Quilt
Period1877
Place MadeNew York, New York, U.S.A.
MediumSilk, taffeta, paper
Dimensions15 × 15 in. (38.1 × 38.1 cm)
ClassificationsQuilts and Coverlets
Credit LineGift of Miss Lauretta Stillwell Miller, 1933
Object number490
DescriptionA hand pieced "One Patch" block consistings of 64 1 3/4" squares of silk and taffeta plaids and solids, in shades of pale green, yellow, gold, teal, peach, pale pink and navy blue. All blocks have been whipstitched together, most likely using the "English paper piecing" method. A paper label was attached to the block noting "Made by L. S. Miller at age of 7 years at Rutgers Female Institute."Curatorial RemarksThis little quilt was made by joining four of the small individual silk scraps to form a four-patch block, then arranged and sewn to create the final panel. All the silks appear to be dress weight fabrics and include plain solid color pastels perhaps dating as early as the 1830s or 1840s, vivid silk moire scraps of the mid 19th century, and bold multicolored plaid taffeta scraps from the 1860s.NotesLauretta Stillwell Miller was born in 1870 to Laura Stillwell and Captain David Miller. Lauretta grew up in New York City. While she attended the Rutgers Female Institute, the family lived at West 12th Street in lower Manhattan. The Institute was chartered in 1838 and was named after Henry Rutgers, a Revolutionary War hero for whom Rutgers University was also named. The two educational institutions had no connection with one another. Rutgers Female Institute offered higher educational courses to older girls, but also classes for younger girls. Lauretta began attending as a very young child, making this silk patchwork at the age of seven, apparently in a needlework class offered by the school. Miller never married. In 1904, she moved to Red Bank in Monmouth County, New Jersey, where she lived until her death in 1949. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
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