Housetop Quilt with Multiple Borders by Maker once known

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This quilt is distinguished by the maker’s use of very narrow strips to form the inner medallion of the Housetop. By using strips that grow in width as the quilt radiates outward, a spatial effect is achieved that makes the quilt feel like an aerial view of a pitched and shingled rooftop or, alternatively, flatten the view of a ceiling and its surrounding four walls while lying on a bed.

Many quilters remember learning to quilt by making Housetops, a pattern that is easy to learn because of how it can be done iteratively. A Housetop can be constructed as fabric is available and can be easily modified by adding or cutting strips as the quilter goes. But as it grew larger, finishing a Housetop wasn’t easy: Gee’s Bend quilter Rita Mae Pettway remembers, “But going all the way around, that was hard to do.” The large scale of this quilt would have been particularly hard to execute.

The potential fluidity of a Housetop construction did not prevent quilters like this one from paying careful attention as to where to place color, as seen in how this quilter used red and yellow squares to punctuate the borders.

Whereas most quilts are rectangular, the large, square shape of this quilt suggests it was either made for an unusually wide bed or intended for another use. In addition to covering beds, quilts were also frequently used to cover the gaps in the walls and floorboards of drafty houses—becoming a part of the architectural features that inspired them.

Maker once known, purchased in Alabama, Housetop with Multiple Borders, 1940s, cotton, 86 × 67 inches, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, purchase through funds provided by patrons of Collectors Evening 2017, 2017.183.