Book Illustration, A Book of Hand-woven Coverlets, Hickory Leaf

Eliza Caroline Calvert Obenchain (pen name Eliza Calvert Hall) was a suffragette and author of poems, essays, and stories about Kentucky that appeared in popular magazine at the turn of the 19th century. This book initially began as a series of photographs of beautiful old coverlets, but turned into a research project containing 63 illustrations of designs about the history of folk craft weaving traditions. Obenchain explores how certain designs migrated under different names from New England and throughout Appalachia. Like quilts, the names of woven coverlet patterns vary from region to region. This pattern, called Hickory Leaf in North Carolina, is known as Muscadine Hulls in Georgia, and has the name Double Bow Knot in Rhode Island. The hand-woven coverlet pattern reveals origins and traditions from the “old country” and uncovers memories and stories from those who made and owned them from generation to generation.