1817 Elizabeth Shaffer's Quilted and Stuffed Counterpane
date: label: date made
content: 1817
name: label: maker
content: Shaffer, Elizabeth
notes: label: Description
content: According to the family, Elizabeth Shaffer created this example of a quilted and stuffed counterpane in 1817 when she was 15 years old. She married John Snyder in 1819 at the Somerset Trinity Lutheran Church in Somerset, Pennsylvania.
label: Description
content: The quilting is “stuffed,” that is, before the needlework is undertaken, the designs are under laid with extra cotton wadding which causes the elaborate flower and fruit patterns to stand out in a relief effect.
label: Description
content: The forty-nine-inch square framed center contains a basket of pineapples surrounded by sunflowers. The outer border, 17 ½-inches wide at the top and bottom and 18 ½-inches wide at sides, has a meandering grape vine. Cotton was used for the lining, filling and stuffing. All motifs outlined and stuffed; the background is quilted in parallel diagonal lines 3/8" apart. It is precisely quilted at 10 stitches per inch. No separate binding.
label: Description
content: Elizabeth’s needlework skills produced a fine example of early 19th century white-work, possibly made in preparation for her household.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Somerset
topic: label: Subject
content: Quilting
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
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content: Textiles
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content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Mrs. U.M. Phillippi, Mrs. clare J. Shiner, and Miss Emma B. Casebeer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TE.T06965
label: accession number
content: 117498
label: catalog number
content: T06965
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Quilt
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: fabric, cotton (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: thread, cotton, linen (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 84 in x 87 in; 213 cm x 221 cm