Fox Island Museum displays the softer side of history

Quilts dating back to 1800s reflect one of nation’s favorite pastimes

Susan Schell

of the Gateway

Quilts have had a place in American heritage over the centuries. While most are created with sewing machines today and used for art, quilts in the early days were a staple of warmth and comfort, created during many months and using precious strips of fabric from any material people could scrape together.

The Fox Island Museum is displaying quilts preserved from that bygone era, some dating back to the 1800s.

“They lasted this long because they really took pride in these things,” museum volunteer Jane Schuelin said. “Quilts are accepted as art now, but long ago, they were really important. They were very utilitarian; they needed them for warmth. They didn’t have a lot of money.”

Some of the quilts were donated to the museum, and some were brought in by the volunteers themselves.

“This was my grandmother’s quilt,” Carol Arno said, pointing to a Pacific Northwest-themed fabric that depicts a house nestled under an evergreen tree.

Arno had a piece at the museum she has been working on for 30 years.

“I call it a UFO,” she said. “An unfinished object.”

“There’s a trick to doing the patchwork,” Schuelin said. “They used to make quilts from fabric to make children’s clothes, sugar sacks, feed sacks — anything. They didn’t throw anything away.”

Schuelin said a quilt historian will be on hand at the museum during Island Days, July 13-18. Visitors will be invited to bring in their quilts, and the historian can help them learn more information about it.

For more information on Island Days and when the quilt historian will be available, call the Fox Island Historical Society Museum at 253-549-2461.