Antique Rose quilt, or Democratic Rose quilt, Rose Frances Good Kretsinger

Exhibition Label:
"Quilts: Flora Botanica," Jun-2008, Barbara Brackman and Susan Earle
Rose Kretsinger was a professional designer with a degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she took classes from Alphonse Mucha and other leaders in the Arts and Crafts movement. She began making quilts inspired by antiques during the 1920s. This piece was drawn from a damaged quilt belonging to the hired girl who worked in the Kretsinger’s Emporia home.

Contrasting it to Elizabeth Gunckel’s version of the same design made 50 years earlier, we can see Rose’s skills in making subtle changes to folk designs. By extending the stems and standardizing the flower placement, she has created a secondary wreath-like pattern that vies for the viewer’s attention.

Her handwritten notes refer to this quilt as Democrat Rose. In bipartisan spirit she and Carrie Hall called it Antique Rose in their 1935 book The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt in America.