Indigo Quilts

October 5, 2015
This excellent mix of history and quilt projects is the Triplett sisters’ third book based off the Poos Collections, a large, privately held gathering of quilts and textiles managed by the authors. The sisters chose to focus on indigo because, they claim, blue is the most popular color, and indigo is “the king of that color.” Though most research focuses on India’s role in Indigo cultivation, the Tripletts instead pay honorable—though admittedly circumstantial—attention to Africa’s links to the dye. The first section addresses transfer of indigo dye to the Americas beginning in the late 15th century, carried by people whom the Portuguese enslaved for their knowledge of growing indigo and weaving indigo textiles. The second section highlights antique quilts from the Poos Collection, an album including a gorgeous pieced quilt with intricate feather stitching and a LeMoyne Star block quilt with quilted flowers skillfully stitched with “ghost” blocks. The Tripletts’ style is scholarly and readable; the pictures are stunning and seductive, and the book finishes off with five indigo design projects for the mid-level-to-expert quilter.

November 1, 2015

Sisters Kay and Lori Lee are curator and business manager, respectively, for the Poos Collection, one of the world's largest collections of historic quilts. In their third book about the collection, their focus is on historic indigo quilts, as well as the African tradition of indigo cultivation and dyeing that was brought to the United States both by African traders and explorers and by slaves captured from their West African homelands. An extensive historical overview provides information about African textiles and the spread of indigo dyeing in early America, followed by a gallery of 19th-century quilts from the Poos Collection. The quilts feature indigo-dyed fabrics as a focal point, and include applique, pieced, and mixed designs. Quilters interested in re-creating similar quilts will find a selection of five designs for both pieced and applique quilts, with traceable templates for the applique motifs included on a pullout. VERDICT Historical quilt enthusiasts will appreciate the depth of the Tripletts' research on the history of indigo dyeing; contemporary quilters who appreciate reproduction quilts will enjoy the gallery and the patterns.

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