1850 - 1900 "Pinwheel" Child's Quilt

This lively pieced child’s quilt was made in the second half of the nineteenth century and the maker is not known. It was part of a donation to the Smithsonian by G. Ruth McHenry in 1961. It may have been in the family of Jane Winter Price, who made a “Carpenter’s Wheel” quilt that is also in the Collection.

Green and white pinwheels within red circles surrounded by pieced chains of green pointed ovals give a sense of whirling animation to this small quilt. Inside the 1½-inch border are semicircles of printed cotton. White thread is used for the outline and concentric line quilting on the red circles and white ground. Green thread is used for the outline and concentric line quilting on pinwheels and chained ovals, and for the herringbone quilting in the border. All are quilted 9 stitches per inch. The use of color and the complex pieced pattern combine to make this child’s quilt dynamic.

Currently not on view