Elizabeth Johnstone; coverlet panel; Summer-and-Winter weave; c. 1770-1790; Connecticut
date: label: date made
content: c. 1770-1790
notes: label: Description
content: This blue and white, cotton and wool geometric coverlet panel is an excellent example of the structure known as Summer-and-Winter. There is a lot of apocryphal and mythological information circulating about the origins of this structure. Is it an American invention or a European holdover? It is quite likely we will never know. Summer-and-Winter weave is an overshot weave with stricter rules. The supplementary warp yarn cannot float over more than two warp yarns. This creates a tighter fabric and also gives Summer-and-Winter its light (Summer) side and its darker (Winter) side. This particular coverlet panel was woven by the donor’s great-great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Johnstone of Hartford, Connecticut for her dowry chest in the late eighteenth century. A letter from the donor recorded that the family said the coverlet was woven in the “late Revolutionary days.” Elizabeth married John Ashley, also from Connecticut, and the couple moved to Catskill, New York where they raised their family. Elizabeth would later move to Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1836 to live with son John Joseph Ashley. The pattern depicted in this panel is most commonly referred to as “Whig Rose.” This panel would likely have been one of three that would have been woven as one length, cut, and sewn together to create the full, finished width. The coverlet was likely separated into panels during subsequent generations as it was passed down through the family.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Connecticut, Hartford
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
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content: Coverlets
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content: Textiles
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Mrs. Muriel S. O'Neill
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TE.T10092
label: catalog number
content: T10092.000
label: accession number
content: 180475
objectType: label: Object Name
content: coverlet panel, Summer-and-Winter
label: Object Name
content: coverlet panel
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: whig rose (overall pattern)
label: Physical Description
content: Summer-and-Winter (overall production method/technique)
label: Physical Description
content: blue, white (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: cotton (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wool (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 85 in x 34 in; 215.9 cm x 86.36 cm