Book List: Suggestions for Further Reading

A Commenter Asked for a Bibliography, a good summary of the topic and I thought, "Good Idea."


And then I thought wait a minute. I can't find a good over view in printed paper form. There are many biographies of women who were active in the fight for women's rights, a few autobiographies with overviews that are biased and/or dated and a few histories of specific ideas, countries and eras---

 But a good overview? I'll see what I can find.

I will be generating a reading list with links to books every week or two in the posts and as I do I'll add them to this post.

You can add to the book list in the comments to this post.

I'll start with a book mentioned in the post on Block 2. The topic: England and the imagery used by various groups at the height of the political activity a century ago.

Lisa Tickner. The Spectacle of Women: Imagery of the Suffrage Campaign 1907-1914. University of Chicago Press, 1988
More: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo3616098.html
Click on the Google Preview on that page.

BIOGRAPHY

Several of the women who led the campaign in the U.S. in the 19th century published
A History of Woman's Suffrage, a six-volume account from 1881 to 1922. Editors
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan Brownell Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Ida Husted Harper wrote from their perspective, ignoring rival groups and leaders, so the book is not an accurate overview.
You can read it online at Google Books
Here's the third volume:
http://books.google.com/books?id=8hwWAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

The Pankhursts continue to dominate the public image of the British suffrage movement.

Read Emmeline's side of the fight here:

My Own Story by Emmeline Pankhurst

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/34856/34856-h/34856-h.htm

And Sylvia's here:

The Suffragette: The History of the Women’s Militant Suffrage Movement by Sylvia Pankhurst

http://books.google.com/books?id=SAdAAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

A Subcategory of Writing About Humor as a Propaganda Tool
Read Gary L. Bunker's "The Art of Condescension," for an in-depth look at political cartoons and the 19th century women's movement.

http://www.common-place.org/vol-07/no-03/bunker/ 

The Catherine H. Palczewski Postcard Archive at the University of Northern Iowa here:

http://www.uni.edu/palczews/postcard_archive.html

Another collection of anti-suffrage humor:

http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/peace/wchmiel1/women%20in%20politics/cartoon%20page.htm

David M. Dinsmore's "How Suffragist Postcards Got Out the Vote" post on the MS Magazine blog.

http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/03/31/suffragist-postcards/

OTHER MEDIA

See the 1974 BBC mini-series Shoulder to Shoulder about the Pankhursts.

Here are 2 short You Tube scenes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvkdONC3n-0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oGB3Df4JWg

You can actually hear Sylvia Pankhurst discuss her mother in this 13 minute 1953 BBC program (There is no dish---just a polite summary):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/suffragettes/8300.shtml

2. Amethyst: Suffragettes

Amethyst

Becky Brown

Amethyst, a purple stone, reminds us of the purple, green and white color scheme that helped define the image of Britain's Women's Social and Political Union.

The WSPU marching with banners and sashes

WSPU colors became emblematic of the militant group known as the Suffragettes, who broke away from the more conservative Suffragist organizations in 1903.

After 1908 tricolor sashes and rosettes identified

marchers immediately as militant Suffragettes.

The WSPU sponsored gift shops at their headquarters selling banners and "scarves in various shades of purple as well as white muslin summer blouses and [an]almost unending variety of bags, belts....books, games, blotters, playing cards and indeed almost everything that can be produced in purple, white and green."

A selection of suffrage badges, medals and knick-knacks such as playing cards in the green, purple and white palette. There was a good deal of variety in all the shades from pinkish to dark blue violet. There is some recent discussion that the colors green, white and violet were chosen to echo the motto Give Women the Vote. That's a good way to recall the colors GWV---but the Suffragettes did not ask anyone to give them the vote. They demanded the vote.

 

The WSPU's main mottoes were

Votes for Women

and

Deeds Not Words

Hand-made embroidered and appliqued banners were important in the British campaigns. This banner has the WSPU motto "Deeds Not Words" among the purple, green and white iris. The hammer and horseshoe stands for Hammersmith.  Read more about banners from the Suffrage Atelier here at the VADS (Visual Arts Data Service) database:

http://www.vads.ac.uk/collections/FSB.html

See Lisa Tickner's book on the imagery of the English suffrage campaign, The Spectacle of Women by clicking here for a Google preview:
http://books.google.com/books?id=qjp5Yw_w8XsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=lisa+tickner&source=bl&ots=rHULR1a11i&sig=c50VG2vtO_FIDtf2JvUYOH0CFCk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=v_5JUOKYIoXm8gSh0IGgAw&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=lisa%20tickner&f=false

She notes that broadly speaking the colors symbolized purity (white), hope (green) and dignity (purple).

The Amethyst quilt block, a name published by the Kansas City Star's quilt columnist in February 1931, can remember the WSPU's skillful use of color to communicate their presence and their goals.

Becky is doing two quilts---each granddaughter will get one.

A red amethyst from Georgann

Cutting an 8" Finished Block

B - Rotary Cut 1 square 3-3/8". Use templates for the others.

And for 2020 I'm adding a 12" pattern.

Here's an exploded block to show you one way to piece it together. You could also piece the star and then set in the A pieces. Either way you have Y seams. You can do it!

Dustin's dots and woven stripes

#2975a

It's  #2975a in BlockBase. Don't forget the "a" when you do a number search.

I have been playing around at Spoonflower.com and have uploaded a fabric print especially for these blocks. I used images of the parasols that said Votes for Women. Here's a mockup of the Amethyst block from EQ with the magenta colorway. Below is a scaled picture of the print.

I just got the fabric back. It's a little pinker than this photo.

 I did it in both purplish-pink and yellow, thinking 1930s prints.

Click here to see my Material Culture Spoonflower Store. The two different color ways are called VotesForWomenGold and VotesForWomenPurple

http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/materialculture

Do a search in the Spoonflower store for fabric with a suffrage theme and you'll find some other ideas. Use the tags "votes" or "suffrage".

Here's a link to the purple print:

http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/1398433

Here's a link to the gold print:

http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/1398425

Mid-Week Math Post: FAQs

With over a thousand quilters checking this blog every week there are going to be a lot of questions about the pattern math and pattern format. We had the same questions last year in the Civil War Block of the Month too so I am going to try to answer the FAQ's here:

Arithmetic has never been my skill area.

FAQ's ON PATTERNS:  MEASUREMENTS, ETC.

The whole thing becomes terribly complex when you realize more than half you followers use the metric system. I have to compliment those used to that system who indulge us Americans with our inches and eighth inches.
If you need a conversion chart: meters to yards, inches to centimeters, etc. go to the Moda webpage
where they have a "Tips, Guides & Measurements" section. Click here:
http://www.unitednotions.com/un_main.nsf/tips-guides!OpenPage
Then click over to the right on Metric Conversions.

WHY 8-INCH BLOCKS?

Connie's Crafts

Civil War BOM

56 Blocks 8"

Becky and I discussed making these larger but then the finished sampler gets too big. So why 8"? Because WE like 8"---a pretty good reason. We love the way they look in the finished quilt.

I know it makes it hard to put a nine-patch in an 8" block. In some cases I've converted nine-patches---blocks divisible by 3--- into blocks divisible by 2. I've avoided some blocks with good names that are just too complex for 8"---and I've simplified others.


WHY DON'T I USE 1/16th-INCH MEASUREMENTS?

 The 1/16" measurement would make the various blocks more accurate if you are fussy. I use the 1/8" default setting in EQ to draft these.You could go into your pattern software and convert the default drafting measurement to 1/16".  I could do this too but then a lot of you would tell me you can't even see the 1/16" measurement on your ruler. (Neither can I.) So 1/8" is my story and I am sticking to it.
WELL NOT FOR LONG. By October Becky has changed my mind so each week I'll give you 1/16th" measurements for the blocks in red. The next question: Where do you find a ruler with 1/16th" measurements in France?

WHAT IF THE BLOCKS AREN'T ALL THE SAME SIZE?

This is an age-old problem with samplers. If the blocks finish up different sizes (some measuring 8-1/2", some 8-3/8", etc)  you can ease when you set them together and any puffiness is going to quilt out.
One reason to sash the blocks is that you can make up that 1/4" difference in the sashing, using a bit more than 1/4" seam allowance for the larger blocks and a bit less for the smaller blocks.

Here are a few sets from the Civil War BOM that solve the difference problems.

Susi-Ra used strips.

Sort the blocks by size and stack them according to size.

Marge Pearson

Add corner triangles and trim so blocks are all the same size.

 

 

Honas52

Pieced those corner triangles.

Just Cruisin MBK

Set medallion fashion and put the smaller blocks, for example,

in the center, larger in the borders.

.

WHAT IF I WANT A DIFFERENT SIZE BLOCK?

Every quilter needs to be able to draft patterns.
You can redraft these with a pencil, a ruler and graph paper. Just remember you have to redraw each piece and THEN add the seam allowance. Draw the pattern on the graph paper full size. Then do the math to add 1/4".

Note from reader Pataksag: "Another invaluable resource for pattern drafting, and redrafting is Patchwork Patterns, by Jinny Beyer, 1979." I agree. It's a geometry course for people who forgot to pay attention in highschool.

The demented bunny above says: "This is good for you. It builds character and drafting skills."

Your best bet for redrafting is computer aided drafting. You should invest in a computer software program. For PC's I use EQ and BlockBase. For MACs there are other quilt pattern software programs.

 

Each to her own operating system.

 

The graphic above is a snapshot of reader operating systems---the various devices you readers are using to access the site. It says 2% read the blog on your I-Phones, 1% use LINUX: a wide variety of systems. I have no advice on quilt software for Linux or Blackberries.

Like the hedgehog I only know one thing.

 

BlockBase is a stand-alone pattern identification and drafting software program for PC's that I did with Electric Quilt. Find the yellow box over in the righthand sidebar and click on that for ordering information. It works with EQ and I usually import the block into EQ and recolor it.

WHERE ARE THE CONSTRUCTION DIAGRAMS?
I decided not to do those this year as that was the most work in the whole posting. If the block is really complicated (hopefully---not too many of those) I'll give you a diagram, but most of these are basic.

FAQ'S ON PATTERN FORMAT

HOW CAN I PRINT THESE OUT?

This is not easy to answer. You have to figure out a way that your computer and your printer will work together in picking up copy from a website.

Here is what I do when I want to print something off a website (like an airline schedule, pattern instructions or an address.)

• Open a new word file and give it a name. For example: GMCHOICE Block1.
• Go back to the blog. Using your cursor and the shift key highlight all the copy you want to save and then hit the copy keys---in PC: Control and C.
• Go to the empty word file and hit the paste keys. In PC: Control and V.
• The copy should appear---pictures and all---in the Word file.
• Print from the Word file.
• Save this file if you want to in a folder named GRANDMOTHERS CHOICE BOM

WHY NO PDF?

I don't give you the rotary cutting instructions in PDF form for a reason.
Once the copy is in PDF format it takes on a life of its own. While it's embedded in this blog users have to read it in context.  You may make it into a PDF if you like, but please don't email it around or post it.

WHAT IF THE TEMPLATE PDF'S PRINT THE WRONG SIZE?

I WILL be giving you a PDF for templates. The biggest problem with a PDF is that every printer in the world prints the templates a different size. Many of you are going to have to learn how to re-size these on your printer.
Jennifer suggests: "When you print a PDF there are options for page scaling. Select "none" to have it print at the same scale as the original PDF."
I print out the PDF, take my ruler and measure the pieces. If they are too small I go back into my PRINT command and tell it to print at 110%. Trial and error..... Wasting paper.... No easy answer.

 

I'll stick a link to these FAQs over in the right hand column and add to them as you ask questions in the comments.

1. Grandmother's Choice

Grandmother's Choice

Becky Brown

In the Purple, Green and White Colorway

Grandmother's Choice is the logo for this Block of the Week. For the next 49 weeks you'll find here a "Saturday Morning Post" with a free pattern to recall the fight for women's rights. The blocks will all finish to 8 inches. The quilt pattern in the logo design was given the name Grandmother's Choice by the Ladies' Art Company about 1890.

 
Women in the United States won the right to vote, women's suffrage, in 1920, a centennial anniversary we will be celebrating in seven years or so. But I thought it would be a good idea to start a memorial quilt in the early teens because the fight for that national right took so long.

As the weeks go by we'll recall the teens with its marches in the streets for the right to vote and we'll go back in history to recall other hard-fought rights. Although we'll focus on English-speaking countries, we'll occasionally consider women's rights elsewhere too.

You may want to think about your own female ancestors and how their rights affected their lives  a hundred years ago. In 1912 my very different grandmothers lived in New York City, both with young children. One was expecting her fifth daughter that year (she went on to have 13 children.)

My Grandmother about 1905

The other had just one two-year old in 1912, which gave her the freedom to supplement her husband's wages. He was a cutter in a garment factory and she ran a grocery store and went on to have two more children in the teens. One woman seemed very much a housewife, the other very much a business woman. Each made her own choice---although many factors limited those choices.

We never talked about their attitudes towards the right to vote, an event that changed when they were each about 40. New York legislated women's suffrage in 1917. I took it for granted and never thought to ask.

Grandmother's Choice

Becky is making two versions.

Georgann Eglinski is doing a set in red and white.

And Dustin Cecil is using

dots and woven stripes and plaids.

Cutting an 8" Finished Block

A - Cut 5 squares 2-1/8"

B - Cut 4 squares 2-1/2". Cut each in half diagonally to make 2 triangles. You need 8 triangles.

C - Cut 4 rectangles 2-1/8" x 3-3/4"

D - Cut 2 squares 4". Cut each in half diagonally to make 2 triangles. You need 4 triangles.

The Women's Political Union's mobile

"Suffrage Shop" 1915

From the Library of Congress

Grandmother's Choice

BlockBase #1855a

Each week I'll give you the BlockBase number so you can print out the pattern at 12" or 4" or as templates if you wish. Grandmother's Choice is #1855a. When you do a search by pattern number be sure to put the "a" in there.

The New York Public Library has many images related to women's suffrage.

http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?word=col_id%3A542&sScope=images&sLabel=Woman%20Suffrage%20and%20Feminism%20Photographs%20in%2E%2E%2E

A NOTE FOR SHOP OWNERS

Shop Owners: Please feel free to use this Block of the Week in your shops.

The first block will be up September 1, 2012 and the 49th on August 3, 2013. I'll leave the posts up for at least a year after that last date.

 

Here are three ways to link to the blog.

 

 

 1) Organize a club with block kits and no class meetings. With each kit include a link to the weekly blog post.

Kit up the blocks in three different fabric options: How about:

·         Shades of purple, white and green---England's Suffragette colors

·         A focus on America's golden color

·         William Morris and Art Nouveau reproductions

 There will be 49 blocks so you can do a block of the week or a block of the month. For a monthly feature you could sell 4 kits at a time for a year or just select a dozen for a single block of the month.

 

 

2) Organize a club that meets at the shop with a focus on local Women's History---perhaps six meetings over a year. Assign topics at the beginning  and have students do a little bit of research to discuss in upcoming sessions. The internet has a lot of resources on state and national campaigns. Identify some leaders in the regional fight for women's rights and ask members to find out about their lives and local history. Members bring in their finished blocks from the blog.

 

Topics might include

·         Right to Vote: How did women get the right to vote at various elections locally.

·         Local Firsts: (first female lawyer, legislator, mayor, doctor).

·         The Other Side: Who were the antisuffrage campaigners in the area?

·         Persuasion: Find banners, posters, buttons etc.

·         Local Heroes: Who were local leaders in women's rights?

·         I Remember When: Nostalgia by those who lived through the days when high school guidance counselors gave you 3 options: Secretarial, teaching, nursing. Etc.

·         What was Happening Here a Century ago: What was a woman's day like?

 

3) Use the patterns for a basic patchwork class. You'll find a wide variety of difficulty levels in the pieced blocks (and the three or four applique blocks.) All are 8" but you can also teach students how to convert to 10" or 12". They can learn to draft, to use a computer drafting program like BlockBase or EQ or search the web for patterns.  Adding the Women's History interest to the basic sewing class will attract would-be quilters as well as those who are interested in history and period fabrics too.