Woven coverlet

A woven coverlet or coverlid is a type of bed covering with a woven design in colored wool yarn on a background of natural linen or cotton. Coverlets were woven in almost every community in the United States from the colonial era until the late 19th century.Weissman, Judith Reiter and Wendy Lavitt: "Labors of Love: America's Textiles and Needlwork, 1650-1930", New York, Wings Books, 1987, ISBN 0-517-10136-X, p. 80-97]

History

Coverlets of 18th century America were twill-woven with a linen warp and woolen weft. The wool was most often dyed a dark blue from indigo, but madder red, walnut brown, [http://www.uri.edu/hss/tmd/Gal5Coverlets2.htm American Woven “Coverlids”] ] and a lighter "Williamsburg blue" were also used.

From the turn of the 19th century, simple twill-woven coverlets gave way to patterned hand-woven coverlets made in two different ways:

*Overshot weave coverlets were made with a plain woven undyed cotton warp and weft and repeating geometric patterns made with a supplementary dyed woolen weft. Made on a simple two-harness loom, overshot coverlets were often made in the home and remained a common craft in rural Appalachia into the early 20th century. [ [http://wcudigitalcollection.cdmhost.com/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/p4008coll2&CISOPTR=1300&REC=1 Allstand Cottage Industries brochure] at the Hunter Library Digital Collections, retrieved 20 June 2007] Summer-winter coverlets were reversible, with a predominatly light-colored (summer) side and a darker (winter) side.

*Double-cloth coverlets were double-woven, with two sets of interconnected warps and wefts, requiring the more elaborate looms of professional weavers. Wool for these coverlets was spun (and often dyed) at home and then delivered to a local weaver who made up the coverlet.

Following the introduction of the jacquard loom in the early 1820s, machine-woven coverlets in large-scale floral designs became popular. [ [http://www.greencastlemuseum.org/Special_Exhibits/coverlets.htm Coverlets Special Exhibit] ]

ee also

*Linsey-woolsey

Notes

External links

* [http://www.uri.edu/hss/tmd/Gal5Coverlets2.htm American Woven “Coverlids”] at the University of Rhode Island Department of Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design
* [http://www.greencastlemuseum.org/Special_Exhibits/coverlets.htm Coverlets Special Exhibit] (1830s-1870s) the Allison-Antrim Museum, Green Castle, Pennsylvania
* [http://antiquesandthearts.com/archive/weave.htm Illinois Jacquard Coverlets and Weavers]
* [http://www.lakeview-museum.org/pastexhibits/jacquard.html Illinois Jacquard Coverlets and Weavers: End of a Legacy]
* [http://craftrevival.wcu.edu/crafts/coverlets.html Craft Revival: Shaping Western North Carolina Past and Present - Coverlets]
* [http://www.coverletmuseum.org The National Museum of the American Coverlet - Bedford, PA]

References

*Weissman, Judith Reiter and Wendy Lavitt: "Labors of Love: America's Textiles and Needlwork, 1650-1930", New York, Wings Books, 1987, ISBN 0-517-10136-X
* [http://wcudigitalcollection.cdmhost.com/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/p4008coll2&CISOPTR=1300&REC=1 Allstand Cottage Industries brochure] at the Hunter Library Digital Collections, retrieved 20 June 2007