Someone asked me if Ina ever mentioned sharing scraps for quilts. Yes, she makes such a reference in this letter to her sister, Mabel, in October 1935:
I’m planning on sending you some scraps, Mabel, and you can divide with Mona. I promised Edna some scraps of the dark and tan print dress I wore when there but don’t think I have any left big enough to do her any good. As I recall it we sent the last batch of scraps to Idy Jane and Edny, but now I can’t remember if that particular quilt is done or not. Wasn’t it a star made up of crazy work diamonds, or was it just the diamonds? Anyway, you used very small scraps and these will not be sorted as to size for we don’t know what you’ll use them for. This is to be passed on to Idy and Edny. And did you get the snowball quilt done?
I didn’t know what a “snowball quilt” (a certain traditional quilt pattern) was until last week – couldn’t even read the word in Ina’s scrawl. It’s wonderful how answers pop up the more we learn.
I didn’t know what a “snowball quilt” (a certain traditional quilt pattern) was until last week – couldn’t even read the word in Ina’s scrawl. It’s wonderful how answers pop up the more we learn.
I can just hear the conversation over Ina’s dress while she visited her sisters, Ida and Mabel, in Drain, Oregon. Niece Edna says, “Aunt Ina, let me show you the quilt I’m making. I just need a certain dark piece in each diamond pattern to set off this green. Why, just look at it against your dress, Aunt Ina! That fabric is just perfect. Oh! I surely wish I had a piece this color.”
“Well, Edny,” Ina starts slowly, “I am tired of this dress – sick of wearing it, in fact. I’m going to make it down for Ruth when I get home, so I’ll send you the scraps for your quilt when I’m finished.”
“Oh, Aunt Ina, would you?!” comes Edna’s reply.
So, Ina evidently re-made the dress and is forwarding the scraps, but in the end, there were no sizeable pieces. Perhaps the quilt went back on a shelf to wait again for a good scrap of cloth to come along.
[The photo above was take on the farm in November 1942. Left to right: Ida Jane Patchen (Ina's sister); Edna Patchen (Ida's daughter); my grandmother Ina Dobson; Ina's daughter Pearl Sanders; Pearl's son Stanley Sanders; and my grandfather Julian Dobson.] KW
[The photo above was take on the farm in November 1942. Left to right: Ida Jane Patchen (Ina's sister); Edna Patchen (Ida's daughter); my grandmother Ina Dobson; Ina's daughter Pearl Sanders; Pearl's son Stanley Sanders; and my grandfather Julian Dobson.] KW
7 comments:
I'm sure my great grandmothers made their quilts from scraps and clothing. I used to think I should do that, too, but the new fabrics are way to much fun. But certainly not cheaper. :-)
Yes, I always heard that the purpose of quilts was to use your scraps to make your bedding. Poor families probably didn't have much choice. It must have been a treat to make a quilt with new fabric, and we know that happened, too. (I feel another historical study coming on -- the development of quilt patterns.)
How different it is today! And you're so right that new fabrics are so much fun. My favorite fabric designs are 1930's inspired, landscape prints (especially winter), and Christmas. What are yours?
The scraps for a quilt pieced together(pun intended) the story of someone's life. Say a mother made a quilt for a grown daughter and used scraps from the daughter's clothes...baby to young adult. The scaps would bring back fond memories of birthdays special events or even a favorite everyday dress.
The women in our grandparents time had encouragement from their peers and relatives while making quilts. It made making a quilt easier when they knew that all the women they knew made quilts and were praised when others saw the finished product.
Kathy, you'll be praised also when your quilt is finished. Keep that in mind while you're working on it.
How did you get so many letters that your grandma wrote? It seems like the letters are going to different people--not just one person who saved them and gave them back.
Let's just say I'm not making the quilt to seek praise. I'm still practicing. (LOL)
You're right that the letters have come from here and there, Hallie. About 10 years ago I was contacted by the grandchildren of Ina's sister, Ida Jane Dickson Patchen. (That makes them my second cousins.) One of them, Don Patchen, said he had letters written mostly by Bertha Dobson and would I like them? He subsequently sent them, and I found the collection to include several letters written by Ina.
At first I wasn't impressed by Bertha's letters, but last year I transcribed them and found that even though her style is rather gossipy, the letters do reveal quite a lot about the life at Gilbert and its players. And of course, Ina's letters to her sisters in Drain, Oregon (Ida and Mabel), carry an entirely different tone than those written to Vance.
I also have a collection of letters written mostly by my great-grandfather that were given to my dad in the 1970s by family in Iowa.
It is a blessing to have these letters, though the most precious are those that originated at Gilbert.
Kathy, you may not be thinking praise when you're making the quilt, but I'll be impressed when you finish it.
Sharing a goal tends to have the effect of pushing one along. Every day I make a little more progress.
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