Quilt (Old Order Amish Quilt)

Description

Barbara P. Smucker Rhiel (1864-1950) made this quilt in the 1920s, likely with the help of her four daughters. The quilt is a traditional strip/bar variation and a recognized Old Order Amish quilt design. The quilt was machine pieced, and hand quilted in a running stitch using a black cotton thread. The quilt top was made from a medium weight, industrially produced and vibrantly dyed woolen dress fabric with a wool weft and silk/rayon or cotton warp of a contrasting color, often retailed as Henrietta Cloth. The maroon, blue, purple, and green colors used in the quilt’s top help to date this quilt between 1920 and 1930. The quilt backing is a vibrant red and maroon striped twill-woven cloth (wool weft with a cotton warp) with irregular decorative spots made by of some kind of resist material or bleach. Amish quilters almost always used solid-colored fabrics for quilt tops, but quilt backs often featured more decorative pattern fabrics. The decorative quilting was all hand-stitched with a black two-ply cotton thread. The outer border, referred to as a Zaun (fence) in German, is quilted in a broken feather pattern, the centerfield is quilted in a waffle/diamond pattern, and the inner border is quilted in an uncommon triple chain/double helix motif with eight-pointed stars in each corner block. Barbara married David L. Rhiel (1863-1902) in 1889. The couple lived in the unincorporated community of Ronks in East Lampeter Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is unclear at this time where Barbara and her four young daughters lived after David’s death in 1902, but they were almost certainly supported by family members and their local Amish community. Quilts like this were made as wedding gifts for children. Old Order Amish communities held religious services in member’s homes and these quilts were used as show and displayed on beds which served as seating during worship. These quilts made for and used only special occasions became heirlooms for Amish families, often remain in good condition, and as the modern tourism market developed in the twentieth century, the marketing and sell of Amish quilts and the craft of quilting became a successful business for Amish communities.