June brides and grooms, or grooms and grooms, or brides and brides will cherish an antique textile emphasizing the color blue that NYC Americana dealer Laura Fisher has collected in anticipation of the wedding season.  At her midtown NYC gallery FISHER HERITAGE, this perennial favorite color ranges in hue from the deepest indigo to the gentlest weathered denim-y blue. It appears in antique American quilts, in hand woven American wool coverlets and blankets, and also in select Japanese and African textiles dyed with indigo. Any of these could make a unique, memorable, heirloom gift.

The term true blue that implies love and loyalty actually has an historic textile derivation. Originating in Coventry England, it referred to the colorfastness of their blue dyes. Indigo - the natural plant source of the color blue – is the textile dye used here and in cultures worldwide for centuries. Remarkably,  much old indigo cloth retains its color today as fresh as when first dyed.

Fisher has collected a veritable rainbow of blue hues to captivate recipients in:

*Classic American pieced quilts in the crisp fresh blue and white palette, with pattern names like Hole in the Barn Door, Roman Stripe, Handy Andy, and more

*Monochromatic pieced quilts made of washed denim scraps that have a chic modernist aesthetic

*Earliest 19th century whole cloth ‘Linsey-Woolsey’ quilts in deep deep indigo

*Jacquard coverlets from mid 19th century weavers including David Haring (NJ), James Alexander and James Impson (NY), and W. Craig (IN)

*Hand woven double weave geometric coverlets and overshot blankets in graphic blue and white patterns from the looms of anonymous weavers

*International textiles including Japanese katsuri cottons, indigo dyed with paste resist decoration, and hand woven pieced men’s and women’s patterned wrapping cloths from the Cameroons and Ghana

*Amish Pennsylvania rag carpet rolls - deep blue woven with lines of  solid color clothing strips

* hooked rugs that read mostly blue - infrequently seen, but in the gallery you’ll find choice examples with indigo and Prussian blue (19th century) as well as softer blues (up through the mid-20th century).

Shop Hours: Monday through Friday, best times are 11-4  

Laura Fisher's

FISHER HERITAGE

305 East 61st Street     New York, NY 10065

t/ 212.838-2596   email/fisherheritage@yahoo.com   web/www.laurafisherquilts.com