Marie Webster

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Marie D. Webster (July 19, 1859 - 1956) was a quilt designer, businesswoman, and the author of the first American book about quilting, Quilts, Their Story, and How to Make Them, published in 1915.

Marie Webster was born in Wabash, Indiana to Josiah and Minerva Daugherty. She married George Webster Jr. on Valentine's day of 1884. Although Webster learned the art of fine hand sewing from her mother during her childhood and was a favorite pastime of hers, she did not start designing quilts until she was in her 50s.

For most of her adult life, Webster lived in Marion, Indiana. Marie designed dozens of quilts, and her patterns, all applique, are known for their beautiful, mostly floral designs, done in pastel colors. These qualities made them unique at the time. She was inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement. The Ladies Home Journal printed several of her designs including Pink Rose, Iris, Snowflake, and Wind-blown Tulip in the January 1911 issue; Poppy, Morning Glory, White Dogwood, and Sunflower in the January 1912 issue; and Pansies and Butterflies, Sunbonnet Lassies (also known as Keepsake), Daisies, Wild Rose, Morning Glory Wreath, and Bedtime in the August 1912 issue and also asked her to write articles about quilts. This made her quilt patterns well-known and in high demand. After requests for Webster's quilt patterns streamed into her Marion, Indiana house, she published a four-page pattern catalog entitled The New Patch-work Patterns. She also began her own business, officially named The Practical Patchwork Company in 1921. At the company, Webster, her sister Emma, and friends Ida Hess and Evangeline Beshore, packaged patterns, instruction sheets, and fabric swatches and shipped them out to places throughout the United States. Some partially completed quilts were also sold by the company.

Quilts, Their Story and How to Make Them was published in October 1915 when Doubleday, Page & Co. hired Webster to research the history of quilting and pattern names. It is the first ever published on American quilting and was reprinted in 1916, 1926, 1928, 1929, 1943, and 1948.

In the 1938, Webster's husband died and she did not create any new designs. The business was run by her friends and associates at this time. In 1942, Webster relocated to Princeton, New Jersey with Lawrence, her only child and his family. Shed died in 1956 at the age of 97.

She lived to a ripe-old age. Her quilts are featured in museums around the world, including in Tokyo and Indianapolis. Her book, along with two books of her patterns, have been re-published by Practical Patchwork, which is run by one of her granddaughters, Rosalind Webster Perry.

Webster was inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame in 1991. Her house in Marion, Indiana, the Marie Webster House is now home of the Quilters' Hall of Fame and has been designated a National Historic Landmark.