Quilt, Pieced Double Wedding Ring

Date1930s

Maker Elizabeth "Lizzie" Wheeless Shaifer American, 1866 - 1953

OriginAmerica, Mississippi, Claiborne County

MediumCotton, wool batting (by microscope)

Dimensions77 inches H X 68 1/2 inches W

Credit LineGift of The Children of Elizabeth Shaifer Hollingsworth - Allison Shaifer Hollingsworth Moxey, Ann Davidson Hollingsworth Weeden and Christopher Alton Hollingsworth, and The Children of Sanfrid Davidson Shaifer - Mary Laura Shaifer Bell, Jodie Stovall Shaifer Huddleston and Sanfrid Davidson Shaifer, Jr.

Object number2025.609.29

DescriptionPieced quilt with scalloped edges made in the "Double Wedding Ring" pattern in printed floral and plain cottons with lavender, green, and white predominating. The quilt has 42 intersecting pieced rings of printed cottons, with solid green and lavender cottons at the intersections. At the center of each ring is a quilted design penciled on consisting of a circular abstract floral medallion with cross-hatching at its center. The quilting is worked with 6 running stitches per inch through woolen batting and white cotton backing. The outside edges of the perimeter rings form the scalloped edges that are bound with green bias binding.Label TextThis quilt is part of a large donation of quilts by the Shaifer family of Claiborne County, MS. These 46 quilts were made by women from four successive generations of the family, dating from the mid-1800s to the 1980s.

Elizabeth "Lizzie" Wheeless Shaifer (1866-1953) worked this quilt in the 1930s, when she returned to quilting after a lull of several decades. Lizzie experimented with both piecing- as seen here- and applique. She was a prolific needleworker, stitching household linens, crocheting, tatting, and embroidering. Her granddaughter, Elizabeth "Libby" Shaifer, commented later, "Mamma's hands were never still."Provenance1930s, quiltmaker Elizabeth Wheeless (Mrs. Percy) Shaifer [1866-1953] (Claiborne County, MS; dates unknown, descended in family to Elizabeth Shaifer (Mrs. Al) Hollingsworth [1933-2016] (Claiborne County, MS); 2025, gift of Shaifer children through Mr. Al Hollingsworth to Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA)