Treadle On Sunbonnet Sue Quilt

History

My mother sent me a newspaper clipping about a quilt called "The Death of Sunbonnet Sue". Seems a group got together and decided that they had had enough of old cutesy Sunbonnet Sue, so they made a quilt in which each block featured Sue meeting her demise in some bizarre fashion. Subsequently, some other group did another similar quilt called "Death Becomes Her". These quilts were entered in an exhibit in Kansas City, but due to protest were exhibited facing the wall. Subsequently, they were selected for hanging in a show on 20th Century quilting at the Reagan Library, but again, there were protests and they were withdrawn.

The Treadle On Project:

I posted the information above to the Treadle On gang, and we had fun with it for awhile. Then I got the idea, "Why not resurrect Sue?" so I proposed that a few of us make blocks featuring Sue doing something related to treadle sewing machines, or hand cranks, or at any rate connected to our Treadle On list. I proposed that the finished blocks be sent to me to be made into a quilt called "Sunbonnet Sue Treadles On". A further idea was that I would make the finished quilt available to list members to exhibit at their quilt guild shows, along with a poster advertising Treadle On.

The response to the above proposal was terrific. Seventeen people contributed a total of 20 blocks for the quilt. This is one of the TO projects I am proudest of. The originality and cleverness exhibited on these blocks is just overwhelming. I hope that many Treadleonians will schedule Sue for a visit to their quilt shows. Y'all done good!

I worked out what I consider to be a very neat system for joining pre-quilted blocks when I assembled this quilt. No hand sewing is required. At the very bottom of the page are some photos of the finished effect. As another project, I will be assembling a step by step instruction showing this technique (which has undoubtedly been discovered previously by others, but I have never seen it in any book yet.)

Here is the quilt:

Sunbonnet Sue Treadles On

 

 

Here are the individual blocks:

Row One

  1. Sunbonnet Sue Treadles Her Canoe from Ottawa to Seattle for TOGA - Judith Price, Ottawa, ON - 1923 Model 99 Hand Crank - Sue has rigged her treadle in her canoe, with a propeller in the water, and is treadle powering her way to the 1999 TOGA Party.
  2. Sunbonnet Sue Goes To An Auction - Amelia Sadorra, Camas, WA. - 1880 Howe Treadle - We've all been thereÖ Sue is trying hard for that treadle!

    		3.

  3. Sunbonnet Sue Gloats Over a Completed Project While Contemplating Her Next Machine Purchase - Melva Campbell, Ashland, OH. - Singer Model 66 Treadle - Quilting, machine collecting and ebayÖ guess that says it all.
  4. Sunbonnet Sue Harvests Handcranks - Carolyn Burton, San Jose, CA. - 1894 Jones Hand Crank - Don't we wish we could grow them in the garden like this!

    5. Row Two

  5. Sunbonnet Sue Visits Captain Dick and Helps Restore a National Parlor Treadle - Captain Dick, Seattle, WA - 1917 Singer Model 15-30 Treadle - Lots of folks visit the CaptainÖ and often get roped into helping!
  6. Sunbonnet Sue Gets a Gift - Susan Swan, Los Angeles, CA. - 1946 201K Hand Crank - She knows how to thank Bill for it, too!

    		7.

  7. Sunbonnet Sue Discovers Why Treadles are Found in Barns - Chris Reardon, Hudson, OH - New Home Ruby Treadle - We pondered the question of treadles in barns and decided that cows quilt in secret, when people aren't aroundÖ
  8. "A Sewing Machine Named Desire" - Angela Helman, New Orleans, LA - 1894 Singer VS #3 (28) Treadle - Think about that titleÖ

    9. Row Three

  9. Sunbonnet Sue Sews Exchange Blocks - Jennifer Hill, Calgary, AB - 1904 Singer Model 27 Treadle - Sue is undoubtedly producing some of the 3000 blocks that threatened to bury Cindy Borodkin!
  10. Sunbonnet Sue Meets Treadle On in Cyberspace - Chrysanne Demeril, Little Rock, AR - 1948 Singer 15-88 Treadle - Time and space are both odd in Treadleonia, and Chrysanne certainly captured that in her block.

    		11.

  11. Sunbonnet Sue Sorts TOBE Blocks - Captain Dick, Seattle, WA - 1917 Singer Model 15-30 Treadle - This block was made to commemorate Cindy Borodkin's monumental task in sorting 3000 TOBE exchange blocks in the first Treadle On exchange.
  12. Sunbonnet Sue Finds Treasure Amidst the Junk - Chrysanne Demeril, Little Rock, AR - 1948 Singer Model 15-88 Treadle - This is what we all dream ofÖ The Great Find!

    13. Row Four

  13. Sunbonnet Sue Adjusts Her New Drapes - Cindy Borodkin, Gambrills, MD - 1924 Singer Model 128 Hand Crank - With a pleasant window to look out of while sewing, Sue has made it even nicer!
  14. Sunbonet Sue Bustling Along - Sue Werkmeister, Maywood, NE - This charming block features Sue with a three dimensional bustle on her calico dress.

    		15.

  15. Sunbonnet Sue Gets Cranking - Shirley Larsen, Mendon, UT - 1939 Singer Model 28 Hand Crank. Shirley commented that she had some trouble with her first ever use of the zig zag attachmentÖ maybe that explains the title.
  16. It Wouldn't Fit in the Car - Ann Rixe, Minneapolis, MN - 1940 201K Treadle - Where there's a will, a sewing machine collector will find a way!

    17. Row Five

  17. Sunbonnet Sue Treadles "Down Under" - Captain Dick, Seattle, WA - 1917 Singer Model 15-30 Treadle - This is another "think about itÖ" block.
  18. Sunbonnet Sue Sees the Light - Janine Hunt, Bainbridge Island, WA - Singer Spartan Hand Crank - circa 1959 - Sue cries over the discovery of a poor treadle made into a lamp. Hopefully, she will rescue it.

    		19.

  19. Sunbonnet Sue Goes Camping and Wakes Up To Something Fishy - Debbie Abshear, Stanwood, WA - 1879 Household Treadle I hope those fish washed the salt off of their fins before handling the sewing machineÖ wouldn't want rust!
  20. Sunbonnet Sue Loads Precious Cargo - Linda Camelo, Allentown, PA - 1900 Singer Model 27 - There're at least four treadles in that car, but I'm not sure there's room for Sue! Linda wanted folks to know that this block commemorates a very significant event for her. "On a visit home to family in Ohio in 1998, I returned to Pennsylvania with both my grandmother's treadle and her sister's treadle. My stint on the Pennsylvania Turnpike was filled with memories of these two ancestors of mine." Very precious cargo indeed!
     

When we made Sue, I set things up so that she was available for showing at member's quilt club/quilt shows. Starting in early 1999 and continuing into 2003, Sue traveled all over the United States. She appeared at more than 20 quilt shows and TOGA's and was featured in two magazine articles. Sue has begun to show significant wear from shipping and repeated hanging and has been retired from such an active life.

Design Criteria for the Sunbonnet Sue Project

This material will provide you with the design criteria for the Sunbonnet Sue blocks, with examples of how I went about making mine. There are some pointers her for making pre-quilted blocks that might come in handy for your own project. For more detailed pre-quilted block instructions, see the Block of the Month Project links on the Main Index Page.

Here are the original instructions:

Specifications:

The blocks for this project are to be 14 1/2" square. They can be sent to me somewhat oversize if you prefer that I square them, but be careful not to build detail features too close to the edges. There was some discussion of quilting your own blocks or having me do it. Either way is fine. If you do quilt your own, leave the quilting and backing larger than the block. I don't know that I will need that, but it's a safety factor. I can always trim in.

If you do finish your blocks, backing shoule be unbleached muslin and batt should be cotton, not polyester... (Note: following some discussion, we decided that the batt should be Warm & Natural... unwashed.)

To the extent possible, work should be done on treadles and/or hand cranks... finish work may be by hand. No electric machines, however.

Here is a first rough pattern I did for a TO Sue block. The treadle is machine embroidered on scrap cloth, as a test, using a 15-30 treadle and free motion quilting. Sue is a paper pattern at this point, just testing for size. I used a Sunbonnet Sue quilt book and enlarged the pattern on the Xerox machine.

 

Additional Resources:

There are several books on the Sunbonnet Sue pattern and its history, as well as several web sites devoted to her. A search for "Sunbonnet Sue" will produce a lot of results... probably including this page, if you go through enough of the hits!

Here are my finished blocks for this project:

Here is my finished and quilted block called "Sue Treadles in Australia". We had a member in Australia who didn't feel up to participating, but sent me some Australian print fabric, which I used for Sue's drss and hat. The fabric has kangaroos and wallaby's on it. The block was put in the quilt just as you see it and always gets a lot of questions and comment: "That block is upside down!" "Yes, she is in Australia!"

 

And here is "Sue Treadles" in its finished and quilted form.

 

Here is some detail of "The Little Captain" from my third block, on which Sue helped me restore a cabinet's finish. There is a male version of Sunbonnet Sue, called Overall Bill. I thought there ought to be at least guy on the quilt, but it turned out there were a couple by the time we were done. I created the character of "The Little Captain", which I copyrighted. I am thinking in the future of a whole 12 panel quilt on him... at a lighthouse, on a boat, etc.

 

In making these blocks, I used the fusible interfacing technique. Make sure you get fusible interfacing, at least medium weight, and not fusible webbing. Light weight stuff or webbing will just tear. I ussed a light cotton cloth as the backing. I tried something a bit different, for me on some of the pieces and used the "tuck and pin" technique. I recommend using the fusible interfacing. It's easier in the long run.

I did the actual stitching on the treadle, with the batting in place to provide stiffening. When everything was stitched down, I added the backing, pinned it on and then quilted. I worked with a larger square than specified... 15". When I was done with the actual aplique, I trimmed the squares to 14 1/2" and laid the block on a 15" square of batting. Then I made a mistake... I stitched the edges shut, using a very large, basting stitch. This was before I quilted. My quilting would have laid a little flatter if Ihad waited to do this edge stitching till after the quilting was done. Ah, well...

Here is a trick I learned. I was constantly changing bobbins and thread. I had a bunch of spare bobbin cases, so I just loaded them up with all the threads I was using and just changed out the whole case. It made life easier.

 

I hope you find these comments helfpful.

The Captain