1950 - 1975 Katarzyna Killian's Pieced Bedcover
date: label: date made
content: 1950 - 1975
name: label: maker
content: Killian, Katarzyna Marysia Pietrasz
notes: label: Description
content: A two-sided pieced and tied bedcover made by Katarzyna Marysia Pietrasz Killian (1897- 1982) in Taunton, Massachusetts in the 1960s from scrap fabrics 9-patch style, made of a variety of 1950s and 1960s printed cottons. No batting. The two layers of pieced cotton fabrics were set back to back and the edges bound with commercial binding. The binding is frayed all along the edges. One side of the quilt uses a predominant "tile" print fabric in taupe, blue, brown and white. The other side has no single predominant design. Born in Poland in 1897, Katarzyna Pietrasz came to the United States in 1913. She settled in Taunton, Massachusetts, working as a weaver in Taunton’s textile mills. She and her husband raised three sons, struggling to make ends meet during the Great Depression. Her grandson, who donated this quilt, recalled that Katarzyna delighted in “creative thrift,” and continued to make scrap "blankets", as the family called them, until just a few years before her death in 1982. Her grandson also recalled that Katarzyna's blankets accompanied family members to college, to the beach, and into married life. This example of her work exhibits the wear consistent with its history of use in the family, as well as many mends, both hand and machine stitched, that testify to its history of thrift and family affection.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Taunton
topic: label: Subject
content: Quilting
label: Subject
content: Immigrants
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
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content: Domestic Furnishings
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content: Textiles
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Stephen Desroches
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2016.0207.01
label: accession number
content: 2016.0207
label: catalog number
content: 2016.0207.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: bedcover
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: cotton (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: pieced, tied (overall production method/technique)
label: Physical Description
content: plain weave; printed (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 73 in x 72 in; 185 cm x 183 cm