Amish Quilts by Janneken Smucker

Author:Janneken Smucker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2013-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

Figure 9.1. Country Bride.

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(From The Country Bride Quilt Collection © Good Books, www.GoodBooks.com. All rights reserved. Used by permission.)

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After the quilt appeared in the June/July 1983 issue of Brides, the Old Country Store began receiving frequent requests from quiltmakers for its pattern. Initially, Pellman’s staff sold photocopies of the pattern for a few dollars before realizing that consumer demand warranted publishing the pattern and an accompanying how-to book. The staff at the Old Country Store followed up with a whole series of Country Bride patterns, including Country Lily, Country Love, and Country Songbird.30 The design fit perfectly with the American Country aesthetic popular throughout the 1980s. And when the dominant interior design colors switched to salmon and green in the 1990s, quilters easily could adapt the Country Bride series of patterns to follow.31

In addition to those who wanted to reproduce the romantic quilt themselves, many consumers wanted to buy Country Bride quilts and began asking for them at Lancaster County’s many quilt retail shops. Amish entrepreneurs who consigned quilts to shops like the Old Country Store or operated their own quilt retail stores decided they needed to adopt the new trend. They bought Country Bride patterns and farmed out work to women with appliqué skills, a rarity among Amish women who predominantly made quilt tops with the techniques of piecing and embroidery. Some creative quiltmakers adapted the pattern, making slight variations in the layout or changing the colors. Emma Witmer recalled that when she showed her variation of the Country Bride pattern to its co-designer, Rachel Pellman did not even recognize it.32 The success of the Country Bride quilt and its related Country spin-offs ushered in many romantic appliqué patterns that have remained popular among consumers coming to buy quilts in Lancaster County.

The Country Bride phenomenon reveals the process through which trendy patterns spread through Amish cottage industries. Other popular patterns have included Dahlia, Bargello, Autumn Splendor, and Star Spin (figs 9.2–9.3).33 Just as with old quilts, conformity within the community predominated rather than individualism. If a certain pattern sold well, then every Amish quilt entrepreneur wanted to make that quilt. This reflected good business sense, but it was also indicative of Amish culture’s emphasis on submitting to the will of the community rather than the individual. Innovators have experimented with novel practices (including quilt patterns), pushing the community from its edges by adopting new ways of doing things; but most Amish have been hesitant to initiate change until others have tested the boundaries of tradition.34

In 2003, in an unusual act of individualism, Amish quiltmaker Mary Beiler copyrighted a version of a Bargello pattern she called “Light in the Valley” (fig. 9.4).35 Beiler’s friend had adapted the design from an old needlepoint pillow. Beiler encouraged her to copyright the pattern, suspecting it would be a good seller. She thought copyright protection would ensure that “Light in the Valley” would not spread through the Amish quilt industry like so many other popular patterns. Her friend, wary of

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