Chimney Sweep

Chimney Sweep - 1890s-1910s

Margaretha Scheffler, Quilt Maker

Margaretha Catherina Scheffler was born in Germany on October 28, 1871, eventually emigrating to the United States with her family and settling in Waukesha, Wisconsin. She married Charles Scheffler and, in 1904, they moved from Waukesha to Athens, Wisconsin.  Charles operated a cigar shop and later a shoe repair shop in Athens. They raised three children, Edna, Anna, and Milton, and lost three other children in infancy.  Margaretha died in 1930.

Margaretha made many beautiful quilts in her lifetime, sometimes with her daughter, Anna, working alongside her.  This quilt was inherited by Anna and used in her Athens home until her death in 1990.

Margaretha Catherina Scheffler

The Quilt

The Chimney Sweep block is formed of rectangles of fabric.  One color is used for the X shape in the center and the surrounding rectangles are in a different (usually contrasting) color fabric.  The border triangles around the edge of the block are usually the same color as the X.

Margaretha Scheffler of Athens made this quilt at the turn of the century.  Most of the fabrics in these blocks appear to have been cut from scraps leftover from making clothing.  Some of the rectangles have been pieced together from very small scraps.  In a few of the blocks there was not enough fabric of the same pattern available to form the background rectangles and two similar fabrics were used.

Occasionally a quilt maker needed to use creative license in filling out a block, using an alternate fabric when the one she started with ran out, as in one of these.
The sashing strips between the blocks are in a color called chrome orange or “cheddar”, which was popular at the turn of the 20th century.  The same color has been used for the backing and binding fabric, although the latter fabric is a much cheaper and more loosely woven fabric than is the sashing.  Probably the quilt maker dyed both fabrics at home.  Dyes were readily available and often used to add color to plain fabrics.  This coverlet has a thin cotton batting and was hand quilted.  It obviously was well used.

This was, of course, not the only quilt made by Mararetha Scheffler. The Athens Centennial book described another one.

Excerpt from the Book Athens, Wisconsin Centennial 1890-1990

Mrs. Charles Scheffler made a red-and-white “friendship quilt” before 1926.  The pattern and colors suggest it had been started before 1900.  The large white square has about 15 names hand-embroidered in a spoke pattern; there are over 100 names on the full quilt.  The small red and white pieces were sewn together and quilted entirely by hand, and the red fabric is as bright as new.  The heirloom is now owned by her granddaughter.
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