Pink Dogwood c1930
Marie Webster - Quilt Designer and Author
The early 20th Century saw great changes in quilts and quilt designs. Quilt making during the first few years of the twentieth century had been at a low level of popularity. Although some quilters were still making quilts, the quilts made during this period were fashioned in the quilt making trends of the late 1800’s.
But during the second decade of the century there was a renewed interest in general quilt making. New appliqué designs began to appear, as well as a trend towards using lighter colored fabrics in quilts. This may have been due to the Art Nouveau style of design that began in the 1890’s in Europe and the United States, and the Colonial Revival influence.
Some credit Marie Webster’s article in the Ladies’ Home Journal of 1911, featuring her beautifully designed appliqué quilts, for bringing new inspiration to quilt makers. The new Webster designs were open and stylish, made in lighter hues, and very different from the bright and dark calicos in many of the older 19th Century quilts.
Born Marie Daugherty in 1859 in Wabash, Indiana, Marie married George Webster in 1884. It is said that she was an avid gardener, and liked to sketch the flowers grown in her garden. Her quilt designs show a realism not commonly found before this time in appliqued quilts. She designed her first floral appliqued quilt in 1909, now known as the American Beauty Rose.
American Beauty Rose c1920.
Marie Webster wrote 5 articles for the popular Ladies Home Journal between 1911 and 1915, all featuring her newly designed quilts and pillow designs. She also offered patterns for her quilts through these LHJ magazine articles, and she was very successful with her pattern sales.
Page from the Ladies Home Journal showing a Webster article with four of her newly designed quilts.
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Ladies Home Journal page with Marie Webster's article featuring her designs for pillows.
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She started her own cottage business offering her quilt patterns and began to offer quilt kits, and ready to finish basted or completed quilt tops. Her patterns were sold for many years (decades) through her own business and shops such as the Mary McElwain shop. She also traveled to visit groups and give talks about her quilt designs.
Small pamphlets offering Webster's quilt patterns, kits, or completed tops. Samples of fabrics.
Tissue paper layouts were included for the applique placement.
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The patterns came with blue prints of the pattern pieces.
Tissue paper placement sheets for French Baskets.
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Marie Webster was the author of the first book on the history of quilts and quilting, Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them, first printed in 1915. The book was popular and was reprinted periodically throughout the next 25 years with various dust covers.
The book in the center is the original 1915 Limited Edition. On the right is the 1915 trade edition, reprinted and sold for many years. On the left is the edition by Webster's granddaughter, Rosalind Webster Perry, who added a biography of Webster's life.
There have been several books written about Marie Webster and her quilts, please see the book list at the end of this article.
I have included a gallery of several quilts below and on page 2, made from Marie Webster patterns. Some are identical to the illustrations of the Webster quilt design. Others were made by quilt makers who made slight design changes, in either the color of fabrics or possibly other small design elements such as number of blocks or changes to borders. Webster's patterns may have varied over the 20 plus years they were sold, mostly due to design changes for differing quilt sizes, or in the case of fabric choices, the availability of certain fabrics over the years.
