Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1918-05-30
FINEST FLAGMAKER
IS BOSTON WOMAN
u. S. PATENTS HER NEW AND
ORIGINAL METHODS.
Her Natural Artistic Talent and Won
derful Skill Known Through
out the World.

out the World.
One slight little white-haired woman
stands before the nation today, and III
the hearts of American soldiers and
sailors. as no one elSe-Amella Bold
Fowler, maker OF tlye nations flags,
maker of the flags OF regiments now
in france and on the way to France.
Not in Betsy Ross time, not in Bet
sy Ross herself, nor in her handlWorK
the first American flaG-Was there
ever enthusiasm that in any way
matches this acclaim over the work or
the Boston woman Of the present day.
For Mrs. Fowler is a genius, and She
has brought to the trade of flagmaklng
III America so exquisite a sense OF art,
OF beauty and OF fitness of color com
binations and color interpretations,
and artistic design and perfection OF
necdleWork that her achievements are
already of national and even lnte1na-
tional fame. Her name is known all
over the world.
Her studio is in Boston on Airing
ton street, not far from the public gar
dans. and here she has quite force
OF workers employed under her dlrec-
ton. The intricate and important sec
lions calling for her own individual
needlework, Of course, no employe
does or can do. In her art she has no
cOIlpetitOrs. She has made discover
les in the way of special stitches and
DIVES, methods of repairing and pre-
serving flags which are Of the utmost
value to this country and which the
government has protected for her ny
special patents.
Since her work in preserving the
rnany historic flags Of the government
at ANNAPOLIS some four or five years
ago-a $4,000 job by the way-Mrs.
Fowler has been doing her flagmaklng
under government and Massachusetts
state auspices. Many Of the American
flags. banner and guidons used IN
American embassies abroad she has
done.
Meanwhile a demand for new flags
had sprung up in government circles,
Masonic orders and in the army ana
uavy-for flags that were dlHerent
from the sort in vogue-flags that
would last, flags designed ana en-
bro;dered with artistry, such as may
be found in European countries.
General Dalton was the first officer
knew Of" said Mrs. Fowler, who
was interested in flagmaking as an
art. He had travelled extensively and
therefore knew something of the per
manence and beauty Of embroidered
flags and Of their necessity for each
nation. He had observed that the
method of painting flags which was
then altogether in vogue in America
eventually cracked the silk and was
rot in any way rich or effective, nor
could the workmanship or design or
color in any way compete with Euro
pean flags.
"He sent his flagmaker to all the
needlework shops and needleWork ar
lists in Boston and possibly in many
other cities to search for some one
who would undertake his orders Many
tried and all failed. Still the general
kent at it-several years, l think-as
he said, with all of the women in the
world doing embroidery, there surely
must be some one who could make a
flag.
"In the course of time my studio
was visited and I was given an order.
1t was exceedingly difficult and was
bv no means certain that l could do 1t.
I told the flagmaker to return in ten
DAYS and I would give him my answer
Might and day--every hour-I expert
mented with the order, tried this
stitch and that, different designs and
methods. At last l hit upon the way
and I took the order. That was the
beginning"
That was the beginning. Since that
first order more than fifteen years ago
Mrs. Fowler has made not only all OF
the important flags for all the Massa-
chusetts regiments, but the important
national flags as well. Old Charles
Eaton, who for fifty years had made
the lldSS VI NIdooc1CL Wy A1ANe~AAS
of the painting process, found his
trade supplanted by the new art.
The perfection of Mrs. Fowler's
work, the marvellous effects she OBJ
tanned in both colors and handiwork,
surprised everyone. 1t was soon evil
dent that no one could compete with
rhersinsthe. making of flags. Mrs. Fow-
IeT5went at the work scientifically. For
years she studied the chemistry Of
dyeing, read and experimental in va
rious laboratories with the different
qualities in colors and learned how to
procure in blues the luminous living
color that turns it from a cold, dead
tone to warmth and life. She did her
own dyeing and superintends it today
when she cannot procure just the col