Two-sided work-clothes quilt: "Twenty-five Patch" and strips

The work-clothes quilts might have established the overarching emphasis on pattern or design in and of itself that distinguishes many of these works. Most of these quilts are simply pieced together, but are done so in ways that create groundbreaking works of art. Rachel Carey George's unsurpassed composition, created around 1935, expands its blocks theme into a variety of colors and textures, including mattress ticking. Here the often observed use of the unfaded shapes left when pants pockets are removed contributes to the overall composition its indispensable frisson.