Skip to main content
Advanced Search
Quilt
Quilt
Quilt

Quilt

PeriodCirca 1850
Place MadeHolmdel, New Jersey, U.S.A.
MediumCotton
Dimensions91 × 90 in. (231.1 × 228.6 cm)
ClassificationsQuilts and Coverlets
Credit LineGift of Rachel Clark Matthews, 1982
Object number1982.8.6
DescriptionA large hand pieced "Basket" pattern quilt comprised of 75 individual blocks set on point, with zigzag borders of brown, blue, red, and white printed stripe pattern. Half blocks along all four edges consist of single green and brown printed fabric. The quilt's backing is of a brown and white calico leaf print fabric with the edges brought to the front as a narrow binding. The quilt includes a thin batting either most likely cotton. The entire quilt is hand-quilted with meandering lines and stencil leaf patterns. The quilt is initialed "S. J. J." in crude red stitching at the back top left corner.
Curatorial RemarksQuilts are sometimes a challenge to conclusively date. This well-planned, beautifully constructed "Basket" pattern quilt was donated to the Association by Rachel Clark Matthews, who noted that family tradition held the quilt had been made by her grandmother Sarah Jane Jones Conover (1840-1905). The quilt does indeed include Sarah Jane's monogram, rather crudely stitched in red thread on the back of the quilt in the upper left corner. An examination of the printed cotton fabrics used in the construction, as well as the pattern itself, seem to indicate a date within the middle of the 19th century, perhaps around 1850 or so. Some fabrics are quilt early - the brown, blue, red, and white printed "stripe" fabric used as the zigzag sashing between the blocks dates to as early as 1835, while many of the other small-patterned fabrics may date around the 1850s. It may be that Sarah Jane Jones made this quilt as a girl with the considerable help of her mother Letty Ann Smock Jones. While embroidery and related needlework was often taught to girls in day or boarding schools, sewing skills such as quilting was often taught at home by mothers or other female relatives. During the 19th century, girls would create several quilts as part of their household furnishings in preparation for marriage. Many women saved fabric of all types for use in quilts and other textile projects, and some fabric "scrap bags" were handed down to daughters and granddaughters.NotesThis quilt entered the collection with the attribution to Sarah Jane Jones Conover. Sarah was one of ten children of Holmdel residents Samuel Webster Jones (1807-1887) and his wife Letty Ann Smock (1806-1889). Sarah Jane was born in 1840 in Holmdel, the fifth child and second daughter of Samuel and Letty Ann. Their first daughter, born a year before Sarah Jane, died at birth. Sarah Jane married fellow Holmdel resident and farmer Garret V. Conover on November 25, 1863.
Collections