Homespun Linen

2024.008

Homespun Linen

Pioneer Women

Approximately 1850

11 X 5.5 inches

March 22, 1984: “Dear Gwen, Your Great, Great Grandparents came to LaGrange County Indiana with all their family in a covered wagon in 1889. The wagon was covered with homespun linen woven by the women of the family. My great grandmother cut the linen and gave each of her daughters and daughters-in-laws a piece. My mother made hers into a dresser scarf. I have a tiny piece for you and each of my grandchildren. With Love, Aunt Ruth Eashelman Smith” I knew I had been given an unbelievable treasure and I wanted to preserve it. I cut a part of the fabric with prominent design in the pulled thread technique and had it professionally framed between two pieces of anti-glare glass. Today, it hangs in my home, with pride, as a reminder of how that tradition continued in my family, through the generations; parts always passed to daughter and daughter-in-laws.

Gwen Blakley Kinsler

Partial antique dresser scarf

Homespun linen

Pulled thread