Identifying Quilt Patterns - Mountain Mist & More

We have been having a discussion on the Facebook list Quilts-Vintage & Antique about the various small booklets that Stearns & Foster has published over the years about their Mountain Mist quilt patterns. I also have a larger magazine format book published by Oxmoor House on Mountain Mist patterns. Here are the covers of the four "booklets" in my collection. I just found a 5th one on eBay today with still another colorful cover dated 1938 which should arrive in a couple of days:

The 1996 booklet (above) is 8.5x5.5. I've opened it flat and scanned it so that you can see the front and back cover is
actually a photo collage of  Mountain Mist advertisements and products. Vickie Paullus and Linda Pumphrey are authors with Merikay Waldvogel as a guest author.

Here is the 1938 Mountain Mist Blue book cover now on the way:

COLLECTING QUILT EPHEMERA

Collecting quilting ephemera is a fun sideline to collecting quilts.  Before the Internet, paper ephemera were collected to try to help identify quilts. Prior to copy machines, collectors traced copies of patterns by hand in order to share. The pattern collecting Round Robins of the 1950s-1960s is a great example of how early collectors managed to identify patterns.

Some of our Quilting Foremothers as Quilt Historians, Pattern Designers and Pattern Archivists

(click on each highlighted name below for more information)

Marie D. Webster
(1859-1956)

Although the first book dedicated solely to quilt history written by Marie D. Webster was published in 1915, there were a limited number of quilts or patterns illustrated….but it was a beginning.  It has been re-published by her granddaughter Rosalind Webster Perry. I highly recommend this new version because Rosalind added color photos as well as Marie's own story. Also, Rosalind has published two books of Marie Webster patterns with the help of Marti Frolli. If you are interested in learning more about the great impact Marie Webster designs had upon American appliqué, you need Rosalind's two books in your library: A Joy Forever: Marie Webster's Quilt Patterns and Marie Webster's Garden of Quilts.

Ruth E. Finley
(1884-1955)

A second book on quilt history by Ruth E. Finley in 1929 also had a limited number of photos and designs.  (You can read additional material about Ruth Finley in my 2009 article for TQS by clicking on Ruth Finley's name in large bold letters above.)

Works about or by Ruth E. Finley

Ruby Short McKim
(1891-1976)

Some might argue, therefore, that the first extensive index of quilt patterns in hardback* was Ruby Short McKim's One Hundred and One Patchwork Patterns. Fortunately, two of McKim's granddaughter's have launched a wonderful new website McKim Studios and are in the process of republishing all of Ruby's patterns. I personally like Ruby's series quilts.

 Ruby Short McKim was one of the earliest syndicated quilt pattern columnists who went by her real name and was well known to her followers -- if not the earliest. She was one go-getter kind of woman as well as a talented designer. Her patterns continue to be made into new quilts every decade.

(as seen on eBay in 2006)

(as seen on eBay in 2011)

Carrie A. Hall and Rose G. Kretsinger

                                             (1866-1955)                               (1886- 1963)

Carrie A. Hall and Rose G. Kretsinger's book The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt in America published in 1935 by Caxton Printers, Ltd., Caldwell, Idaho was next. Another excellent article on Rose Kretsinger.

Carrier A. Hall and Rose G. Kretsinger's book.

Sample page from Hall/Kretsinger book. Each quilt block on the left is identified on the right.

Barbara Brackman

The next big jump in quilt pattern identification was Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns begun with her own limited release of a series of books first printed in 1979 and bound together by those old fashioned 2-pronged metal hinges. I have a Second Edition set of this series she published in 1981.

Yvonne M. Khin
(1916-2001)

Another pattern indexing book (above) that followed shortly after Brackman's first printing of her self-published series was  The Collector's Dictionary of Quilt Names & Patterns written by Yvonne M. Khin, (1980 by Acropolis Books Limited, Washington, D.C.)  It's subtitle: "The Definitive Resource to 2,400 Quilt Patterns by Category and Name with Complete Index." I didn't hear about Khin's book for some reason until long after I heard about Barbara Brackman's series.

Jinny Beyer

In 1983 Jinny Beyer came out with her book The Quilter's Album  of Blocks & Borders, published by EPM of McLean, Virginia.  One of the leading quilt teachers in the late 20th century quilt renaissance, Jinny is even covered in the Encyclopedia Britannica. Jinny also had an enormous impact on quilt makers as a result of her pioneer work in fabric design with RJR Fabrics. She set the pace for all to follow in fabrics designed specifically with quilters in mind. To see a video interview of Jinny, visit TQS Quilting Legends here.

Judith Bell Rehmel 

(1936 - 2011)

Judith Bell Rehmel attended Purdue University studying interior design, earned a Bachelor's of Science Degree from Earlham College and attended Indian University East. She researched and published several indexes of quilt patterns. Her first book Key to 1,000 Quilt Patterns was self-published in 1978 amd republished at least three times.

Her book below was published in 1986.  

Barbara Brackman

More Brackman books followed her orignal self-published books -- many more

In 1993 American Quilter's Society published a hard back version of Brackman's integrated set of 7 volumes, also called Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns.   

Also in 1993 EPM of McLean, Virginia published Brackman's Encyclopedia of Appliqué.

Rose Lee Alboum

The latest addition to the documentation of American quilt patterns is perhaps the most comprehensive of all, Rose Lee Alboum's The American Legacy Quilt Index Series. Please do take the time to check this out. Odering is on hold for a short time as Rose moves into her new studio, but she'll be up and running soon and taking orders again.

I first met Rose Alboum via eBay. We were bidding on the same two sets of early 20th newspaper clippings of syndicated newspaper quilt patterns. At that time eBay clearly listed the other bidders contact information and it was possible to directly contact another bidder before the sale was over. We began conversing and decided to share the sets we had each won by making xerox copies for each other. Later I would meet Rose face to face at her first AQSG meeting. I think it must have been about 2006 or 2007 when AQSG was meeting in one of the New England States. Her efforts at indexing her "great American quilt book"  (as in "Great American Song Book," which my music historian husband introduced me to)  have been remarkable.  I encourage you to explore Rose's website. She has indexed an incredible number of 20th century quilt patterns as well as later 19th century quilt patterns.

How Do You Indentify the Quilts in Your Collection?

Today there are thousands of photos of vintage and antique quilts on the Internet. Any one of these books is helpful in identifying the pattern of a quilt you may have purchased. Meanwhile, quilt historians have a lot of work to do to create an encyclopedia of patterns created since the 1970s!

If you have other books you think should be added to this list, please share in the comments below or send me an email.

Here's to the dedicated researchers and archivists among us!

Karen B. Alexander



* I emphasize hardback book because Ladies Art company came out with sales catalogues in the late 1890s that were the pattern encyclopedias of that day.