A Japanese American Quilt–or Kotatsugake?
August 9, 2011
This is puzzling. And before I get started here, I have to admit, and I am embarrassed to say, that I don’t know anything about American quilts. This fact is even more embarrassing when you read more details, below.
I recently bought this square-shaped American quilt or coverlet: clearly it’s been pieced from suiting material, probably in the 1930s or 1940s. 
But what’s really interesting about it is that this coverlet is backed with Japanese cotton fabrics, again, probably dating to the 1930s or 1940s.
What makes it even more interesting–to me, at least–is that I was told it was acquired from Berks County, PA, where I was born and raised until I graduated from high school. And many of you know that Berks County is part of the Pennsylvania Dutch country and has a history of quilting. Which is why my lack of knowledge about quilts is hard to admit.
One more odd detail is that my home town of Reading, PA is recognized by a very unusual feature, a Japanese-inspired pagoda that sits atop Mt. Penn and is the symbol of the city.
This is not to say that Reading has anything to do with Japan or Japanese culture, it just adds layers of intrigue and coincidence to this unusual Japanese-American coverlet.
This coverlet is quite heavy, as heavy as a kotatsugake, and it’s the same shape and size. So the question is, is this an American coverlet that is backed with Japanese fabrics, or is it a Japanese kotatsugake that has been customized using American cloth and quilting techniques?
I’ll have to do some non-invasive textile archaeology to find out more about this very unusual textile.
In: Tags: kotatsugake - 9 Comments
