[QUILTING] [WOMEN] Handwritten letter from the Initial Crotchet Co.

Cleveland, 1915. Loose_leaf. 16.5 x 13 folded sheet of gently embossed canary yellow writing paper (with stamped envelope). Envelope address to Miss Mary Painter, of Coulter Pa. The letter, signed "Initial Crotchet Co." with a PO box return address in Cleveland was most likely a woman-run home business. The rise of home quilting kits in this period coincided with the broader emergence of women's entrepreneurship and creative industries. Quilting kits generally included pre-cut fabric, patterns, and instructions, making quilting more accessible to beginners and supporting the "quilt revival" movement at the turn of the century. Our writer provides quilting recommendations and descriptions of shapes (quaint duck & tree block) and fabric choices.

Several women-run businesses in the early 1910s were pivotal in bringing home quilting kits and patterns to American households, both as enterprises and social phenomena. Mary McElwain is one prominent example; she started her quilting business in 1910 in Walworth, Wisconsin, initially operating from a corner in her husbands jewelry store before it grew into a bustling quilt shop by the 1930s. Her enterprise supported local women and expanded to a workforce of nearly 60, operating both as a business and a community hub.