Kitchen Table Patterns and Newsletters to the Rise of Quilt Magazines with Xenia Cord

Friday, July 24 • 2:30–4:00 pm • Marion Public Library, Meeting Room B, 600 S Washington St., Marion, IN

After World War II, public interest in quiltmaking declined — but dedicated quilters still sought sources of patterns and instruction. Responding to that need, women at their kitchen tables created pattern mail order businesses, while others corresponded in groups searching and sharing early 20th century quilt ephemera. From these humble beginnings grew an entrepreneurial spirit among women who designed quilts, understood business, and found ways to bring their skills into the commercial world.

Among the first were those who introduced needlework and quilting as leisure activity, born of the colonial revival that emerged in contrast to the industrial world. For many women, that leisure became economic support during the Great Depression years. We know the names of those who succeeded — but there were surely others whose efforts have quietly disappeared from history. Join Xenia Cord as she traces this rich and largely untold story from kitchen table enterprises to the rise of the quilt magazines we know today.

About Xenia Cord

Distinguished scholar, caring mentor, prolific author, and pioneering quilt historian, Xenia Elisabeth Blom Cord is the 2018 inductee into The Quilters Hall of Fame. Born in Norway, raised in Ohio, and adopted by Indiana, Xenia has devoted her career to sharing her love of quilt history and educating the next generation of quilt historians.