Moss Rose quilt, Susan Black Stayman

Exhibition Label:
"Quilts: Flora Botanica," Jun-2008, Barbara Brackman and Susan Earle
Susan Stayman won awards at the 1866 Kansas State Fair for “two fancy patch quilts, of entirely original design.” This splendid quilt may have been one of them. Family stories say it also won a prize at an Illinois fair in 1855. Her daughter called it Moss Rose, which to Victorian gardeners meant a variety of hybrid rose with a sticky, aromatic “moss” on the stems and leaves.

Roses were quiltmakers’ favorite floral images. Few are as detailed as this representation with thorns and naturalistic buds. The border features a simpler wild rose, a five-petaled flower. Stayman may have drawn roses directly from her garden, but three similar quilts have been found in Iowa, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. A truly “original” floral design is rare in nineteenth-century quilts.

Quilters can appreciate Stayman’s masterful handwork. She used a blanket stitch (also called a buttonhole stitch) to cover the patches’ raw edges. It is unfortunate she chose the solid pink fabric for her wild rose border because it’s lost much color over the years. The green and Turkey-red cottons were more reliable.