Barbara Brackman

Barbara Brackman

Barbara Brackman has been crazy about fabric since she was a child in the 1950s. She spent a good deal of her youth watching old movies on television while she embroidered dishtowels.

Barbara became interested in quilt patterns as an undergraduate at the University of Kansas in the 1960s. At the back of the classroom in which she studied art history, she discovered drawers full of quilt blocks. These blocks were the collection of Carrie Hall, who had published a patchwork index in the 1930s entitled The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt in America. Determined to make a quilt in every design, Barbara started a file of quilt blocks. She soon realized, as Carrie Hall had, that one person could not hope to stitch a block in every pattern, much less a quilt. An index card on each, however, was possible, and over 25 years, Barbara's file grew to include thousands of quilt patterns.

She has written many books about fabric and quilts, was a founding member of the American Quilt Study Group, and is an honoree of the Quilters' Hall of Fame.

You'll find a schedule of exhibits featuring antique quilts, information about quilt dating, and updates on Barbara's latest reproduction fabrics on her website at: www.barbarabrackman.com

By this author
America's Printed Fabrics 1770–1890
Barbara Brackman's Civil War Sampler
Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Appliqué
Civil War Women
Clues in the Calico
Divided Hearts, A Civil War Friendship Quilt
Emporia Rose Appliqué Quilts
Facts & Fabrications—Unraveling the History of Quilts & Slavery
Making History—Quilts & Fabric from 1890-1970
Quilts from the Civil War
From Kansas City Star Quilts:
Arts & Crafts Sunflower Pattern
Birthday Cake Pattern
Borderland in Butternut & Blue
Carrie Hall's Sampler
Flora Botanica
The Garden Quilt
Juniper and Mistletoe
The Lincoln Museum Quilt
Lost Quilt Masterpieces Notecards
Prairie Flower
Sew Into Sports
Strawberry Thief Pattern
Women of Design