Carrie Hall — Modiste, Quilt Enthusiast, Doll Maker, Embezzler

Let’s talk about Depression Era quilts for a few minutes.  Most of us (including me until I began a life-long love affair with these quilts), assume these quilts were all made entirely from scraps in the most economical way possible.  The answer to this assumption is both yes and no.  Definitely there were those utilitarian quilts made from dress scraps and feed sacks, but there were also those beautifully pieced quilts (such as the Double Wedding Ring) and applique quilts (such as those from Marie Webster) which were made from purchased yardage. 

There is also this misnomer about “Depression Era Quilts” – that they began in 1930 and ended in 1939.  That’s also misleading.  Depression Era Quilts have certain characteristics.  They have an inherently scrappy look, using both prints and solids, sewn together with white fabric.  They are usually made from lots of tiny pieces (think Grandmother’s Flower Garden).  Applique quilts enjoyed a re-birth during this time and those quilts started out as highly stylized and evolved to complex quilts with lots of small pieces.  The fabric palette was quite distinctive – bubble gum pinks, cherry reds, yellows with a tint of gold, mint greens, and soft blues.  What quilt historians have found is these quilts had a lifespan beyond the 10 years historians class the Great Depression.  Construction of these quilts began in the late 1920’s and didn’t end until the 1950’s – and with the revival of feed sack reproduction fabrics, they still are popular now.

Besides a distinct color palette, the rise in popularity of certain quilt patterns, and the birth of quilt shows as we now know them, this quilt period gave us some wonderful quilt designers.  It was during this crucible — of one of the most creative quilting periods — that Marie Webster, Rose Kretsinger, Charlotte Jane Whitehall, and Hannah Headlee came into their own as quilters.  Marie Webster made quilting her career, producing both beautifully appliqued quilts as well as the patterns for the quilts which she sold through her mail order business.  Rose Kretsinger not only became an expert applique artist, but also wrote co-wrote books with a woman named Carrie Hall. 

And it’s Carrie Hall I want to discuss today.  I feel that, despite the fact she was one of the early Quilting Hall of Fame inductees, we kind of skip over the important role she plays in quilting because her actual quilting journey was not solely focused on the art and the end of her life was fraught with controversy and financial instability.

Born on December 9, 1866, in Caledonia, Wisconsin, Carrie Alma Hackett was the daughter of a Civil War veteran and his wife.  Dwight Hackett from Illinois mustered out of the Union Army and immediately married Carrie’s mother (I searched and couldn’t find the name of Carrie’s mother – if you know, could you please leave it in the comments?).  Dwight Hackett filled his daughter’s head with tales about Abraham Lincoln’s education and leadership.  Carrie claims these stories developed her lifelong interest in all things Abraham Lincoln – but it was her mother who instilled in her a love of books, desire for knowledge, and her discriminating taste in fashion.  In 1873, when Carrie was seven, her father moved them to Smith County, Kansas.  Like so many other folks of this time, Dwight Hackett developed western fever, but had no idea of the harsh pioneer life the 160-acre homestead would bring his family.  But they persevered through blizzards and grasshopper infestations and the destruction of their first crops. 

Despite the hardships and poverty of pioneer life, books and quilts were always a constant in Carrie’s life.  They were considered necessary luxuries in her prairie home and as a result, she became a book worm.  She often had to be chided to “Put down that book and get to your chores!” by her mother.  Besides her love of books, Carrie also developed a love of sewing.  At the age of seven, under her mother’s tutelage, Carrie pieced a Le Moyne Star quilt.  Showing needlework skills far beyond her age, Carrie’s neighbors declared the quilt a masterpiece and encouraged her to enter it in the county fair.  She did and it took first place –  a ribbon and a subscription to Godey’s Ladies Book, the fashion Bible of the times. 

Carrie never graduated from high school, much less college, but because of her thirst for knowledge, she was qualified to teach school and was even a county superintendent for a while.  In 1889, when she was 23, Carrie moved to Leavenworth, Kansas.

Leavenworth was a thriving river port, railroad hub, and the site of an important Army post.  She left the field of education, took up her needle, and launched her career as a dressmaker.  She did this in a period of time when the well-to-do entertained lavishly and dressed in fashions copied from New York and Paris.  Catering to the tastes of local society, Carrie’s dressmaking business prospered, and she employed many assistants.  As a designer, Carrie chose styles from the latest Paris fashion magazines and used fabric imported from France.  Examples of these gowns can still be found for study at the Leavenworth County Historical Museum. 

In Carrie Hall’s quilting biography, her career as a dressmaker is sometimes glossed over in the rush to get to her contribution as a quilter.  However, I don’t think this period in her life can or should be so easily dismissed.  Like most things in her life, Carrie had a strong opinion about clothing and fashion, which she shared in a book she authored, From Hoopskirts to Nudity.  She felt clothes influence those who wear them, for good or for evil.  She pointed out that fashion illustrations were ill proportioned and unbalanced and “the poor misguided women look at (the illustrations) and try to make themselves into their image.” I have a feeling Carrie would have a field day with today’s ultra-thin models and designer fashions.  To Carrie, fashion and style were not the same thing, even though then (as now) the terms were used indiscriminately, incorrectly, and synonymously.  “Style,” she said, “in its relation to dress, is the indescribable something that is so easily recognized and so hard to define.  Style is of the person and not the clothes, for two women may wear a dress of the same design and fabric and one will look like a fashion plate and the other will look like a frump.  One will be a ‘vision’ and the other a ‘sight.’” She felt that fashions were created for “One-size-fits-all” and the poor fashion victims were squeezed or stretched to fit the prevailing mode.  “On the other hand, style, like beauty, is eternal and its essential qualities never change throughout the ages, and the woman who possesses this distinction will impose it on every garment she wears.”

Her skill as a dressmaker cannot be overlooked.  Her business prospered and she became known as “Madame Hall, Modiste.”  She not only employed many assistants, but her income also supported a large home, two ailing husbands (She married John Patterson, a University of Kansas student who died from tuberculosis shortly after they married, and then in 1906 married John Hall, a construction worker.  Neither marriage produced any children.), and it supported her habit of collecting books and memorabilia on Abraham Lincoln, Shakespeare, and fashion.

It was while Hall was a dress maker that she “re-discovered” her love of quilting.  She was kind of captivated by all the new quilt patterns on the market and decided since she couldn’t make one of every quilt, she would make one of every quilt block – an ambitious goal for sure, but Carrie was a woman of great enthusiasm and energy.  And it was just as well she found another occupation.  By the 1920’s ready-made clothing was available and her dress making business took a nosedive.  Between spending a great deal of money on Mr. Hall – who was constantly in poor health – Carrie’s finances also took a nosedive.  She constructed her blocks and decided to go on the lecture circuit, speaking about quilts and her quilt blocks.  She made herself a red moiré colonial-styled dress and went about the mid-west, offering lectures about quilting. 

In conjunction with that, she discovered another Kansas quilter, Rose Kretsinger.  Carrie was enthralled by Rose’s designs as well as her applique.  Carrie and Rose wrote The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt.  Carrie wrote the first part of the book about the romance of quilts, the quilting bee, the quilt’s place in art, and how to make quilts.  Her blocks were numbered and named, making this book the first comprehensive index quilting patterns, their names and their history.  The second part of the book, also written by Carrie, provides photos of completed quilts, both antique and modern.  Twelve of the quilt photos are from Rose Kretsinger’s collection, made either by Rose or by her mother.  Rose wrote the third part of the book, emphasizing design and the history of quilting.  The very first editions of this book were likely self-published by Rose and Carrie through Caxton Publishers in Caldwell, Idaho.  After the book was completed, Carrie donated all the blocks to the Spencer Art Museum at the University of Kansas.

Unfortunately, the publication of The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt did little to ease Carrie’s precarious money situation.  To add insult to Carrie’s already failing finances, the publishing house burned to the ground in 1927, probably destroying many books the authors had already paid for.  To add to her continuing diminishing finances, Carrie’s own home burned down the following year. By World War II, Carrie found herself in even worse financial trouble.  To address her money issues, she turned all of her personal property over to her creditors, with the exception of her books.  This allowed her and her husband to live in comfort for a while.  However by 1941, she had to leave Leavenworth, Kansas due to a financial scandal.  She was accused of “borrowing” money from clubs where she served as treasurer (she also borrowed from friends).  In due time these organizations discovered the embezzlement and demanded repayment – which she could not provide.  At 75, she sold her house, a rental property, and her books.  She moved to Rigby, Idaho, and lived with her newly widowed sister.

During this time with her sister, she began to manufacture and sell playtime and character dolls of historical figures, paying close attention to details and the craftsmanship of the dolls.  This business operated under the name of “The Handicraft Shop” and was very successful. Today, her dolls are still sought after.  For a while her money issues took a back seat to her business.  However, she found at her age, working 16+ hours a day to be challenging.  She was contemplating hiring help when she came down with a serious illness and on January 5, 1955, at the age of 88, she passed away.  She is buried in a family cemetery near her family homestead. 

In so many ways, Carrie Hall is no different than many of us (without the whole embezzling and borrowing money and not paying it back issues).  When one career hit a dead end, she re-made herself and started over – each time with great success.  If she would have handled her money differently – in a more conservative way – chances are she could have made her mark in our quilt history without that “ick” feeling knowing she absconded and robbed people who trusted her (after all, if you’re elected treasurer of an organization, you obviously appear to be a trust-worthy individual).  But these facts (despite the fact what she did was both illegal and unethical) do not negate the gift she gave us quilters.  Carrie Hall was the first person who indexed quilt blocks and their names.  While often times, there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of rationale in her names, nevertheless it gave us somewhere to start. 

As quilters we rely on this information today for names, construction, and history. Today’s quilters (such as Barbara Brackman) turned to Carrie Hall and her blocks as a starting point to begin their own quilt journey.  This rich interpretation of blocks and names (as Carrie indexed her blocks, she wrote down all the known names for each block) resulted in the book Carrie Hall Blocks: Over 800 Historical Patterns from the College of the Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas. While not directly written by Carrie Hall, it has her fingerprints all over it and if you’re kind of an old-school quilter like me, this book is in your library along with Barbara Brackman’s Block Base and encyclopedias.

Carrie Hall chose the Spencer Museum of Art as a housing location for all of her quilt blocks and their information.  As a result of this, Sallie Casey Thayer also chose the Spence Museum to house her collection of quilts (over 5,000 pieces of antique textiles and other items).  One of the Thayer quilts supposedly is from the family of Alexander Hamilton.  In 1974, Elizabeth Szabronski retired to Florida.  In the spirit of both Sallie Thayer and Carrie Hall, Mrs. Szabronski was both a quilter and a collector.  Elizabeth both collected quilts and had a library of quilt books.  She felt her things belonged with Carrie’s and Sallie’s items, so the Spencer Museum also took those in.  This resulted in one of the most thorough quilting libraries in the world, when combined with Hall’s.  Carrie Hall’s information covered quilting from the twenties and thirties.  Elizabeth Szabronski’s covers the fifties and sixties – a quilting era that definitely suffered a low interest in quilting.  However, the publications Szabronski provided shows that even during slow quilting times, there was as strong network of quilters and quilting information out there. 

Also in the spirit of Carrie Hall, Szabronski developed her own quilt index, except she drew the blocks instead of making them.  She drew them on an index card, filed them alphabetically, and cross-referenced them to other names for the same pattern her source indicated.  These were also donated to the Spencer Museum – five boxes of index cards containing approximately 5,000 individual cards.  During the 1970’s, when quilting was enjoying a resurgence in popularity, the Hall/Szabronski collection provided the inspiration and raw material for Quilt Kansas! By Jean Mitchell and An Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns  by Barbara Brackman.

Despite her dubious moral, ethical, and legal failings, in spite of her lack of monetary skill, the quilting world owes a debt of gratitude to Carrie Hall.  What we have as far as quilting software programs, historical context, block construction, and indexing we owe to her.  If she had not had the gumption to begin the arduous process of making one quilt block from every pattern, would we have as comprehensive knowledge about block history as we do?  She wasn’t perfect (as none of us are), and she certainly fell short in many moral areas, but she has to be admired for her comprehensive work, as well as her inner strength to get up and keep moving even when life knocked her down.

Until Next Week, From My Studio to Yours,

Sherri and Felix. 

PS.  This book:

Contains the drawings and information about the Carrie Hall blocks – all 800 of them.  For the most part, it’s out of print (I believe).  There are few copies available on Amazon, Thrift Books, Ebay, and other sites.

It’s also interesting to note Spencer Museum of Art has all of these blocks except Crazy, St. Louis Star, Kaleidoscope, Ornate Star, Octagon Tile, Double Peony and Wild Rose, Water Lily, Hickory Leaf, and Roman Stripe.  At one point, Hall wrote to the museum and asked for a few of her blocks back to “add some bright patches to” for her sister.  I’m not sure if these were the blocks returned to her or if any were at all.