Commercial Patterns

The vast quilt industry that published thousands of patterns and sold thousands of kits, also resulted in quilts celebrating the Roosevelts and the New Deal. Many newspapers offered quilt patterns, often inspired by so-called colonial quilts, in columns written by quilt designers (or their pseudonyms), some syndicated nationally in smaller papers, allowing readers to mail order or simply copy any of the thousands of new patterns. Publishers offered patterns in names that evoked the First Family, including a Kansas City Star pattern called Franklin D. Roosevelt (1934) and another called Roosevelt’s Bow Tie (unknown date). These quilt designers and the publishers who supported them had a primary concern of selling patterns, however they recognized the appeal of patterns that supported political perspectives and loyalty to the very popular President and First Lady.