"Roman Stripes" variation

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    Photo: Stephen Pitkin/Pitkin Studio
c. 1975
Corduroy
94 x 76 inches
Collection of
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco museum purchase American Art Trust Fund and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation
Description

In 1972, the Freedom Quilting Bee received a contract with Sears Roebuck and Company to make corduroy pillow shams. The abundance of leftover fabric from that project inspired many local quiltmakers to incorporate it into their designs. Although difficult to work with due to its rigidity, corduroy was well suited for minimal yet bold designs. This quilt, made from Sears corduroy, has a warm feeling due to the gold, red, and brown colors, accented by avocado green. The design is dominated by a variation of the Roman Stripes pattern, made of rows of horizontal strips. However, Abrams rotated the rows throughout the design and manipulated the size of each block. One row of blocks near the middle of the quilt features a sampling of other quilt patterns including Bricklayer, Log Cabin, and Housetop.