Quilted Legacy: Patterns from The Kansas City Star
A strong quilting heritage started simply as a feature in The Kansas City Star and its sister publications The Weekly Star and The Star Farmer. Over 1,000 quilt patterns were printed in a ready-to-use format from 1928-1961. These patterns were routinely published in the weekly or daily Star newspapers and distributed throughout Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa and Colorado. In later years, they reached as far as North Carolina, Kentucky and Texas. Over time, the publication included not only patterns designed by staff, but also patterns submitted by loyal readers.
The widespread distribution of the newspaper allowed quilters in both urban and rural area a way to communicate and share their patterns with many others throughout the region. This ordinary feature in The Kansas City Star newspaper was undeniably the start of an unparalleled quilting tradition.
“Clip and Save”
“Clip and Save” was often printed beneath the title of The Kansas City Star patterns, and these simple words marked the beginning of a unique quilting era. Several distinctive characteristics contributed to The Star patterns’ popularity. Unlike other quilt patterns of the time, The Kansas City Star patterns were published in full, without the need to purchase the complete pattern by mail. Quilters could simply clip and save a multitude of patterns for future use. One reader saved 10 years worth of patterns from The Weekly Star that even “money couldn’t buy.”
Many of the early patterns were not only readily available, but also professionally designed. The high quality and design of The Star patterns is easily attributed to the efforts of The Kansas City Star staff. From the 1920s to the 1960s, Nell Snead was the woman’s and fashion editor for The Star. She was responsible for finding patterns from local quilters and designers. The first Star designer was Ruby Short McKim, an art needlework editor for Better Homes & Gardens magazine. She drew the patterns for three years before starting her own mail-order sewing materials business in her hometown of Independence, MO. A graphic designer by the name of Eveline Foland continued the high design standards adding an Art Deco influence. When Eveline Foland mysteriously left, The Star’s fashion illustrator Edna Marie Dunn became the pattern editor for The Star. She had a discerning eye for publishing the most timeless designs from the scores of patterns submitted to the newspaper.
The large number of both designed and submitted patterns included projects for quilters of all ages and skill levels. Puss in the Corner (1933), a variation of the basic nine-patch design, was pulled from the files and republished in response to a written request for a pattern that a little girl on vacation might piece together. The creator of the pattern Arkansas Cross Roads (1941) described her pattern as “easily adaptable to the limited skills of beginners in needlework.” On the other hand, The Star staff noted that Swallows in the Window (1930) “…works up into the daintiest of quilt blocks imaginable, but the unskilled, impatient worker must leave it alone for it is not an easy pattern to piece.” Another pattern titled Baby Bunting (1931) was designed specifically to give the experienced quilter a new thrill. The accompanying caption stated, “The quilter who makes this quilt and keeps it accurate commands our real respect.”
In addition to traditional piecework pattern, The Star published special patterns involving embroidery and appliqué designs. The Posey Quilt (1929) was a unique design described as a “delicate” combination of appliqué and patchwork. The Kansas City Star also published four “series” quilt projects, each with a set of designs to be embroidered or appliquéd and sewn together to make a complete quilt. The first, Santa’s Parade Quilt, featured twelve patterns that were published one per day from Tuesday, December 10 to Sunday, December 22, 1929. Inspired by floats commonly seen in the annual Kansas City Christmas parade, each pattern was to be embroidered using an outline stitch. The designs featured a nursery rhyme theme and, of course, Santa himself. The next series, Memory Bouquet Quilt, ran in November 1920. It featured 20 appliqué blocks, each highlighting a flower, as well as a border design for quilting. In 1932, the series Horn of Plenty Quilt featuring 18 appliqué fruit patterns and the final series titled Happy Childhood Quilt featuring 13 designs of toys and childhood themes were both published. Although the patterns were specifically intended for use together to make a complete quilt, readers were encouraged to use the individual patterns for decorating pillows, lampshades, curtains and even wastebaskets.
“Casting Bread Upon the Waters”
Patterns often suggested color schemes and block arrangement, but The Kansas City Star staff also encouraged creativity. Bouquet in a Fan (1933) and many other Kansas City Star designs were described as producing quilts that could be as “artistic as the maker.” The paper served not only as a source of inspiration to many quilters, but also as a creative outlet for new designs. The pattern Signal Lights (1942) was submitted by an Ottumwa, Iowa quilt maker described as so “enthused” by quilting, she had designed her own quilt patterns to share.
Color schemes and motifs from published patterns were often modified to create new designs. Some of the designs submitted to the paper were inspired by the creative use of scraps left over from making other quilts from Star patterns. Cog Wheels (1935) was a pattern specifically designed to use up scraps from Squirrel in a Cage (1935). A Kansas City area architect was inspired by the interesting scraps and unique colors left over from working with the pattern French Bouquet (1931). She submitted her own pattern titled Boutonniere later that year remarking, “It seems a shame not to pass this on, if you cared to use it, as it makes such a lacy, pretty design…” While practical in nature, patterns designed to use up scraps could still vary greatly in design and difficulty. The Old Spanish Tile pattern, published in 1933, “…will use up many an odd scrap for the quilt maker. It is difficult and should be undertaken only by the experienced woman who understands the value of different designs.”
Remembering the Times…
Patterns submitted to The Star not only included new designs, but also those patterns that have been around for generations. The Winding Blade (1941) pattern was taken from an heirloom quilt made by the submitter’s grandmother in 1858. The Star published patterns found in heirloom quilts to revive and document them for the “pleasure and inspiration” of new quilters to come.
By publishing older patterns, The Star provided the basic framework to standardize titles and to record their unique histories. As patterns were passed on through generations of quilters, they often acquired different names. When the same pattern was submitted under multiple titles, The Star staff often listed all of them and chose the most appropriate title for their heading based on their research. In 1929, one pattern was submitted from three separate sources with three different names: Springtime Blossoms, The Petal Quilt, and Wheel of Fortune. The Star published this pattern and titled it Springtime Blossoms. Sometimes, the staff was actually able to tie pattern titles to historical events. A pattern by the name of Clay’s Choice was one such case. Published in 1930, the pattern was tracked as far back as the early 1800s. The staff writer noted:
Clay’s Choice is a very lovely block in its own right, but when it is traced back to the bitter Calhoun or Clay days one finds it as Harry’s Star or Clay’s Choice in the soft brown tone prints of pre-war days. Then it becomes Henry of the West as the tide of empire surges westward and another generation forgets Clay entirely and calls it Star of the West.
The Weekly Star-July 30, 1930
The Album pattern was described as an ‘old-timer’ when published by The Star in 1928. This particular article traced the history of the Album quilt as a present for brides-to-be. Family and friends would each piece a quilt block and embroider their name on it. They would later come together to quilt the autographed blocks for a lovingly-made gift. Throughout the years, many different Friendship or Album quilt designs were published. Beggar Block (1929) and Friendship Quilt (1930) incorporated scraps of fabric from favorite dresses and shirts of friends and family, using these “badges of friendship” to commemorate and remember close ties.
History in the Making
Quilts made from The Star patterns also serve as unusual and distinctive historical records. Many Kansas City Star patterns commemorate specific historical events of the time. The Kansas Dust Storm was printed in 1935 with the title A Quilt that Marks History in Kansas. During the 1920s and 1930s when aviation was such a major influence, related patterns emerged including Aircraft (1929), Air-Ship Propeller (1933) and Airplane (1934). The early years of quilt pattern publishing fell during the Great Depression and included such titles as Economy (1933) and Thrifty (1939). The war years inspired quilts titled Red Cross (1939), Victory Quilt (1942) and Salute to Loyalty (1943) as well as Soldier Boy and Roads to Berlin (1944). Two soldiers in army training camp submitted the Army Star pattern in 1943.
Other designs highlighted local events. Ararat (1931) commemorated an elephant that lived in the Swope Park Zoo in Kansas City. The ladies aid group of the Sedalia, Missouri Congregational church later used this design to make a G.O.P. elephant. To complete their quilt for display during political conventions and the presidential campaign of 1932, they requested the design of a donkey for a “running mate.” Published a mere three weeks later, the design Giddap (1931) was described by The Star as a “very democratic donkey.” On a more serious note, the pattern known traditionally as Hickory Leaf was given the title Order No. 11, to commemorate an episode in the Missouri-Kansas border wars of the 1850s and 1860s. To prevent Missouri “guerillas” from hiding among the citizens, Order No. 11 required non-combatants in the Missouri border counties to be removed and all their property seized. As a child, the submitter of this pattern saw her mother’s new quilt snatched by “marauders.” She later reproduced this quilt from memory and renamed the quilt pattern Order No. 11 after this chapter of local history.
The Legacy
In May of 1961, The Kansas City Star printed Fan of Many Colors, the final pattern in the long publishing run that started in 1928. The long-lasting feature was discontinued due to declining interest in quilting. Although the patterns were no longer published, the paper trail left by over 30 years of quilt columns created a lasting legacy of newspaper clippings and beautiful quilts. Today, these patterns are referred to as The Kansas City Star patterns. Over time, this Kansas City Star feature evolved into an unprecedented forum for inspiration and innovative new designs, building a sense of community within the readership, both urban and rural. Quilts made from these patterns embody personal stories, historical events, community ties and creativity, all stitched together to form masterpieces viewed as both functional and artistic. The classic Kansas City Star patterns, preserved throughout time in numerous newspaper collections as well as treasured quilts, were undeniably the start of an enduring quilting tradition that continues to thrive today.
--ALBUM vol. 17, no. 1 (winter 2004)