1. A Look Into Russia’s Closet
by Maureen Lieurance
A striking group of Russian and Central Asian garments and textiles were recently donated to
the Collection by Ms. Jeanne Morrow on behalf of the estate of Ms. Jean Deuss. The textiles
were collected in Moscow in the 1920s when Ms. Deuss lived there with her parents. Ms. Morrow
came across a clipping about the HLATC while sorting through Ms. Deuss’s papers. Assuming
her friend’s intentions to donate the textiles to the Collection, Ms. Morrow generously obliged
an unspoken wish.
Woman’s Blouse, Moscow, Russia. 1920-1930. Linen, cotton embroidery. Gifted by the
estate of Jean Deuss. HLATC 1997.06.006
During the time that Ms. Deuss and her family lived in Moscow, Russia was facing tremendous
social, political, and economic upheavals. With respect to fashion, these myriad conditions
demanded that clothing be geared to accommodate an austere lifestyle. Practical, inexpensive
and unpretentious outfits were fashioned from limited quantities of available materials such as
linen, canvas, and cotton. The characteristics of such fabrics often dictated the style the garment
would take (Strizhenova 1991:77-79). The unobtrusive garments of this era were also fabricated
from recycled household textiles such as tablecloths, bed linens, and curtains. The garments
acquired their individuality through decorative appliquéd or embroidered inserts in the form of
geometric lines and motifs. One garment from the Deuss donation that is of particular interest is

2. a linen blouse that elicits charm from the colorful openwork designs inserted along the neckline,
waistband, and lower front panel (1997.6.6). The sleeveless, pullover blouse was constructed
from three equal widths of yellow linen and the elongated, rectangular form reflects a simplistic
cut and style. Red linen frames the openwork design at the neckline while pink linen defines the
collar and armbands. The openwork inserts are composed of spirited blue and red diamonds
and triangles interwoven amongst a natural background. In keeping with Russian fashion design
of the time, the blouse’s linen fabric and inserts may have been recycled from embroidered linen
pillowcases and towels. The garment bears no label to indicate the identity of the designer or
manufacturer.
In researching the context of this blouse, there was a parallel between its construction and the
design aesthetics of a twentieth century Russian clothing and costume designer. Nadezhda
Lamanova (1861-1941) is remembered not only for Russia’s first professional clothing designer,
but also for the pioneering contributions she made to theoretical principles of Russian design
and contemporary clothing (Strizhenova 1991: 68). Lamanova’s skill, talent, keen eye and artistic
aesthetics allowed her to envision how a fabric would look on a person and what shape suited a
figure. Prior to the revolution of October 1917, Lamanova had her own dressmaking
establishment and was chief designer for the royal court and other members of Russian
aristocracy. The revolution ushered in a new era for Lamanova and her design theories. She
embarked in large-scale manufacturing and had a clear conception of the trends in Soviet
costume, especially clothing for everyday wear and garments incorporating folk motifs.
The hallmark of Lamanova’s new conceptual designs was the rectangle. Rectangular cuts
allowed for mass-production and economized fabrics (Tolstoy 1990: 268). Ornamentation
softened the appearance of the limited materials and straight, severe cuts of the mass-produced
fashions. Lamanova not only inserted fragments of folk embroidery and lacework along
hemlines, cuffs and necklines, but also incorporated entire towels or curtains within the design
construction of a garment. Her techniques quickly captured the attention of amateur
dressmakers. They could, by copying her methods, enrich and individualize their own garments
by utilizing embroidered pillow cases, towels and other utilitarian textiles.
Further research on this garment encouraged insight into and awareness of a Russian aesthetic
in clothing, costume and textiles. The blouse’s simple cut and coarse material offer a deceptive
front for a much richer and complicated design history. Scarcity of fabric choices and lack of
economic means to purchase anything else forced humble and hardworking fabrics such as
linen into key component roles in Russian clothing and design theory. This theory visualized a
garment’s purpose, its material and form, and the figure of the wearer. Ornamentation became
an essential vehicle which not only embellished and individualized a garment, but also
celebrated its form and texture as it embraced the realities of everyday life.

3. Four Brains: Reinterpreting Embroidery and Lace
by Maureen Lieurance
Needle and thread have long been used as tools for visualizing creative aesthetics and abilities.
They also played an important role within the framework of education. Stitchery, over time,
became a primary tool through which young women learned the alphabet, geography and
Biblical verses.
Local artist Beth Blahut uses needle and thread as a tool through which to educate and create;
she has, however, broken the boundaries of tradition by redefining and transforming
embroidery into a revolutionary art form rich in technological advances and personal aesthetics.
Four Brains (1998.1.1) is a commemorative handkerchief commissioned from Blahut by the
Gallery of Design for the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection in conjunction with the invitational
exhibition Threads on the Edge. The show was mounted in March of 1998. Blahut’s personal
challenge was to create a handkerchief of machine made lace of her own design that was
unique among the over 1000 handkerchiefs already housed in the HLATC. Blahut was inspired
by a lace handkerchief which hangs in her own studio above her sewing machine.
“Four Brains, a ‘Threads on the Edge’ Commemorative Handkerchief,” by Beth Blahut.
1998. Paoli, Wisconsin. Machine lace, cotton/polyester sewing thread, silk. HLATC
purchase #1998.01.001

4. The commissioned handkerchief was constructed using “vanishing muslin” a woven fabric that
disintegrates under the heat of an iron. Blahut machine embroidered her design onto the muslin
using sewing thread and then appliqued silk organza to the muslin. Organza forms the center of
the piece along with the cross sections of four brains. When ironed, the “vanishing muslin”
disintegrated and left behind a modified cutwork and needle lace design. The beautiful web-like
structure that connects the four brains to each other was made using a single layer of zig-zag
stitching while the lettering forming the exhibition’s title was made up of multiple layers of
straight stitching. Because of the repetitive layering, the cursive writing became dense enough
to hold its own form around the webbed structure.
Four Brains reveals Blahut’s interest in the beauty and mystery of the human interior, particularly
the brain. Through the curling and looping threads, Blahut examines the difference between the
brain’s methods of recording visual as opposed to verbal information. Text becomes a purely
visual element in the piece as the names of the four artists participating in the exhibition
meander around the brain images and the exhibition’s title loosely zig-zags its way around the
handkerchief’s border. With a sewing needle and thread, the artist’s design is built through the
conventional, rhythmic process of affixing thread to cloth.
Blahut’s machine embroidered design is not simply about emulating traditional hand
embroidery through use of a sewing machine. Four Brains is more a reconsideration and re-
interpretation of a maturing art form as it challenges the relationship between time and
tradition; the work of the hand and the technological advancements of the machine. It is an
idea, a process, and a personal vision realized with the result being a revolutionary artistic
aesthetic. The piece describes the artist’s challenge and ultimate success. Through the ethereal,
web-like structure, the fragility and strength of the threads is exposed and revered.
Beth Blahut received her B.S. in Art from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1987 and her
M.F.A. in Fiber Art in 1995 from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. She maintains a studio
in Paoli, Wisconsin.

5. “To My Little Friend” An Old Gift Gets a New Home
by Andrea Gyarmati and Maureen Lieurance
Imagine a young, recently married woman in the early 1800’s heading west to embark upon a
new life with her husband, eventually settling in an area of rural Wisconsin. She has left behind a
home, family, and friends; people and places that she loved and that were of great comfort to
her. As the young woman begins her new, unfamiliar journey a realization slowly comes to mind
that helps to ease her apprehensions and loneliness. Carefully folded in her traveling trunks are
treasured linens and quilts. As she unpacks and arranges her textiles, she realizes they are
poignant reminders of her mother’s voice or a dear friend’s face. Her quilts offer a sentimental
link to a previous life. As the young woman designs and sews her own quilts, she also, perhaps
unknowingly, creates a personal family timeline. Family histories will be recorded through the
fabrics and motifs on her quilts. In time, the quilts will have stories to tell.
Crazy Quilt, Wausau, Wisconsin, 1880-1890, silk, oil paint, silk embroidery, cotton bobbin
lace, HLATC 1997.07.001
Every quilt has a history. Some quilts were made to celebrate marriages or births; others were
made to benefit community causes, remember friendships, or simply, to allow a young woman
to display her creativity and needlework skills. These quilts were often proudly signed and dated,
yet carefully stored away only to be displayed on special occasions. Many quilts played more

6. humble roles becoming austere and unadorned bed coverings. The histories of some quilts
remain a mystery; their past secrets are kept quietly bound within their threads. The designer
remains anonymous and the quilt may not relinquish the story behind its patterns and fabrics
choices, yet one can be assured that countless hours were put into its creation. With this
framework in mind, one begins to grasp the monumental challenges, visions, and goals of the
Wisconsin Quilt History Project (WQHP) which was established in 1989. Recognizing the pressing
need to document quilts created in Wisconsin, the WQHP made it their mission to research and
examine all aspects of the history of quilt making in the state. This included recording the oral
and written histories of quilts and their makers.
The WQHP focused solely on quilts from Wisconsin that date between 1800 and 1950. A primary
goal of the Project was to photograph fragile quilts before they vanished due to their age,
physical condition, or an owner’s geographic relocation. Equally important, however, was the
recording of stories behind Wisconsin’s quilts and quilters. To document both the visual and oral
history of the state’s quilts, the group established “Quilt Days” which was an immensely popular
event that ran from 1988 to 1995. “Quilt Days” traveled through thirty-nine Wisconsin counties
and allowed owners to bring in their quilts for examination and documentation. The owners
filled out questionnaires on each quilt regarding its fabric and pattern, and provided information
on the quilt maker and any special stories or recollections that were passed on to them. In the
first year that the sessions were offered, over 1700 quilts were brought in and catalogued by
members. By the time “Quilt Days” ended in 1995, nearly 7,000 Wisconsin quilts had been
documented. In regards to the history of twentieth century quilts, many of the quilters are still
alive so it was vitally important to gather and record first hand their stories and processes. These
quilters play a critical role in defining quilting as a living tradition as opposed to a tradition lost
to the passage of time.
The HLATC recently became the fortunate recipient of the tremendous outreach and
perseverance of the WQHP. During a “Quilt History Day” session at the Milwaukee Public
Museum in April of 1990, an attendee from Wausau, Wisconsin, Ms. Nancy Anne Cordaro,
brought in a fascinating quilt to be examined by the WQHP. The beautifully painted and
embroidered quilt (1997.7.1), which also originated in Wausau, had little documented history
other than it was a gift to Ms. Cordaro’s mother who was born in 1897. Ms. Cordaro was not
aware that the quilt even existed until it was found in a cedar chest and given to her after her
mother’s death. A brief, poignant note was attached to the quilt and it read, simply “to my little
friend”. Ms. Cordaro believes the quilt may have been made by a family friend.
Recognizing the extreme fragility of the quilt and its need for proper storage, she generously
donated it to the WQHP. The WQHP was unable to properly store the quilt and requested
storage space from the HLATC. In March of 1997, the WQHP decided that in order to preserve
the quilt, they would permanently donate it to the HLATC.
The Wausau quilt, which dates from the late Victorian era (1880-1890), is a dynamic example of
a quilting fad commonly referred to as “crazy quilts”. Crazy quilts were a popular phenomenon
of the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Their carefree designs broke away from the strict
boundaries of traditional geometric quilts. Magazines boasted of the endless economic

7. advantages of these quilts as their unique construction utilized scraps of fabric that previously
would had been discarded. The demand for fabric scraps grew so intense that textile
manufacturing companies began to produce and package them for commercial sale. For many
Victorian women, crazy quilts became an elaborate canvas on which they could not only record
personal memories and experiences, but also show off their handiwork. The Wausau quilt is
unique in that it uses paint in addition to thread and embroidery for its surface decoration. The
quilt is constructed of thirty intricately painted squares of black silk, each square framed by silk
embroidery in either a red or purple in a broad variety of stitches. The painted imagery on the
quilt depicts landscape scenes, bouquets of flowers, and smaller motifs such as birds, hands, and
flowers. The quilt is framed within a silk braid and bobbin lace border.
Many of the motifs on the quilt may have been inspired by Victorian era popular culture such as:
postcards, calling cards, and other advertisements. The quilt is extensively embellished with
flowers and bouquets, many of which are similar to those on popular postcards of the time. A
horseshoe surrounded by a clover is another dominant motif on the quilt. This symbol was
recognized by people of the Victorian era as one’s wish for good luck and commonly appeared
on New Year’s postcards. J.P. Coats, a popular dealer of sewing goods around the turn of the
century, often advertised their wares with charming post cards of small children or animals. A
painted motif of a kitten balanced on a spool of thread on one square of the quilt has a very
similar look to images used in the advertisements for the company. Calling cards were a familiar
item in every Victorian woman’s life. The small paper cards, often in the shape of hands offering
flowers or other gifts, announced visitors and may possibly have been the inspiration for the
many delicate hands painted on the quilt. Motifs that reflect upon nature and the quilter’s
immediate surroundings are also very common. There is a charming clock tower painted on one
of the quilt squares and Ms. Cordaro believes this is the Marathon County Courthouse in
Wausau. The Wausau quilt’s maker may have been recalling the imagery of the nearby
Wisconsin River when she decided to paint the vignette of a logging scene.
The Wausau quilt is a stunning addition to the HLATC. The painted surface makes the quilt
unique among the other crazy quilt examples in the collection and it also exhibits the amount of
pride and creativity that Victorian women had in their handiwork. The quilt has not relinquished
much information about its past. Its history remains a secret, a mystery as steadfastly embedded
in its structure as the paint that created the charming scenes. Perhaps someday a dialogue will
open, revealing the quilt’s history uncovering who made it and why. To the delight of a viewer,
the quilt will have stories to tell.