Woven Overshot Coverlet

c. 1850

This overshot coverlet is woven in a variation on a pattern known as Tennessee Trouble. The bedcovering’s warp is linen, while its green and red weft is wool. A grid of squares in six horizontal and six vertical rows composes the boldest elements of the reversible, geometric pattern. The overshot weave is typical of coverlets made in the South, which could be woven at home on a four-shaft loom. This coverlet might have been made by enslaved African Americans near Fayette, Mississippi in the mid-nineteenth century. In addition to weaving the coverlet, it is possible that the makers also cultivated the flax and spun it into linen as well as carded, spun, and dyed the wool.