1980-1983

"Animals" Quilt

American, 1894 - 1984

Pearlie Posey quilted at night after working all day in the fields, making her quilts from the skirts of old dresses that she tore into panels. (She recalled that four or six "skirt tails" sewn together made a quilt top.) Posey focused on quilting quickly and expediently, sewing the panels together with large stitches and thread that she unraveled from flour sacks. She used simple piecework patterns such as Nine Patch, Four Patch, and strips in her quilts until 1980, when she began making appliqué quilts, following the example of her daughter, Sarah Mary Taylor.