National Museum of the American Coverlet

The National Museum of the American Coverlet
in Bedford, PA. This is an early geometric coverlet and one of the many spinning wheels in the current exhibition. It took 8-9 spinners working full time to produce enough cotton, linen or wool yarn to keep the weaver occupied. Now I understand why there are so many old spinning wheels. They had many styles and unusually inventive wheels in the exhibit. Some were downright weird, as each spinning wheel maker tried to corner the market with his new, better, faster design.

Above is the signature panel of a rare coverlet made in Kansas several years after the heyday of the coverlet had passed. Most were made before the Civil War. The war dried up any source of fiber for spinning, and after the war ended, most weaving was done by machine. There are very few examples made west of Illinois. The museum knows of no examples from Missouri, although they are sure they are out there. Naturally, they'd love to acquire one.
Above is a rare coverlet made by a woman. Not sure of the spelling, but her name was Sarah LaTurette. Normally woman did not weave the jaquard coverlets, since the equipment was expensive, and they did not own property to serve as collateral. So often, the weavers were men, who worked fulltime at the loom while their wives and families ran the home and the farm. Sarah's father was a weaver, and when he passed away, he willed his equipment to her. She was an accomplished weaver. Below is a closeup of the signature panel.

Above and below are details of 2 coverlets. I liked the quilt pattern star that is borrowed and incorporated into the coverlet pattern.

Above and below are examples of very unusual and complicated designs for spinning wheels. The one above had a long pole with a pedulum weight that supposedly made spinning fast and effortless. The one below had in intricate threading of the drive band, with some sort of sliding mechanism on a rail. Very odd. As our guide pointed out, these wheels never really became popular, because even if they did spin faster, there was too much to go wrong and monkey around with. A spinner usually had at least 2 favored, reliable wheels so they could be spinning non-stop.