BAS Home - Past Activities: Dr. Samuel Williams Quilt
In October, 1999, in collaboration with The Baltimore Museum of Art, the Baltimore Appliqué Society began work on the reproduction of the Samuel Williams Album Quilt. The most ambitious historical quilt re-created by the BAS for the benefit of museums and historical societies, it is the product of thousands of hours of effort by over 100 volunteers working in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada. To produce this wonderful facsimile, members of the BAS carefully traced the motif of the original quilt using architectural Mylar to prevent any damage to the old fabrics. Templates for each segment (1200 pieces in the border alone) along with appropriate fabrics (selected from over 150 examples carefully matched to the originals for color and effect) were sent to members as kits. Once appliquéd, the finished squares and borders were returned, the inscriptions copied, the blocks joined, and the finished top backed and hand quilted in the same manner as the original.
For more information about the original quilt or to order the patterns, please write: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Museum Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218-3898. Call (410) 396-6338 or fax (410) 396-6562. E-mail shop@artbma.org.
Funds derived from the Baltimore Appliqué Society's projects, such as the proceeds from the raffle of the Samuel Williams Reproduction Quilt and sales of this pattern set will be used to promote the preservation, conservation and augmentation of the BMA's quilt and textile collection. These resources have already made possible efforts to preserve and make accessible to the public the Museum's related archives -- the research and collected papers of early quilt historian Dr. William Rush Dunton.
Follow this link for more information on the history of the Samuel Williams quilt.