Summer-and-Winter coverlet; c. 1800-1830; likely Pennsylvania
date: label: date made
content: 1800-1830
notes: label: Description
content: This Summer-and-Winter weave coverlet of gold & tan has 1 1/4 inch gold knotted fringe on three sides with a rolled hem along the top edge. Woven in two sections, the center seam is hand sewn. Each panel is 40 1/4 inches wide. The warp and weft are both 2-ply, S-twist, Z-spun cotton, and the pattern weft is 2-ply, S-twist, Z-spun wool. The pattern is a geometric pattern similar to the German I-Block pattern found on page 123 of Marguerite P. Davison’s A Handweaver’s Pattern Book (1944). These geometric designs are often associated with Pennsylvania German weavers; however, the nature of four-harness looms and the designs that can be woven on them make these geometric patterns hard to attribute to one European weaving tradition. This particular pattern seems to be blend blockier, German geometric designs with British patterns like the Irish Chain.
label: Description
content: Summer-and-Winter weave is often written about as the quintessentially American weave structure. Scholars like Dorothy Burnham have claimed it is a North American invention, while Craft Revival weavers and scholars like Marguerite R. Davis have claimed it was brought to North America by the Finnish and Swedish settlers of what is today Delaware where it spread to the German population of Pennsylvania. Whatever the case, the structure is noted for short weft floats (no more than two warp yarns) and its reversibility. The name of the structure is apocryphal as well. People have claimed that there is a warmer and cooler side that is appropriate for changing seasons; however, the structure is balanced on both sides and the thickness and weight of the coverlet the same throughout. The choice of name and its origin remain an American weaving mystery to this day.
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania
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 Hope Anthony Levy
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1998.0360.176
label: accession number
content: 1998.0360
objectType: label: Object Name
content: coverlet, Summer-and-Winter
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wool, cotton (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: Summer-and-Winter (overall production method/technique)
label: Physical Description
content: geometric (overall pattern)
label: Physical Description
content: white, tan (overall color)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 90 in x 79 1/2 in; 228.6 cm x 201.93 cm