T-shaped quilts: A New England Phenomenon

Magazine Antiques, Dec, 1997 by Jeannette Lasansky

Regional differences in American quilts have often been considered in terms of the fabrics used, the palette, patterns, quilting motifs, and the over-all organization of the patterns and motifs.(1) In addition, it can now be confirmed that in the case of what are often called cutout or cut-corner quilts, the shape of the finished bedcover is an indication of its place of origin. Moreover, my analysis of the results of various quilt documentation projects around the country(2) and actual physical examination of dozens of quilts and quilt tops in museum collections in the Northeast has led me to various other conclusions about these quilts.

Despite their name, rarely was anything really ever cut out of these quilts; the "missing" front corners allow the quilt to hang neatly around the two foot posts of a bed without excess fabric to bunch up. Some variants have no sections "missing" at all, but have slits cut at a forty-five degree angle from the front corners into the quilt's design, neatly finished with the quilt's binding material. Very often the design and construction of the quilts and quilt tops show that they were carefully pieced or appliqued to accommodate, and sometimes to accentuate, the "cutout" sections. Because of their distinctive appearance, some curators and collectors refer to them as T-shaped quilts (and despite the truncated nature of the T, this seems to be the most accurate term for most of them), while others, assuming they were made exclusively for high-post beds, call them "four-poster" quilts. A number incorporate circular, or keyhole-like, openings at the corners of the "cutouts" (see Pl. II); some of these have ties to secure the quilt around the bedposts and others have buttons and button loops located a few inches from the circular opening for the same purpose.(3) The drops, or hanging sections, of these quilts vary considerably in depth, from 5 1/2 to 33 inches.(4)

A review of the literature on American quilts over the past quarter of a century suggests that T-shaped quilts (and candlewick, crocheted, and crewelwork bedcovers and bed rugs in the same shape) are primarily from New England.(5) Only one T-shaped quilt has been published as by a specific maker in Philadelphia, and two or three examples each have been attributed in print to New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and Maryland.(6) No published examples have been attributed to quilt makers in any other states.

The completion of dozens of regional and state quilt documentation projects in and outside New England now confirms the observation that these quilts are a New England phenomenon. Projects and follow-up inquiries in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania covering nearly twenty-thousand quilts and quilt tops yielded fewer than a dozen T-shaped examples - some with a weak provenance or none at all.(7) By contrast, similar projects completed in Vermont, Maine, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, and ongoing ones in New Hampshire and Massachusetts have found that from about two to eight percent of the examples from those states are in the T shape, and that they span the entire period from about 1780 to the present. Specifically:

Maine: 1,504 quilts and quilt tops studied; 116 (nearly 8 percent) are T shaped, with examples seen at all but two of the twenty-two documentation sites in the state. Although they range in date from 1800 to 1937, most are from the mid-nineteenth century.(8)

New Hampshire: 950 quilts and quilt tops studied; 43 (4.5 percent) are T shaped, with examples from sixteen different sites, covering all but the northernmost section of the state.(9)

Vermont: 4,596 quilts and quilt tops studied; 164 (or 3.6 percent) are T shaped and 20 of these have provenances in New England states other than Vermont. Most date between 1840 and 1880, very few between 1890 and 1920.(10)

Rhode Island: 873 quilts and quilt tops studied; 25 (or 2.9 percent) are T shaped, and they range in date from 1780 to 1940.(11)

Connecticut: 3,042 quilts and quilt tops studied; 42 (or 1.4 percent) are T shaped.(12)

Massachusetts: Statistics are not yet available, but T-shaped examples have been identified from the state.(13)

In addition, New England museums that have large holdings of regional quilts, such as Old Sturbridge Village, in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, and the Maine State Museum, in Augusta, report that between 22.8 and 9.7 percent of their quilts have this distinctive corner treatment.(14)

My collation of the information from museums and quilt projects also reveals that contrary to the accepted notion that T-shaped quilts date from before 1830, they were made over a long period of time, from as early as 1780 to the present. Those made between 1780 and 1830 are generally whole-cloth or have simple pieced motifs; those from the mid-nineteenth century have appliqued or pieced designs, and include elaborate sampler quilts; later nineteenth-century ones feature fabrics from the 1860s to the 1890s or Turkey-red-embroidered penny squares from the 1880s to about 1920 [ILLUSTRATION FOR Pl. III OMITTED]; still others are in patterns introduced in the twentieth century. The only quilt type that has not yet been seen in the T shape is the velvet or silk crazy quilt.(15)