue-based distemper paints used on walls.

New Englanders and New Yorkers took great advantage of the inventions and advances of thc industrial revolution to create vibrant interiors with colorful and inexpensive printed textiles for windows and beds, woven carpets and rugs for floors, and contrasting paint schemes for walls. Stenciled bedcovers answered their desires for boldly colored designs that could be done easily by an amateur at home. While we still cannot consider stenciled bedcovers to be common, it is evident that many rural women in the northeastern United States participated in this craft.

I wish to thank the curatorial staff of thc museums consulted; their assistance was invariably pleasant and prompt, and they remembered my interest and continued to send my information even after the initial inquiry, Deborah Kraak of the Curatrix Group and Susan Bleimehl, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, were particularly generous in sharing their research on this topic.