Marigold Designs
Unique Fiber Art
by
Mary L. Hackett
Fiber Ornament for The
White House by Mary L. Hackett
Christmas 2001
Theme: Home for the Holidays and I was honored to accept. On August 16,
2001, I visited the Pierre Menard Home in Ellis Grove, Illinois, near Chester and across
the Mississippi River from historic Kaskaskia, Actual work on the ornament began on October 3, 2001, with the construction of
a scale model made of lightweight pasteboard. Working from photographs and an inexact floorplan, I developed a version of the house which is true to the original structure, down to the uneven spacing of the windows, doors, and stone columns. The Pierre Menard Home ornament was constructed on a framework of foamcore board. It measures about four and one-half inches deep and seven inches long, and is four and one-half inches tall at its highest point. It is covered with commercial printed cotton fabric to simulate the stone foundation, basement walls, and supports. The siding consists of nubby white fabric fused to
polyester batting
and quilted in horizontal lines about one-eighth inch apart to simulate wood siding. The porch is
covered
with red felt and lined with white-painted toothpicks as columns. The porch railing is
represented
with white paint on clear plastic sheeting. The windows, shutters, and doors are commercial
cotton
prints and woven plaids, glued or fused to the fabric surface. It has three chimneys and six dormers. All components are
The roof of the house was sewn in the manner of the siding, but of woven
red-and-black plaid
homespun-style fabric. This was chosen, not to duplicate the current shake shingles of
the house,
but to employ a roof replacement done a few decades ago for the festive nature of its
application on
a piece intended, after all, as a Sealed under this red roof are:
White House photographer
This quilted ornament was finished on the 15th day of
October, 2001, |
See the HG-TV show featuring this ornament!
Email Marigold
Read about Pierre Menard, First Lt. Governor of Illinois
Local coverage in
the Daily Egyptian, SIU-C
Entertaining slide lecture available on how the ornament was made!
and Workshops for adventurous quilters!
See more of Hackett's work
©
2001 Mary L. Hackett. All rights reserved.