Weaving Pattern:
Cat Tracks and Snail Trail

Cat Tracks and Snail Trail weaving pattern
Cat Tracks and Snail Trail weaving example

This color image shows a full-size coverlet in a weave pattern known as Cat Tracks and Snail Trail or Snow Trail. The circles are said to resemble a cat's paw or snowball while the diagonal undulating lines resemble snail tracks. The back of this photograph is marked Rattlesnake. Coverlet pattern names were never standardized thus a variation in pattern name is quite common from state to state and region to region. The coverlet is made up of two panels that have been carefully matched and seamed down the middle. Frances Goodrich, founder of Allanstand Cottage Industries, collected the photograph. It is unclear whether this coverlet might have been produced by Allanstand Cottage Industries by an unidentified weaver or was simply part of Goodrich's research on traditional weaving patterns. Goodrich's work reviving traditional weaving in the mountains of western North Carolina during the late 1890s and early 1900s led her to collect weaving patterns much in the same way that others of that era were collecting mountain songs. Goodrich kept extensive records of the weave patterns and variations that she came across in her travels. Her research may have provided background for or influenced what was woven and sold through her Allanstand Cottage Industries.


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