The New England Quilt Museum’s first exhibition of the fall season, “Master Pieces: Haberdashery Textiles in Antique Quilts,” features quilts made from menswear, some of it recycled clothing. Opening September 24 and running through November 15, this exhibition brings together more than 40 intriguing graphic works made from simple utilitarian fabrics long overlooked in the study of antique quilts.
The guest curator for the exhibit is noted antiques dealer/ expert and author Laura Fisher of Fisher/Heritage in New York City.
The antique quilts on exhibit are made of menswear fabrics recycled from suits and shirts, neckties, pajamas, military uniforms, work clothes †even woolen underwear and socks. Some resulted from the artful salvage of menswear swatch sample books and fabric mill remnants.
Popular for about a century, these quilts are compelling and often whimsical. Simple squares arranged in a diagonal pattern prove on close inspection to be made from scraps of patterned jersey socks. A shimmering kaleidoscope of diamonds in rust reds and yellows is pieced from 1950s neckties.
Thin lines going in every direction look like a contemporary drawing but are actually random scraps in a crazy quilt pieced of striped silk shirting. The narrow serpentine strips in the blocks of an Amish quilt are cuttings from woolen long johns. Bright, dimensional flowers are embroidered on an unlikely foundation of tailor’s wool suiting swatches, as are a gaggle of vividly colored parrots.
Visually stunning and strikingly modern, these antique textiles make distinct graphic statements out of the most everyday materials.
In addition to the quilts themselves, the exhibit will feature historic advertisements, catalogs and swatch books from menswear companies, dating from the 1900s through the 1950s, including several items from the vaults of Brooks Brothers, the chief sponsor of the exhibition.
Fisher will speak about the exhibition’s content at the opening reception on September 26. In addition, historic textiles expert Pam Weeks will deliver a lecture about textile production in New England mills on October 17.
The New England Quilt Museum is at 18 Shattuck Street. For information, 978-452-4207 or www.nequiltmuseum.org .
