Double Wrench

Double Wrench - ​1870s

Fidelia Patten’s Double Wrench quilt is much more utilitarian than her Lone Star.  It was faster and easier to piece and quilt. Both machine and hand quilting were used.  The batting is cotton with a backing and narrow edge binding made from a thin white cotton. 

The block is a version of the Nine Patch block but made of unequal sized squares.  Small squares form a central cross and there is a large block at each corner, which has been divided in half to form two triangles.  When the blocks are assembled into a quilt, the corner triangles form large white diamonds.

Fidelia Patten, the quilt maker, used fabrics that are in similar colors but not identical patterns.  She obviously enjoyed this color palette. 

Other Quilts

Other quilts by Fidelia Patten that are in the MCHS collection are also of the utilitarian variety, although her attention to color and design details still show clearly. Two Log Cabin quilts – one in the Straight Furrow layout and one in Barn Raising – both have precise “cabins” with red centers. There is a Nine Patch that resembles a checkerboard, with white background shirting prints alternating with red, navy, gray, and the occasional green or yellow print. A Crazy Quilt is not only a happy hodgepodge of fabrics, but also shows more of Fidelia’s fancy needlework.