The Earl Coverlet

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Rabun County Georgia, USA
Surname/tag: handcrafts

Mel Cox wrote this description of the coverlet in 1997:

This coverlet was a hand-me-down to my mother, born in 1897, then to me. My mother had said that she thought it was made by her grandmother. This would date it to about the 1870s in Rabun County, GA. However, another descendant of these early families has a very similar coverlet, said to have been made about 1850 by Mrs Sarah Elizabeth Bleckley, who was born in 1823 (sic - should be 1826?), married in 1848, who also lived in Rabun County, GA.

This coverlet is about 6 by 6 (ft), made of two strips about 3 wide, hand stitched together, with a pretty good pattern match. There are 3 or 4 small mends made by stitching patches of the same material over the holes or flaws.

A weaving shop in Dillard, GA identified the pattern as Western Rattlesnake from a book entitled, A Handweavers Source Book by Marguarite Porter Davison, 1953.

(Handweaver's source book, A selection of 224 patterns from the Laura M. Allen collection. (1953). Swarthmore, PA: Marguerite Davison. )

The folks in the weavers shop thought the black dye was likely from black walnuts, and the red was likely turkey red. They also cautioned me not to display it in such a way as to stress the material, or expose it to sunlight; and to keep it in a temperature and humidity controlled environment.