ANTIQUE COVERLETS

During the 1830's the jacquard mechanism was easily available to the average homemaker, so she could make her own coverlets instead of putting this craft into the hands of professional weavers. Early jacquard designs were often collections of pictures and mottos that had celebrated the technical marvel of the new weaving mechanism.

These woven coverlets were most typical of the period from 1830 to the Civil War and well into the 1860's. During the war, cotton, linen and wool were limited. However, after the war, some jacquard weaving picked up again, but power weaving had fully mechanized the factories.

Coverlets were almost entirely produced before chemical anilin dyes were available, indigo, natural linen and wool colors were most accepted. Other popular colors came from vegetable and natural dyes. Red was produced from madder roots and the cochineal beetle. Brown came from the red oak, hickory and walnut trees, while yellow came from leaves and flowers.

Some types of weaves are:

Overshot: This refers to a type of thick but loose weaving where weft (horizontal) threads pass over, or overshoot, at least three warp. Also called "floating thread weaves", because of the threads float over each other.

Double Weave: Used in making extremely heavy coverlets with two sets of warps and two sets of wefts.

Summer-Winter: Reversible with a dark side and a light side. This term is used for a specific type of tightly woven, single thickness reversible weave where no yard overshoots by more than three threads.

Jacquard: This term is the name of the mechanism, invented by Jacquard in the early 1800's that simplified and sped up the weaving of complex designs.

Reference: America's Quilts and Coverlets, Carlton L. Safford

These two museums with beautiful "Coverlet" exhibits are well worth the visit.

The Alling Coverlet Museum 122 William Street, Palmyra, New York

The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center 307 South England Street, Williamsburg, VA

For an informative web-site about Coverlets Sharon Koota Antique Coverlets