Quilt Notes: The Colors of Suffrage

Good Morning!  How was your weekend?

I've already talked with some quilters who said they have no idea what they are going to make for the challenge yet.  Don't worry, there will be lots of posts with ideas for you!

Today let's talk about colors.  I already mentioned that yellow/gold was a consistent theme in the movement (post is here).  There is no hard or fast rule on colors to use.  In fact here is a piece we take to our lecture that isn't the traditional colors of suffrage or temperance; the burgundy simply gave the piece the impact I wanted to convey:

You may wish to simply piece a  quilt with colors associated with the movement.  I've been making four patches out of my yellow and white scraps for a table piece:

Another series of colors hailed back to our suffrage sisters in the United Kingdom.  The colors of the British suffragists were green, purple, and white.  

Here in the United States, Harriot Eaton Stanton Blatch formed the Women's Political Union in 1910 and chose to incorporate those colors in that group.  From what I read she was frustrated with the National American Woman's Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and chose colors that would distinguish the group from NAWSA.  This group had a particular appeal to working women.

In 1915, the Woman's Political Union merged with the Congressional Union, a group founded by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns.  The new name that came out of this merger was The National Woman's Party.  Their colors incorporated the traditional yellow/gold of the suffrage movement and purple and white.

Beth is playing with purple and yellow right now to piece a quilt:

I've made another piece that I will take to lectures and will discuss at a later time:

I don't want you to think that you have to do anything for your quilt--we've tried to make the rules of the challenge as liberal as possible.  

As time goes on, we'll add some quilting notes suggestions to some of the articles we publish.  For example, if you like cats, you might want to do a cat quilt to honor the women who suffered during the Mount Carmel meeting (as I would have--shuddered).  

I've already gotten some comments about the Suffrage Music post and if you like music, maybe you want to embroider something.  During my lecture on Quilting and Embroidery, I show this coverlet from the turn of the century:

It's wonderfully original (the whole quilt is one page of the music!) and maybe you want to embroider or applique a few bars of a suffrage song.

At the end of the week we will be sponsoring a Batik Giveaway so stay tuned!