Double Wedding Ring Quilt, c.1930 (cotton)

The Double Wedding Ring, a classic American design by the 1930s, emerged from a late nineteenth-century trend for interlocking patterns comprised of small pieces sewn together. Quilt patterns such as this one became hugely popular particularly in the more rural Midwest, where quilt-making traditions, including regional ties to particular patterns and pattern sharing, remained strong in the first half of the twentieth century. This quilt’s cheerful color palette indicates that it was made after World War I, when American textile producers began using dye recipes surrendered as part of Germany’s war reparations.