Book Illustration, A Book of Hand-woven Coverlets, Sunrise

Eliza Caroline Calvert Obenchain wrote this book in 1912 about the craftsmanship involved in making coverlets by the mountain weavers of Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky. She was an American author, women’s rights advocate, and suffragist from Bowling Green, Kentucky. This book was one of the first of its kind and detailed the designs and colors of coverlets, which aided in elevating these textiles to an art form. Patterned overshot weave coverlets like this one were made with a plain woven undyed cotton warp and weft and repeating geometric patterns made with a supplementary dyed woolen weft. Made on a simple four-harness loom, overshot coverlets were often made in the home and remained a common craft in rural Appalachia into the early 20th century.