7. Alice's Flag

Alice's Flag

   

Alice's Flag recalls Alice Paul's Ratification Banner. She sewed a star as each state ratified the 19th Amendment.

After decades of frustration working to obtain votes for women in state-by-state campaigns, American  organizations focused on a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the vote as national law.

The 19th Amendment to the Constitution: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

The amendment was written by 19th-century leaders Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and first introduced into Congress in the 1870s, but legislators could not get it through both houses. Women saw to it that the bill was introduced in every session. In 1918 President Woodrow Wilson appealed to Congress to pass it by reminding them of women's war work.

 

 "We have made partners of the women in this war. ... Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of privilege and right?"

Finally on June 4, 1919 the Senate gave final approval.

The next step to a constitutional amendment is ratification by a majority of the states. At the time 36 of the 48 state legislatures were required to approve. The first three states Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan ratified quickly but then the pace slowed.

 

22 stars with 14 still to go.

Alice Stokes Paul, president of the National Women's Party, had marched with English suffragettes where she learned how to create public awareness for the campaign. In 1919 and 1920 she publicized her Ratification Banner, sewing a star as each state legislature ratified the amendment.

The battle for ratification

required coordinated effort across the country.

Alice unfurls her completed banner with 36 stars after Tennessee ratifies the Suffrage Amendment in August, 1920.

Alice's Flag

By Becky Brown

Alice's Flag is an original pattern by Becky Brown and me. Becky loves a challenge (see the fussy-cut piecing). You can always cut a single star rather than one pieced of five shapes.

Alice's Flag

By Dustin Cecil

 

Alice's Flag

By Becky Brown

There were numerous versions of the banner done in the American color palette of purple and gold. If you are using a purple and green color scheme you may want to use a yellow-green here to echo the flag.

Alice's Flag

By Georgann Eglinski

Or a smaller star. Pattern below.

  For a red and white color scheme use the smaller star so it shows.

Cutting an 8" Finished Block

For the background cut 3 strips 8-1/2" x 3-1/8" (3-3/16"--- if you want to use the 16th inch default)

Use the template here for the stars. The large star finishes to 6-1/2" from point to point. The small star 2-5/8".Add seams to the star---a little bit less than 1/4" is what most appliquers use.

At an angle, straight up and down....Alice's were rather jaunty, at an angle.

Because we designed this in

Electric Quilt there is no BlockBase number.

How to print:
Create a word file or a new empty JPG file that is 8-1/2" x 11".
Click on the image above.
Right click on it and save it to your file.
Print that file out 8-1/2" x 11". Note the inch square block for reference.
Adjust the printed page size if necessary.
Add seams.

For a 12-Inch Block

For the strips cut 3 strips 12-1/2" x 4-1/2".

For a 12" block the star has to be slightly smaller in relation to the stripes (to fit on the printer's page). 

A Toast to Victory, 1920