The Quilt Detective: Clues in the Needlework
A Digital Newsletter from Barbara Brackman
In 1989, I wrote Clues in the Calico: A Guide to Identifying and Dating
Quilts. Evelyn P. Metzger was kind enough to publish it under her EPM Publishing Company imprint, a rather risky business at a time when quilt history did
not sell many copies. Evelyn later retired and sold her business to Howell Press.
The book is now out of print and needs to be revised, so I have been planning an
extensive rewrite based on print and digital information.
The first step is the new print book from C&T, America's Printed Fabrics 17701890, which is an expansion of Chapter 4 "Clues in Color and Dyes." I plan over
the next few years to do another print book extending America's Printed Fabrics
from 1890 to 1950. New color printing and scanning techniques make this the
perfect time to publish accurate color pictures of antique fabrics.
The second step is a digital rewrite of Chapter 6 "Clues in Techniques" in the
form of a weekly e-mailed newsletter called The Quilt Detective: Clues in the
Needlework. Each week subscribers will receive a short summary of a needlework technique important to quilt dating and identification. As in the original book,
information will be based on my database of date-inscribed quilts, observations
of undated quilts and a summary of related literature from sources such as the
American Quilt Study Group's publications and other reliable quilt and
needlework history.
Subscribers can store the information digitally or print it out to make a
notebook of dating clues. The weekly newsletter will contain about 400 words ( a
digestible amount of history) and will generally include a photographic attachment plus information about where to find related articles and quilts pictured on
the web.
The weekly newsletter will begin about March 1st and continue through
2005. The first three issues will be free to any interested subscribers and after
that I will charge a subscription fee of about $1 per week or $36 for the rest of the
year. If you would prefer a print version mailed with a stamp on it you may subscribe in that fashion (see subscription instructions on the back.)
The topics will be (roughly) the following:
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Quilting
Piecing
Applique
Embroidery
Foundation Piecing
Tying & Comforters
Inscriptions
Novelty Techniques
To Be Announced
Binding & Edges
Subscribing digitally
E-mail me (bbrackman@sunflower.com) indicating that you would like to receive
the sample copies free in March and I will add you to the sample subscription list.
If you like, you may also mail me via snail mail a check for $36 now and I will add
you to the paid subscriber list. Mail the check (payable to Barbara Brackman) to
me at my mailing address. I can't do charge cards so we'll have to rely on
checks.
Barbara Brackman
PMB #C-237
3115 W 6th St.
Lawrence, KS 66049
Subscribing to a printed copy
I am hoping everyone will want to get this digitally since it is so efficient,
inexpensive and easy for me to send. BUT IF YOU MUST have a printed copy, I
will accommodate you. I will, however, charge you more. The printed copies will
be mailed once a month and will cost twice as much, so please send a check for
$72 for the nine-month subscription. Mail the check to me (payable to Barbara
Brackman) at my mailing address. Do indicate on your check or in a note that
you want the once-a-month printed newsletter.