Chintz Appliqué Quilt

Many hands took part in making this quilt, even after the labor of turning fiber into fabric was complete. The central square displays flowers, birds, and butterflies appliquéd from a handkerchief by the textile printer John Hewson. His Philadelphia factory oversaw the bleaching, block printing, and even hand painting of fine chintzes. The vibrant strips framing the center are more coarsely printed—probably unauthorized copies of Hewson’s work—while the whitework quilting throughout was almost certainly completed by a skilled woman, whose initials appear at the top.