Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

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Frances Goodrich with Double Bow Knot coverlet

  • wcu_craft_revival-1059.jpg
  • This photograph features Frances Louisa Goodrich (1856-1944) standing in front of two coverlets. The coverlet on the left is woven in a Double Bow Knot pattern, the one on the right is the Pine Cone Bloom pattern. This 1943 photograph, made the year before Goodrich died, is historically important as the Double Bow Knot coverlet is the gift Goodrich credited with inspiring her to revive weaving and other crafts in western North Carolina. This coverlet was reportedly made in the 1850s by an unidentified weaver. It was presented to Goodrich by Mrs. William Davis of Brittain's Cove, North Carolina in the mid-1890s. This coverlet was donated to the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild, along with the rest of Goodrich's craft collection. In this photograph, the coverlet appears to be part of an exhibition that featured a tabletop display of numerous watercolor draw-downs (weaving patterns) done by Goodrich in the late 1800s and early 1900s. This same photograph appears in the 1989 facsimile edition of Goodrich's "Mountain Homespun.” Goodrich's work reviving traditional weaving in the mountains of western North Carolina during the late 1890s and early 1900s led her to collect weaving patterns much in the same way that others of that era were collecting mountain songs. Goodrich kept extensive records of the weave patterns and variations that she came across in her travels. Her research may have provided background for or influenced what was woven and sold through her Allanstand Cottage Industries.