The Cabbage ~

Diane Redfearn,  Quilters' Guild Acadienne block of the month author,  you have intrigued my interest in revisiting quilts and quilt patterns from our past.  Thank you for each 2018 QGA BOM to date and the history thereof. 

Barbara Brackman's name and books have often been referenced so this morning I  took a look at Barbara's blog, Material Culture:  Quilts and Fabric Past and Present,  and what a historical tale she can weave.  Especially fun was her historical findings about The Cabbage.

Tailor with a head of cabbage 

Whether the customer,  the tailor or seamstress provided the fabric, the leftovers belonged to the
garment maker and were often thrown into a basket found under the cutting table.  Needless to say, when the customer provided the fabric they had the reputation of being stingy!  And when the tailor or seamstress provided the fabric, there would always be plenty of fabric available; thus more leftover for the basket.

The Dreamstress provides a delightful proof of the cabbage (and more historical information) from a 1760 painting by Antoine Raspal of a French sewing workshop where under the table is the basket filled with the cabbage.  It was about this time that cabbaging took up the connotation as we know it today.....a bit of private theft and skimming off the top.

Now I know and thought you would enjoy knowing too.....how precious are our scraps!