Quilts, pillows and other textiles, designed, hand ... - Dorothy Markert

Quilts, pillows and other
textiles,
designed,
hand screened
and sewn
by Dorothy Markert
From old slides taken in the 1970s
and 80s when I focused on this type of
work.
All of the screen printed images shown in this presentation were made with the
Hunt-Speedball drawing fluid and screen filler method of creating stencils on screens.
The images were painted directly on the screens and printed with Speedball textile screen printing ink.
The other techniques used were photographic screens and Crayola crayon rubbings
as stated in the descriptions. - Dorothy Markert, © 2009

Idlewood 1907-1978
In 1978 I made a print on paper that
incorporated images of this old
community that began as a summer
campground for wealthy families in
Buffalo, NY. There was a train station
near by making it possible for the men
to commute into the city. Each family
had their own home but they all ate
together in a community dining hall.
I worked with old photos from the
town historian, sketches that I made of
a burned out house on the grounds and
an old map of the area. At this time the
only access to the area was an old
rickety bridge that went over the 18
Mile Creek. The fire engines would
not use it. Many homes burned. It has
since been replaced.
Idlewood is still there on the shore of
Lake Erie in the town of Hamburg.
While I was printing the separate elements on paper, I decided to print some on fabric. I always had a
lot of remnants from all of the sewing that I did.
The following year I put them all together to make this hanging.
This was the start of my fabric art.

I used a part of the same screen that I
had used in the wall hanging to make an
edition of prints on paper and some on
fabric in various color schemes.
Idlewood Girls Pillows
The background of this print was made with a rubbing
From an antique album that had an embossed cover.
The lace borders are also rubbings.

Residence of Capt. B.K.
Buxton
Town of Hamburg, NY
This began as another print on
paper. But this time I planned to
print the elements on fabric
as well as paper. The house in the
snow is an original print from
sketches that I made at the time.
I copied a small early print from a
book of maps of Erie County.
Capt. Buxton is shown in his Civil
War uniform.
His descendents, a couple who had
lived in the house for a long time
were copied from a photograph.
Their faces are repeated in the upper
border.
A print made from a rubbing of old
lace and various patchwork patterns
complete this hanging.

Hamburg, NY Quilt
Sometime later, I decided to produce prints that
would be used as quilt squares. The local quilting
shop asked me to make some that they could sell.
First row: the Buxton House, the Brendel Building,
First Bicycle in Hamburg.
Second row: Hamburg Free Library, Village Hall,
Hamburg Peas (label from Hamburg Canning Co.).
Third row: Warren Kleis Barns, Webber Hotel and
Town Seal.
Fourth row: Oldest House , Hamburg Sun, Erie
Depot.
Fifth row: Refugee Beans (another HCC label),
Water Valley School and the Bay View Hotel.
They are all one color prints. This quilt won a first
place award at the Erie County Fair.
The following slide is of a hanging that incorporates
some of the same prints.

Hamburg Canning Co. Labels
I have a collection of early canning labels
that I have framed and hung in my
kitchen. I used them as subjects for quilt
squares.
The “Hamburgh Peas” and “Refugee
Beans”
labels are quite common, I found them in
an antique shop.
I have never seen another
“Hamburgh Sweet Corn”
or “East Hamburg,
Blackberries Preserved”
A friend whose family ran an antique
business found them for me.
The Hamburg Canning Company, established in 1881
was located on the north side of Evans St, at the Erie
Railroad tracks. George M. Pierce was first president.

Another Hamburg print.
According to an old newspaper
advertisement from 1889
“Thirty -Third Annual Exhibition of the
Erie C. Agr’l Society”
On The Fair Grounds At
HAMBURG.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday &
Friday, August 27, 28, 29 & 30, ’89
Grand Baloon Ascention and
Paraschute Drop”
On Wednesday the 28 which will be a
Grand Spectacle.”
I couldn’t resist copying this advertisement just as it
appeared in 1889.
I made the print in 1983.

Photographic Screen Prints
These small framed prints were made from old advertising for sewing machines in
Hamburg, NY.
A transparency was made on a copy machine of the original add. A photo sensitized
screen was exposed to light with the transparency blocking the light wherever it was
black. This made a photographic stencil.
These were printed on
fabric, bordered with
a calico and set into
the frames.
The adds date from 1894.

Amherst, NY quilt
I taught some classes at the Amherst Museum
in Amherst, NY. The Museum had a very
active quilting group. They asked me to make
quilt squares of Amherst subjects. I made so
Many that I decided to put them into a
quilt.
It is a large quilt, it goes on a queen size bed.
I don’t have it any more.
Here is a detail photo of it.

This pillow uses some of the same prints.
The Eagle House was not on the hanging.
the Williamsville Mill is a little clearer
in this photo.
Some other Amherst pieces
This hanging shows an early school class;
the mast head for The Amherst Bee, the
Williamsville Mill and an add for some sort
of 1800s pump.

Chautauqua Class Quilt
In 1981, I applied to teach a class at the Chautauqua
Institution Summer School.
The class was listed as “An Introduction to Screen
Printing/ Chautauqua Mementos”.
I taught the students to build a small screen and to
stretch the screen fabric on it.
I had researched and had suitable photo copies of
Chautauqua scenes and activities. Some had their
own original ideas.
Each student would print one, two or three images in
one color. If there were 12 people in the class they
would print 12 or more. They shared their prints
with the rest of the class.
Everyone went home with enough quilt blocks to
make a quilt. They could also print on paper to make
a portfolio of prints. This first year, I supplied navy
blue, black and brown ink. This became a challenge
when I put them into a quilt.
This quilt still hangs in Kellogg Hall, the Summer
Schools office at the Chautauqua Institution.

Early Chautauqua Hanging
At the top of this piece is the mast head of
The newspaper the Chautauqua Assembly
Herald.
Below is a steamboat coming into
Fair Point landing.
Under that is a row of chairs symbolizing
the many programs offered to those who were on
the grounds.
Next are portraits of Lewis Miller and
John Heyl Vincent, founders of the Institution as
a summer assembly to improve teaching in
Sunday schools.
An typical Chautauqua cottage with a family
grouped in front follows.
And finally two prints of paddle wheel steamers
that were once so prevalent on Lake Chautauqua.

Another needle book, the Athenaeum
Hotel is on this one. The hanging is
a typical Chautauqua scene, circa 1890.
The pillows are of a steamboat coming
into Fair Point Landing, circa 1880
and three prints from a rubbing of an
early Chautauqua book make up the
front of this pillow.
More Chautauqua
Needle books with Kellogg Hall and a
portrait of the founder of the Chautauqua
Literary and Scientific Circle, Kate Kimble
are shown with fabric wine bottle bags that
feature the famous Miller Bell Tower.

Turn of the Century Sewing Class,
Chautauqua, NY
I found a photograph of this group of
young ladies, sitting on a porch obviously
sewing clothes for their dolls.
Their hats and shawls are hung on a
rack behind them. The girl standing is
reading to the others.
Is she reading Bible verses or sewing
instructions?
I made a pen and ink drawing of the scene
and then a photo screen print on beige
fabric.

Chautauqua Hanging, 2
This hanging was made with
photo screen prints taken directly
from the illustrations in a Harper’s
New Monthly magazine c. 1870.
The original images were line-cuts
and they translated very well into
screen prints.
I printed them with black ink onto
white fabric.
The images show the article title
“Chautauqua”, various scenes around the
campground and another portrait of
John Heyl Vincent.

Emily Dickinson Hanging
Another of my interests is Emily Dickinson. I used a lot of white fabric because I knew that she liked
to dress in white. However, the image that I used shows her in a dark dress. There are many images
from nature, including the “fly” that buzzed when she died. A view of her home and refuge is shown.
Charles Wadsworth and
Thomas Wentworth
Higginson are included
because of their influence
on her work and her life.
The quote “The soul selects
Her own society” and
everything here is screen
printed, except for one
tiny triangle of calico.

A needle book of a Hamburg house, a sewing kit and
two more needle books (fan and doll) are shown with
an Emily pillow.
Emily Dickinson pillow
and framed print
Here is the same image of Emily
used to make a pillow and a
framed fabric print with calico
borders.

Nine years of
Christmas Dolls
Starting in 1979, I designed and printed the front and back of these small dolls on muslin.
I sold some just as prints on fabric that could be sewn and stuffed .
I also sold the little dolls all put together as Christmas decorations.
A number of people collected them.
I included the year that I
made the doll as well as the
year that the original dolls
would have been made
on the back of each one
that I printed.

Carrie Pillow and Doll
My “Aunt Carrie” was really my great
aunt. She was my grandmother’s sister.
I found a photo of her taken around
1912 and used the image to make a
print on paper. At that time, I also
printed one on fabric that I had
mounted onto a sheet of print paper.
This front of this pillow is that print.
It included rubbings of lace and book
covers and the row of silhouettes
printed with transparent ink.
18” x 14”, 1981
For the doll, I designed a back that would match up with the front. I printed them both,
sewed around the outside, turned the doll and then I stuffed her. She is about 9 ½” high

The Metcalf House, Buffalo, NY
The Metcalfe House, Buffalo, NY, designed by
McKim Mead & White (1884).
A house, now demolished, designed in the "early
colonial" style, but looks like early arts & crafts.
The Metcalfe House, designed in 1882 by the
well-known New York City firm McKim, Mead
& White, stood on the corner of North Street and
Delaware Avenue in Buffalo, NY until 1980.
Preservationists were able to only save parts of the
structure from demolition. The dining room and
library are now housed in Rockwell Hall, Buffalo
State College and the Metcalfe House staircase is
in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.
This hanging includes two views of the house, a
portrait of H.H. Richardson, mentor to the
architects and a window from the house that was
at the Hamburg Historical Society’s Museum.
Hopefully, the fabrics chosen add to the period
feel of the piece.

RED JACKET
Sa-go-ye-wat-ha (1756?–1830), a Seneca Indian orator
and chief. He was called Red Jacket because of his
fondness for the uniform coats given him by British
officers. He joined the British side reluctantly in the
American Revolution and was denounced as a coward by
Cornplanter for retreating from the fight at Canandaigua
against General John Sullivan's expedition. However,
Red Jacket opposed peace at the council of confederated
tribes at the mouth of the Detroit River in 1786.
In 1792 Red Jacket was one of a group who visited
President Washington at Philadelphia, and received a
medal which he always wore with great pride. He upheld
the traditions of his people and opposed all white
influences. When New York passed a law forbidding
whites to live on Indian lands, Red Jacket succeeded in
ousting a missionary. He was deposed as chief in 1827
because of his conservatism.
This hanging shows him wearing his large medal, a peace
pipe, the Seneca Mission Church and his house on the
Seneca reservation near Buffalo, NY.

Significant Women
In Western New York
In 1984 I was commissioned by the YWCA
of Buffalo to create their Corporate Award.
I researched these women , made small
screen printed portraits of them and
one or two line statements about them.
These were all put together as the award
along with the recipients name and the date.
This is not the hanging that I made for the YWCA.
That had the screen prints on a soft light yellow fabric.
The strip quilting around the prints was in patterned
fabrics of dark red, black and the soft yellow.
I never did photograph that piece,
but I still have this one.
I printed on a beige background and
changed the color scheme.
I added some feather stitching and other
embroidery to this one.

1. Mary Elizabeth Lord was the wife of a Buffalo pastor. She would stop her pony carriage in front
of over loaded wagons and just sit there until the driver would lighten the burden for his horse.
She is shown here with her pet dog “Smallweed”. She formed the Buffalo SPCA in 1867.

2. Evelyn Rumsey Cary created “The Spirit of Niagara” a painting that was the emblem of the
Pan-American Exposition in 1902 in Buffalo, NY. A small replica of her painting has been printed in
white onto burgundy fabric next to her. The image was from a fancy dress ball in 1888.

3. Jessie Bonstelle conducted her own theatrical stock company in the Buffalo area around 1900.
She directed, staged and acted in her many productions.

4. Alice Moore Hubbard was a driving force in the Roycroft Movement in East Aurora, NY.
As a pioneer in the Women’s Liberation Movement she gained much recognition for her book –
“Women’s Work” in 1908.

5. Charlotte Mulligan was an activist for social reform. She founded a home for destitute men in 1868.
She also headed the Erie Co. branch of the State Charities Aid Association.

6. Anna Katharine Green was a successful Buffalo novelist. Her famous “The Leavenworth Case”
sold over 150,000 copies in the 1880s. Charles Rolfs was an actor who wanted to marry Anna.
She declined unless he would give up his career. He did and after they married he became a leading
Arts and Crafts furniture designer and maker.

7. Mary R. Cass started as an office girl for the F.N. Burt Co. in Buffalo in 1891. She earned the
position of general manager of that company in 1910. The company logo (Buffalo) has been printed
on a fabric strip above her.

8. Cornelia Bentley Sage was director of the Albright Art Gallery in 1910. She was the first woman
In the United States to hold that position in a major art museum.

9. Louise Blanchard Bethune was the first professional American woman architect.
She was a member of the Buffalo firm that designed the Lafayette Hotel in 1904.

10. Mary Talbert was a leader in education and culture in Buffalo. She received the NAACP
Springarn medal as “Black Citizen of the Year” in the early 1900s.

11. Ellen Beach Yaw was born in Boston, NY in 1868.
She became a world famous coloratura soprano singing for kings and queens as well as local benefits.
Her birthplace, a very old home in Boston has a historical marker on it.

12. Clara E. Sipprell was introduced to her art in her brother’s Buffalo studio in the early 1900s.
She went on to become one of the world’s great photographers.

Sewing Kit
This was always one of my favorite things
to make. I don’t know where I found the
antique, hand driven machine that I copied
And printed on the front of this kit.
It started a collection
of about fifty antique toy sewing machines
that I still have in my sewing room.
Front
Back
The next slide shows you what is inside.

Inside the Sewing Kit
Inside the sewing kit is a heart shaped
pin cushion, flat pockets for needle
books, marking pencils, a thimble,
cards of buttons and a small pair of
embroidery scissors.
The gathered pockets toward the
bottom hold spools of thread. There is
a hand screened 12 inch ruler along
one side.
The whole kit is a pocket because the
inside and outside are separate. Small
sewing projects can go into this pocket
and it can be hung on a hook by the
loop at the top.
The kit ties closed with a ribbon.

A Witch Spinning
by Hans Holbein
This graphic rendition of a witch
was a perfect subject for Halloween.
I also screen printed the borders.
There was a hand printed label on
the back acknowledging the
original artist.

My Old Singer
I bought this treadle sewing
machine at a local Antique Show.
It sewed beautifully.
Eventually I gave
it up because of lack of space.
I printed this piece on white
fabric and the quilt parts on
lavender.
I cut out the lavender pieces and
appliquéd them onto the white
fabric. Then I hand quilted
around the image.
There is an outer binding of black
fabric around the hanging.
It doesn’t really show in this
photo.
1984.

Roycroft Hanging
I have always had an interest in the Roycroft
Movement. This was made long before I became
a Roycroft Renaissance Master Artisan.
The “Roycroft Rose”, Elbert Hubbard with
Richard LeGallien and Jerome Conner and
A view of the Roycroft Chapel.

Pan-American Penny Squares
The Buffalo and Erie County Historical
Society asked me to make replicas of
“Penny Squares” from their collection. I
made eight different ones.
The originals were printed in blue and
designed to be embroidered in red.
I skipped a step and printed them in red.
I put them together in this hanging.
They are:
Around the World, Horticultural Building
Pan-American logo, Temple of Music
(Where President McKinley was shot.),
New York State Building, A Trip to the
Moon, Triumphal Bridge and the Electric
Tower.

4 TH JULY
AT NIAGARA FALLS
THE GREATEST WONDER OF THE AGE
MONS
BLONDIN
WILL REPEAT HIS WONDERFUL FEAT OF
CROSSING
The NIAGARA RIVER
UPON A TIGHT ROPE & RETURN
ON MONDAY
THE 4 TH OF JULY
Between 3 and 5 P.M. He will cross from the American side to the Canadian side
TIED UP IN A SACK
Mons BLONDIN will also repeat his World-Renowned Exercise on the
TIGHT ROPE !
On the ground previous to the Terrific and Sublime Trip across Niagara River
PRICE OF ADMISSION 25 CENTS
Splendid Seats have been erected for the occasion, price 25 Cents Extra
TIGHT ROPE Performances to begin at 3 P.M. GENERAL ASCENSION at 4 P.M.
Niagara Falls pillows and
needle books
The red pillow is a direct copy of a
handbill, circa 1860.
I copied the text just as it was
onto this slide so that you
could read it.
The Clifton House adds are on the
other pillows and the little needle
books have old images of Niagara Falls

Multicolor prints on fabric
I don’t often try to print more than one color on fabric.
The registration can be a problem. These two small prints
were made by having the fabric stretched and taped down
onto a support of cardboard. I then could use my normal
method of registration with register guides at one corner
and one side.
Easter 1991
The Schweickhardt House, Eden, NY

Screen prints made with rubbings
For some time I had been using rubbings of embossed antique book covers to make prints that captured the historic
look that I was after. I found that by placing a book under my screen and making a rubbing directly on the screen with
crayola crayons I could make a stencil because the crayon would block the water soluble textile ink that I used.
I had a collection of old guide books, many from Niagara Falls. I used them to create this dark and light “Log Cabin”
quilt square on different shades of gold, tan and white. I blended the ink on the screen from black to brown.
This is a detail from a
45” x 59” hanging.
It is hand quilted.
I call it
“Souvenir of
Niagara Falls”.

Front
I have used this book rubbing technique
in many of the pieces in this presentation.
These all have an element of rubbings in them:
The Idlewood Girls Pillow, Carrie Pillow,
The Buxton House hanging and much
more to follow.
This another example of prints
from book rubbings.
You can see the entire book covers.
I titled this “Book Purse”.
It was in a national show
of textile art. Approximately 11” x 14”
Back

Writing Case
Here is another book rubbing.
This writing case had a notepaper inside
as well as a place for pens and pencils,
envelopes, stamps and an address book.
It closes with a ribbon tie.
I thought that Dickens was an appropriate
subject for the cover.

The front and backs of the
pages were sewn together,
face to face, turned and hand
quilted.
Buffalo Album
This soft album was inspired by an actual old
Guide book of Buffalo, NY.
The cover was made with a rubbing of the
original book.
The small illustrations on the six pages of this
album were painted onto the screens with
screen drawing fluid, screen filler was spread
over them to make the stencils that were used
to print the pages.

Tumbling Blocks
I loved the way that the book
rubbings looked when they were
printed. Blending the colors (black
and magenta) made them even
more interesting. I started to make
a series of works that were of
traditional quilt bocks created with
book rubbings.
Three diamonds were laid out on
the screen with a seam allowance
between each. The rubbings were
made in these diamonds. The three
were printed onto different colored
fabrics as one print. Then they were
cut apart and assembled to make
this hanging. Machine quilted.

Tumbling Blocks II
I used the same screen to print a different
piece. This time I used brown ink that
blended with orange. The fabrics were in
a lighter range of colors.
This can be a wall hanging or
a table runner.
It is machine quilted.
There is a casing on the back
that could hold a rod for hanging.

Fan Runner
I made this hand quilted table runner/hanging early on in this series.
It sold quickly to the owner of Gallerie D’Accord on Chautauqua Lake.
I had been represented by that gallery for many years, I had a one man show there in 1986.
A Chautauqua quilt, pillows, framed textiles and works on paper filled the gallery that summer.
Many of them were sold at that time.

Twin size quilt made with book rubbings
I used the nine patch
idea for this quilt.
Each small square
was a different rubbing.
I printed the larger
nine squares onto blue,
pink, beige and lavender
Fabrics with ink that
blended blue to magenta.
It is machine quilted.
Details of quilt

Created with rubbings of
book bindings this is a
simple print in brown on
three shades of gold.
Hand quilted.
Bindings

Framed Fans and Pillows
This piece is mounted onto a foam core board
and framed with a simple black metal frame.
Black to magenta ink was used to print onto
many colors of fabric. Hand quilted.
The pillows were printed with the same screen
with a citron colored ink. Machine quilted.

Spider Web
This is an unfinished piece, It has been hand quilted and the binding has been sewn on.
I will probably finish it – someday.

Amethyst - framed
Later I decided to use traditional
quilt patterns made with rubbings
to make framed art pieces.
I assembled the squares, added
Borders and then hand quilted them.
I sewed another piece of fabric on
Three sides to the front to make a
sort of pillow case. A piece of acid
free foam core board was slipped
inside and the fourth side was
stitched closed by hand.
I framed these with metal frames
that kept the glass separated
from the art work.
I did a series of these and had a show
of them at the Point of View Gallery,
Williamsville, NY. 1984

Basket of Flowers
For this small hanging (12” x 20”) I made
a drawing fluid and screen filler stencil on
my screen and then made rubbings
inside the stencil. It is printed with
purple ink and hand quilted.

Mexican Star
I used drawing fluid and
screen filler again to make a
stencil that blocked out all of the
star shapes. Then I made
rubbings in the remaining areas.
I like the way that the dark
diagonal strips seem to be
on top.
The ink blends black to
magenta. This is hand quilted.
It once hung in the Albright-
Knox Gallery in Buffalo, NY.
It is now at home in Cody, WY

Both shiny and dull fabrics
were used in this piece.
Again, I made a screen filler
stencil to help define the
pattern.
The ink blends from blue
to magenta.
It is one of my favorite pieces
and a dear friend bought it
from me.
Morning Glory

The Little Giant
Another piece, under glass.
The rubbings are printed
in shades of blue and gray.
Stephen Douglas: “The Little
Giant”
“The Little Giant,” a quilt block
with many pieces, refers to
Stephen Douglas, (1813-1861), a
noted orator and debater, who
was Lincoln’s political opponent
in the 1860 presidential election.
The block's name recalls
Douglas’ nickname, a reference
to his diminutive stature. The
same block has also been
published as,
“Heart’s Desire.”
from quiltersmuse.com

In 1986, I was invited by the
Buffalo Seminary to have a
one man show in the Larkin
House. A purchase award was
included in this invitation.
This piece was purchased by
the school as part of their
Colby program. It still hangs
there.
It is a combination of drawing
fluid/ screen filler stencil and
book rubbings on various red
fabrics. It is printed in shades
of red and hand quilted.
Bleeding Heart

Nine Patch – two color variations
Nine patch is such a simple, traditional pattern. I used drawing fluid and screen
filler to make the two squares. One had 5 and one had 4 blocked out squares.
Rubbings were made in the open areas. They were printed, assembled
and hand quilted.

Grandmother’s Garden
Another traditional
quilt pattern printed
so that the ink would
blend to make the dark
diagonal areas.
Screen filler stencil
with rubbings.
Hand quilted.
Under glass.

Memorial
Not all rubbings have to be made from
book covers.
I was commissioned by the Town of
Hamburg to create a memorial for a very
special woman. She had been a collector
of funeral art and I thought to remember
her with traditional weeping willow trees.
I cut out small pieces of cardboard and
glued them onto a base to make a raised
image that I could use to make a rubbing.
The border and the letters were all done
the same way.
I printed onto many colors of fabric with
black ink to make this memorial.
It is machine quilted.

detail
Queen Anne’s Lace Quilt
I made some rubbings directly on a screen. This time I
used Queen Anne’s Lace. It was dried flat under some weight.
I did the rubbing of each blossom and stem individually,
one at a time.
I printed onto various fabrics that were shades of off-white.
I used different shades of gray ink.
After the blocks were assembled and sewn together as a quilt
I machine quilted them along the vertical stems.

On to Other Things…
In 1995 I became a Roycroft Renaissance Artisan.
I have always been interested in the Arts and Crafts Movement.
I devoted myself to printing works on paper instead of fabric.
To be honest, I was tired of all of the sewing – now I sew just for pleasure.
Rag dolls and doll clothes were my next obsession as well as clothes
for my four grand daughters.
After that, I rid myself of tons of fabric scraps and sewing notions.
My sewing room now features my collection of antique, toy sewing machines.
I occasionally go up there to make some new curtains or do some mending.
Dorothy Markert, 2009