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Fredericksburg merchant stitches new life in vintage quilts. Date published: 4/11/2003
CONSIDER Marion Kolson a quilt rescuer. She scours flea markets and auctions for patchwork pieces that might not rate a second glance from the average shopper. She painstakingly mends frayed edges on the handmade coverlets or appliques over worn centers. "I like to imagine the quilt maker looking down on me saying, 'thank you,'" Kolson said. She sells antique quilts and quilted items in the upstairs of the Fredericksburg Antique Mall at 211 William St. Most of them are in mint condition, others have been refurbished. Quilts that can't be repaired in full get recycled as vests, pillows or pin cushions. "Quilts are heirlooms," Kolson said. "Most can be restored and need to be kept." Kolson is an artist who also creates pen-and-ink drawings when she's not restoring quilts. Her business, called House Portraits and Quilts, encompasses both ventures. She attended Philadelphia College of Art with the idea of going into commercial art. But constant moves with her military husband curtailed her artistic career. "I was always interested in textiles, but I didn't like to sew," Kolson said. She became enamored with quilt designs after attending auctions in Columbus, Ohio. She couldn't afford the $100 to $200 price tags. Her fascination with antique quilts took shape after a move to Oklahoma. She collected more than 100, buying them at auctions for much less than she had seen in other parts of the country. She began selling some in her collection after the Kolsons moved to Washington in 1986. At the same time, she noticed damaged quilts were being used for drop cloths and furniture packing. She bought them inexpensively and brought them back to life by stitching period fabrics over worn or stained areas. She also developed an eye for deciphering the age and value of quilts. Those from the 1800s have rich browns, indigo blues and turkey reds. Depression-era quilts have more whimsical pastels, while 1940s quilters used bolder colors. Some of the most beautiful quilts came from the East Coast, where quilters used thinner batting and sewed more refined stitches. Northern and Northwestern quilts tended to be more utilitarian because of the cold winters. Stitches were larger because of thicker batting.
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