Ruby McKim — Quilter, Entrepreneur, Businesswoman

Of all the quilt techniques available, my favorite is applique.  I do both machine and hand applique and like them both equally.  Hand applique tends to slow me down and soothe me.  Machine applique is faster and takes a different skill set.  Both are a bit like painting with fabric. 

Applique is defined as “a sewing technique in which fabric patches are layered on a foundation fabric, then stitched in place by hand or machine with the raw edges turned under or covered with decorative stitching.”  The word “applique” is taken from the French appliquer which means to “put on.”  Applique began as a practical way to mend holes in tents, blankets, and clothing.  Examples date back to the ancient Egyptians and Middle Ages. The process was used to strengthen worn fabrics, patch holes, and add decorative flair to banners and ceremonial costumes. 

Differing from piecing – which can also be done by machine or by hand – applique allows the quilter to tell a story, represent an event, reconstruct a landscape, or almost anything else the quilter desires.  And to be honest, while those can also be pieced (somewhat), most of the time applique gives a better representation.  Piecing is all seams, no matter if they’re straight or curved.  And sometimes the things we want to represent in our quilts have some odd shapes which cannot be accurately reproduced with seams. 

For me, applique was love at first stitch.  This technique allowed me to make beautiful quilt blocks without much piecing involved.  And to me, applique holds some advantages over piecing (per Sue Pelland also):

• It doesn’t require the precision that piecing does.  While yes, precision does come into play with applique, applique is much more forgiving than piecing.  When you piece, if your seams are off kilter or you lop the top off of triangles, it can be glaringly apparent.  With applique, if your shapes are a little off, no one knows but you.
• The ¼-inch seam can be difficult to consistently execute.  The buttonhole stitch for machine applique is much easier to master.  An inconsistent ¼-inch seam can bring about much “weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Seams won’t match and block sizes may be all out of kilter. However, with applique, as long as your thread matches your applique piece, no one will notice if your buttonhole stitches go a little wonky on occasion.
• Pressing is easier with applique than with pieced blocks.  When you press pieced blocks, there’s always the dilemma (unless your pattern contains specific pressing directions), which way to press the seams so they nest or whether or not to press the seams open to reduce bulk.  The entire time you’re mulling that over, you also have to consider the quilting part, so those stitches won’t have issues with the seam integrity or bulk.  With applique blocks, you simply place the right side on top of a pressing cloth and press on the wrong side of the block.  Easy-peasy, no major decisions have to come into play. 
• No bulky intersections.  There’s no denying, some pieced blocks can have a lot of bulk coming together at one intersection.  And if you’re constructing small, pieced blocks, it can seem as if you’re working with nothing but one intersection after another.  That bulk, whether beneath a quilting needle of a machine or a quilting needle in your hand`, can be difficult to deal with and it may seem you can never get the block or the quilt to lay completely flat.  With applique, generally the only seams coming together are the ones joining the blocks (unless you’re making a pieced and appliqued quilt).
• Truing up is easier with applique.  If you’re constructing a quilt which is comprised of only applique blocks – no pieced ones set in – trimming to size is a breeze.  You simply make the blocks an inch larger than needed, applique, press, then trim the blocks down to the size needed.  No maddening surprises of blocks too small to trim.
• Applique can mimic the look of pieced curves without the headache of actually piecing the curves.  Anyone who has made a curvy quilt, such as a Double Wedding Ring or Drunkards Path, knows piecing curves can be a bit tricky.  They require a certain skill set and a large amount of patience.  Sometimes you can avoid this trauma by appliqueing the curved piece. While  I don’t think you could do this for a Double Wedding Ring quilt, ask me how many stress-free Drunkard’s Path blocks I’ve made by applique. 

Applique is a long-standing technique, and I happen to love the type which evolved in the 1930’s.  Quilters used applique in Broidery Perse, Baltimore Albums, and other quilts, but  by the early twentieth century, quilts were trending towards being only pieced.  It took the ingenuity and talent of applique artists such as Marie Webster, Bertha Corbett, Rose Francis Good Kretsinger, Charlotte Jane Whitehill, and Hannah Haynes Headlee to really shake up applique and move it away from  the nineteenth century (and earlier) appearances.  From these women came realistic flowers, Sunbonnet Sue and Sam, and the art-deco look of the twenties and thirties.  However, there is one applique artist I haven’t written about who managed to contribute to this shake up, and that’s a woman named Ruby McKim. 

Ruby McKim was born in 1892 in Millersburg, Ill, to Morris T. Short and Viola Vernon Short.  In 1899, when she was eight, the family moved from Millersburg to Independence, MO, into a log cabin riddled with holes from the Civil War.  Two years later, Mr. Short, a fronter missionary affiliated with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ, Latter-Day Saints (now Community of Christ), died of ill health.  Viola then supported the family on her income as a church librarian.  The family was financially poor, but it was rich in values.  Viola was an accomplished teacher before marriage and a strong promoter of children’s education.  She made sure Ruby, as well her sister and brother received a good education.  Mrs. Short later published her own book about education and traveled around the country promoting it.

Ruby developed an interest in drawing early in her life, constantly carrying around a sketchbook with her everywhere she went.  After high school graduation in 1910, her uncle sponsored additional art studies for her at the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts, now known as Parson, The New School for Design.  She graduated in 1912, with her diploma signed by Frank Alvah Parsons, himself.  After graduation from  NYSFAA, she returned to Independence and became the Supervisor of Drawing for Independence School District and was a popular teacher.  Manual High School soon lured her away and by 1916, she relocated to Kansas City to teach art there. And it was during this time and in this place that Ruby McKim found her love for art and her love for sewing meld together. 

Henry Hold and Company, a New York publishing firm, was preparing to launch a series of children’s stories about small woodland animals written by Thomas Burgess.  The publishing firm held a contest.  They wanted a quilt pattern designed for children, which they would publish in their newspaper.   Ruby won the contest.  Her Quaddy Quilty quilt blocks were published in a promotion which was co-copyrighted with the author.  This was her first, and probably most famous, quilt series. 

In 1917 she married Arthur McKim, a public relations businessman as well as her former high school sweetheart.  On October 31, 1918, their first daughter was born – Betty.  As soon as the baby could be left with the grandparents, Arthur and Ruby set off to sell Ruby’s patterns and design ideas to publication syndicates across the country.  Ruby would write letters to little Betty, filled with illustrations and pictures of whatever she and Arthur saw that day.  Sometimes Ruby’s spelling was questionable, but the letters seemed like story books to Betty.  A second daughter, Marilyn, was born five years later and the grandmothers informed Ruby that her traveling days were over. 

The McKim family briefly settled in St. Louis, but soon returned back to Independence and converted the first floor of Viola’s house into offices and made the second floor into apartments for the two grandmothers.  By 1925, McKim Studios had become a home-based mail-order business that oversaw the publication of Ruby’s designs in newspapers and magazines throughout the United States.  The McKims also published catalogs of patterns and kits under titles such as Patchwork Patterns and Designs Worth Doing. 

By the time 1922 rolled around, Ruby had begun a 16-year career with Child Life with her Alice in Wonderland series. 

She was also supplying designs to other magazines and syndicated features.  The Kansas City Star, The Omaha World-Herald, The Nebraska Farmer, Woman’s World, Successful Farming, and The Indianapolis Star were among the publications which featured McKim’s designs.  Eventually Better Homes and Gardens welcomed Ruby as their artcraft editor, and she designed kits and patterns for quilts and other home decorating projects. 

Like her mother, Ruby developed a keen interest in children’s education, and her quilts The Jolly Circus, Nursery Rhymes, Colonial History, Bible History, and Bird Life were part of her children’s series which appeared in the 1920’s.  Farm Life, State Flowers, Flower Garden, and Patchwork Parade of States became popular series during the 1930’s.  Quilters eagerly waited for each block installment, clipped it out from the newspaper, and saved them, as most women wanted to collect the entire series.  Newspapers running her patterns often sponsored contests for the quilts made from these patterns, which not only increased the paper’s sales, but also their circulation, since hundreds of women entered these contests.  Many of Ruby’s pattern collections have survived, have been reprinted, and are offered on the internet, proving that McKim’s designs are still just as popular as many of the other 1930 applique artists. 

In 1931, Ruby published her book One Hundred and One Patchwork Patterns.  This book served as a comprehensive pattern encyclopedia and how-to book for avid quilt makers at a time when this information could be difficult to find.  Her husband, Arthur, oversaw the publishing process and decided once the book was published, it was time to go to Europe to explore other publishing markets.  The McKims came home with a contract for a paper in Australia and a new idea for another business – imported, domestic, and antique dolls by mail-order.  From the mid-1930’s onward, McKim Studios gradually evolved away from quilt patterns to Kimport Dolls, a business which continued for the rest of their lives and was later carried on by their son, Kim, who was born in 1933. 

Her final quilt pattern was American Ships published in 1937. 

Eventually she became editor of Doll Talk, a position she held for decades.

Ruby Short McKim was a great deal like the other 1930’s applique designers.  She took an enterprising hobby and turned it into a profitable business.  In a business world dominated by men, she worked hard to take her place at the table of commerce and be successful.  Unlike a lot of those artists, her husband became a vital part of her business phenomena.  They worked closely together until Arthur’s death in 1967.  At his death, Ruby penned a poem as a tribute to the part he played in her life, and it was sent to all their mail-order friends as a final memorial of their life together.  Ruby died nine years later, on June 28, 1976.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica called Ruby Short McKim “one of the 20^th century’s most innovative American quilt designers,” and she was included in the first edition of Who’s Who of American Women and is listed in the subsequent editions of the encyclopedia.  According to a biography of McKim, she became a successful entrepreneur during a period when women did not enter into the business industry.  The publications of her works led to quilt contests and shows which spread across the United States and her works experienced a revival from 1999 to the 21^st century.  McKim was inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame in July 2002, the 33^rd member to be so honored, in recognition of her “important contributions to the quilt revival of the early twentieth century through her widely distributed designs, her book, and her business.”

While I have read a great deal about Marie Webster, Bertha Corbett, Rose Francis Good Kretsinger, Charlotte Jane Whitehill, and Hannah Haynes Headlee, I was late to the Ruby McKim Admiration Club.  A few looks at her quilts and her book made me an instant fan.  If you have a few minutes, pour yourself a beverage and Google her quilts.  If you find yourself falling in love, I’m about to tell you something wonderful.  Ruby’s youngest granddaughter, Merrily McKim Tuohey, pulled Ruby’s patterns and book out of the attic and revived them.  She has an online shop that has Ruby’s patterns and books (https://www.mckimstudios.com/).  I really like her Flower Basket Block of the Month. 

Until Next Week, From My Studio to Yours,

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Felix