Solve the mystery quilt story

15 years ago

I came across a mystery at our quilting group the other day. I'm hoping, if you enjoy mysteries, that you will come up with a scenerio that will suggest a solution to the mystery.

My quilt store owner had a customer come in with this experience. She was checking out some antique stores or maybe Good Will. She came across a quilt that seemed to be made from feed sacks and that interested her. She got it for $45. When she got it home and was checking it out, she felt that the batt was very lumpy. She open a seam at one end and discovered another quilt inside.

Okay, we have all heard of that happening--an old worn out quilt is used in place of batt. Only, the quilt inside was a beautiful old quilt in fine condition--no rips, or worn spots or stains. It was old enough to be an antique, good enough to be in a museum collection. It was a deep red applique on a goldern yellow background. The backing was home dyed.

So why was it inside a feed sack quilt?

I have a theory, but I would love to hear yours?

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Comments (12)

damascusannie
15 years ago
It looked out-dated at the time, and whoever wanted a more "modern" quilt took this old one and used it for the batting. Commonly done and I always check out quilts in bad shape just to make sure that there's not a treasure inside.

Annie
rosajoe_gw
15 years ago
The first thing that came to me was to protect the quilt, then someone in the fam either forgot or didn't know (or care) what was inside the feed sacks.
Sadly, the treasure could have been in an attic for many years. I wish I could find a treasure like that, she is very lucky.
Rosa
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I just read an article about the TP shortage and one of the things that was said is that it's not so much people hoarding (although some are) as it is that people are now spending all of their time at home (per Annie's post) which means they are not using public bathrooms and public TP (at work, school, while out and about). This has caused home consumption of TP to increase substantially, which in turn, has increased the amount of TP they must purchase to keep up with the demand which is also contributing to those empty shelves we're all seeing. I've recently seen 20 pound bags of carrots and mega bags of grated cheese at my local store which I imagine is the restaurant supplies mentioned upthread. On a happy note, I went grocery shopping on Monday and stopped by the dollar store to see if they had any TP. To my surprise they did! It was a generic off brand that I've never heard of before, but it's quilted and two-ply. They didn't have limits on how much a person could buy, so I picked up two 12 packs and feel like I won the lottery! I was really glad I stopped by the dollar store, because when I was at the grocery store later, I took a stroll down the TP aisle and they are still completely out. They haven't had any TP for a month - I suppose they have, but apparently I haven't been there at the right time of the day or week.
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new2quilting
15 years ago
I think the husband hated the red quilt and demanded she "get that thing out of the house!" And the wife, being the smart woman she is, put it inside another quilt and smiled to herself every night that the husband unknowingly slept under it! --Amy
day2day
15 years ago
I think it was to make an extra-warm quilt. Perhaps the inside quilt wasn't heavy enough.
~Geraldine
toolgranny
15 years ago
Since we had a similar family thing happen, my guess is it was to hide it. How old is it? In the Civil War, the raiders stole things like that if they appeared valuable. A family could have done that to keep it safe. It could also have been done to lower the value for a probate upon someone's death.
carolek
Original Author
15 years ago
Does anyone know when feed or flour sacks started using calicos or colored muslins? One of my scenerios was that it was done to protect the quilt during a trip to establish a homestead on free or cheap land. That would mean the feed sack fabrics had to be available in the 1860's or 70's.

I also thought it might be something a second wife did to the first wife's wedding quilt, which could have been passed down over generations.
msmeow
15 years ago
Is the outer quilt quilted through the inner one? If so then I tend to agree with Annie, that it was "old" or didn't match a new house, or something like that, and to be thrifty she used the existing quilt as batting for the new one.

An intriguing story!

Donna
easystitches
15 years ago
That is just so fasinating.
I'd sure love to see both quilts.
She should probably talk to someone that would be able to
tell her more.
My theory, they needed to use the quilt(maybe for staying warm!)but worried about harming it, so they made a "Slipcover" for it.
Maybe they had dogs & cats all over their quilts like me!
carolek
Original Author
15 years ago
I have no more info than I told you, and there is no way to get more that I know of, so it will remain a mystery. But it I were writing a piece of fiction, I can see that there are many possibilities. Probably the answer is something mundane such as the owner didn't like red and yellow or her artistic soul needed to make a new quilt and she couldn't afford the batt.

I"m still interested in when making feed sacks of reusable fabric started. Anyone know?
damascusannie
15 years ago
My understanding is that the colored feedsacks were first produced in the mid-1920s. Prior to that they were white with printed logos, but not overall prints suitable for clothing, quilts or curtains.

I have a whole cloth quilt made by my great grandmother out of the white feedsacks. One of the logos is still barely visible. I have a couple of printed sacks, with their paper labels intact. They are from a feed mill about 50 miles from here. I also have some border printed sacks that I want to make into either an apron or a skirt.

Annie

Here is a link that might be useful: History of feedsacks.
jennifer_in_va
15 years ago
There was an article in the most recent AQS magazine about feedsacks. As I recall, the fancier printed sacks were introduced after the Depression when folks had to be thrifty, but wanted to add more color into their quilts.

Love 'mystery' stories like these!
damascusannie
15 years ago
Carole--Not really on-topic here, but be sure to check out the discussion "Winning Quilt at Paducah". It's right up your alley--hand appliqued and hand quilted. Gorgeous!

Annie

Solve the mystery quilt story

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