What is a coverlet?
The word coverlet or coverlid has been used in English since the 14th century. It appears to derive from Old French covrir “to cover” + lit “bed.” Historically, it referred to the topmost layer of bedding, regardless of what it looked like or how it was made.
Today, textile historians use the word “coverlet” to refer more specifically to a decorative bed cover that has been woven by hand on a loom, as opposed to one made by another method such as quilting. A quilt is made by sewing two layers of cloth together with a layer of batting in between. At least one of the cloth layers is often pieced together from multiple fabrics in order to form a pattern. In a handwoven coverlet, the weaver forms the pattern row-by-row during the weaving process. No sewing of fabric pieces or layers is involved.
You won’t see quilts on display in the McCarl Gallery unless they’re part of a special exhibit. Our permanent collection focuses on early American handwoven coverlets from the early to mid-19th century, along with a few examples from the late 18th century. These coverlets were typically, though not exclusively, made of cotton & wool and woven by male professional weavers.
Geometric or Figured?
Handwoven coverlets can be broken down into two basic categories based on both what the pattern looks like and also how it is made.
Geometric coverlets have patterns that consist of abstract shapes – squares, circles, diamonds, stars, and so on. The simpler geometric patterns could be woven by women in a domestic setting. More complex geometric patterns could only be woven on the more complex looms of professional weavers , who were nearly always men.
The other category, called “Figured & Fancy,” describes coverlets with patterns that can depict realistic imagery of birds and other animals, botanical designs, architecture, ornate scrollwork, and text. Weaving this kind of pattern required specialized equipment: either a drawloom, a barrel loom, or a loom fitted with a Jacquard machine that controlled individual threads using punchcards.
The Jacquard machine was invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1801 and was being used in America by the early 1820s. Figured & fancy coverlets reached their height of popularity from 1830 to 1860.
Materials
Coverlets were generally made of wool and cotton, although some use linen instead of cotton and others are all wool. The wool was usually hand-spun and dyed with natural dyes, such as indigo, madder, cochineal, fustic, and quercitron (yellow oak). Wool, an animal product, is easier to dye than cellulose-based cotton. Cotton threads—which could be machine-spun as early as the 18th century—were usually left undyed. If you see white or off-white areas in a coverlet, you are most likely looking at the natural color of cotton.
Anatomy of a Coverlet
Most looms were narrow, especially in domestic settings. If a bedcover had to be wider than the loom on which it was made, it had to be woven in two or three pieces. After they were taken off the loom, the separate panels could be stitched together by hand. Look for seams running right down the middle of antique coverlets, and keep an eye out for areas where the pattern on one side doesn’t perfectly match the other. These subtle imperfections are reminders that even professionally woven coverlets were not mass-produced, but made by hand in a laborious process.
Every rule has exceptions, but in general a coverlet design consists of a border around three edges and a centerfield in the middle. The centerfield generally has a pattern with larger motifs that may or may not repeat several times. The edge without a border is meant to be at the top of the bed.
The area in the corner where the borders meet is called the cornerblock. If an inscription is to be found, this is usually the place to find it. Inscriptions provide a wealth of historical detail; they can record the weaver’s name, the location and date that the coverlet was woven, and often the name of the client who ordered and purchased the coverlet.
Although many women wove geometric coverlets, particularly in rural areas, figured & fancy coverlets were woven by professional tradesmen, which means that they were exclusively woven by men. Sarah LaTourette of Indiana, who learned to weave from her father, is the only known exception. It must be noted that although many coverlet inscriptions bear the names of women, these women are the clients rather than the weavers.