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From the 1850s to 1917, members of the Community of True Inspiration produced and sold patterned indigo-dyed cotton cloth to support their closed communal society in Iowa, known as the Amana Colonies. Past published accounts of what is now called "Amana calico" lack an understanding of indigo-dyeing processes, use various labels for the patterned textiles, and skim over the evolution of production. This paper adds new information about the history of the Amana cotton fabrics by reviewing indigo-dyeing methods, searching online archives of newspapers for articles and advertising, and examining fabric samples, artifacts, and documents at the Amana Heritage Society Museum. The greatest production and sales of Amana cotton fabrics occurred in the 1890s at a time when many quilters across the country pieced blue and white quilts. An investigation of textiles used for bedding found a few remnants of traditional blue wholecloth German-style featherbeds and comforters. However, even before the calico factory closed in 1917, Amana women began to buy solid-color pastel sateen fabrics for their covers, stitch the layers together in large original patterns, and apply the term "quilt." The larger history of American textiles should include the Amana fabrics and the distinctive twentieth-century quilts from the Colonies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on the "Circuit Rider's Quilt," an album on quilts which had been donated to the Art Institute of Chicago by Emma Blanxius Hodge. It discusses the topics of reality and romance portrayed in the quilt's story. It contains knowledge derived from genealogical materials, local records, county histories, museum collections, published sources to be able to render a more factual and less romantic account of the quilt's story. It is stated that the Circuit Rider was designed with botanical pictures which conveyed romance.

Lucile and Ben Taylor.filled their two-story brick house in Fairfield, Iowa, with numerous collections and saved letters, photographs, and clippings on many subjects. After their deaths, the ephemera that Lucile assembled pertaining to quilts and the two special friends who shared her interest in the subject came into the author's possession. This study surveys the Taylor archives to uncover information about how Lillian Walker, Maxine Teele and Lucile Taylor influenced each other's quilt activities after the late 1950s. This primary material reveals the conditions quilters faced prior to the flowering of the current revival in the 1970s, the on-going quilt activity in southeast Iowa that bridged the two revivals of the twentieth century, and the details of a mutually beneficial three-way friendship that brought public recognition to Walker late in her life and produced two new quilt experts who contributed to the contemporary quilting scene on regional and national levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The name Hope Winslow in the title of a 1933 catalog; is probably better known than the little recognized man who produced the book and designed some unique twentieth-century pieced quilt patterns. Hubert Ver Mehren of Des Moines, Iowa, marketed his needlework items through magazines, newspapers, and mail order catalogs. Examination of a dozen news papers and periodicals and seven versions of his books revealed the growth of Ver Mehren's work in the 1920s and 1930s. The research provides information about some of the by-lines associated with the patterns and shows how Home Art Studios, the title usually associated with the quilt patterns, functioned in relation to Ver Mehren's primary business, the Iowa Button and Pleating Company. The results credit Hubert Ver Mehren with being an artist, entrepreneur, and marketing expert whose name should be attached hence forth to all his original designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carlie Sexton, a quilt writer and pattern producer in the 1920s and 1930s, ran a home-based business during the quilt revival taking place at that time. This paper examines the beginning, development, and operation of the business and describes Sexton's products and marketing methods. Sources for the paper include a collection of Sexton's published articles, books, leaflets, and patterns; a collection of unsigned patterns and catalogs from two farm magazines; public records, newspapers, and letters; and interviews with people who knew her. The study reveals a remarkable self-made business woman whose work was far more extensive and influential than previously known. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]