Weaving Pattern:
Sea Star

Sea Star weaving pattern
Sea Star weaving example

The pattern name of this color image is a variation of Sea Star. The back of this photograph is marked: "Seven stars. Wrong side out." Coverlet pattern names were never standardized thus a variation in pattern name is quite common from state to state and region to region. Frances Goodrich, founder of Allanstand Cottage Industries, collected the photograph. In "The Book of Handwoven Coverlets, " published in 1912 by Eliza Calvert Hall (1856-1935), this identical pattern appears identified as "Seven Stars. Woven by Mrs. Elmeda Walker, N.C. In McDowell County, N.C., this pattern is called ‘Sea Star' or ‘Sea Shell.' In Union County, Tenn., it is ‘Isle of Patmos'; in East Tennessee, ‘Gentleman's Fancy.' The coverlet from which the design is taken was sent from the Allanstand Cottage Industries, Asheville, N.C., by Miss Harriet C. Wilkie. Yellow made from peach leaves." 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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