Pottery Barn Museum Craft Collection
Pottery Barn has long been America’s source for handmade, high-quality quilts. Now a further exploration into the art has lead to partnerships with museums such as the American Folk Art Museum, the Shelburne Museum and the Gee’s Bend Foundation. Working together, we are able to re-create the most celebrated quilts from America’s past and bring them into the home. These centerpieces of Pottery Barn’s upcoming Fall Collection faithfully follow the same traditional techniques and detailed workmanship as the magnificent museum originals.
The Museum Craft Collection Sunburst Quilt
Our version is a near replica of the original 1835 Sunburst Quilt housed in the American Folk Art Museum in New York. Over 30 patterns of fabric form the octagonal rings that radiate from a central eight-pointed star. Our reproduction is hand quilted using the same meticulous English template technique in which 2,900 cloth diamonds were originally cut and basted from paper templates of old letters, ticket stubs and receipts. Often bits of paper were left behind, creating a literal paper trail of history.
Museum Craft Collection Gee’s Bend Quilts & Shams
Over six generations, the women of Gee’s Bend, Alabama have developed a distinctive and sophisticated quilting style based on traditional American and African American quilts. We worked closely with the quiltmakers to re-create three iconic patterns that have been featured in major museums worldwide. To watch a video about these historic pieces, visit potterybarn.com.
The Log Cabin, created by Jessie T. Pettway circa 1935, is a quintessential theme dating back to the Civil War era. The Housetop Variation, created by Martha Pettway and one of Gee’s Bend’s most technically skilled quilters in the 1930s, adds offset triangles to the design’s typical concentric squares. Collector and author Arnett called this adaptation one of the “most superb versions yet found.” The Basket Weave, originally crafted in 1943 by Polly Bennett, is a pattern that’s crafted communally, with the face pieced by one quilter with a singular artistic vision. This one is particularly notable for its subtle blend of many different solid colors.
Whether displayed on a wall as a work of art or spread on the bed, each of these quilts is an American masterpiece whose bold statement has stood the test of time.
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