In 2011, Sarah was visiting with her great-aunt Donna Carswell in Campbellford, Ontario when the topic of quilting popped up. Ultimately, it led to the topic of Eaton’s and Simpsons quilts.
On that fateful visit, Donna offered her great-niece some half-started projects by Sarah’s great-grandmother Eva Carswell. She pulled three ratty garbage bags from her attic – full of blocks, three partially completed quilts and colourful scraps.
“She told me that many of her quilts were made from scraps left over from dresses made by Eaton’s and Simpsons,” Sarah said. “She said that women wrote in and asked for scraps and received them for free.”
No one had been through these bags of treasures in years, Sarah said. She took them home and sorted everything. Ultimately, she discovered she had enough eight quilts in progress and enough material to make many more.
“I want to make these into gifts for my cousins so they have something historic,” Sarah said.
However, she wanted to know more about the origins of the fabric. So, we seek your help to find out more about Eaton’s and Simpsons quilts.
Eaton’s and Simpsons history
For those who didn’t live in a major city or came long afterward, let’s take a brief history lesson. The T. Eaton Company operated a huge department store chain that ran from 1909 until 1999. It hosted Christmas parades in Toronto, Winnipeg and Montreal until 1976.
In 1930, it controlled almost 60 percent of all department store sales in Canada. Simpsons, later bought out by Sears, had a handle on a large portion of the rest of it. Both dominated retail by issuing huge catalogues that captivated shoppers of all ages.
However, by 1997, poor management had eroded Eaton’s market share down to 10.6 percent. Two years later, Sears Canada purchased its shares, eight of its stores and all of its names, trademarks, brands, and website in a $30-million deal.
Sears would only survive until 2017 when its stores folded at the end of that year. At the time, both loomed large as major retailers of clothes, toys and household goods. Memories from those times live on vividly in many Canadians.
The Eaton’s and Simpsons Quilts Mystery
Looking at Sarah’s bags of fabric, we both wondered about why two large companies would give away so much. While she heard the fabric was free, we found a receipt for $3. Did this cover shipping? Without any records of Eaton’s and Simpsons quilts, we simply didn’t know.
We could only find one online reference cited in a blog with the title Overall history of quilting in Canada by Jess (no surname).
“The Great Depression hit in 1933, and with the economic hardship, quilting became a necessity again for many families. Quilts made at this time were scrappier, and tended to be pieced rather than appliquéd, because fabric was a scarcer resource.
“Despite the hardship, the Depression was a boom time for quilting. Newspapers carried syndicated quilting columns that featured pattern sketches,” she wrote. “Quilters could purchase the full pattern for 5 or 10 cents, although many reconstructed the patterns from the free sketches instead.
“Quilt kits increased in popularity, and department stores like Eaton’s and Simpson’s sold bundles of material specifically to be used for quilt patches,” she added.
When Sears folded, it turned over its corporate records to the National Library and Archives of Canada. However, there is no mention of this program – only the business dealings of the company.
“Thank you for asking me about these quilts and the history,” Sarah wrote after my visit. “I don’t know if I would have gone poking around to find out any of it otherwise.”
This is a great opportunity to capture this slice of women’s history before we lose its threads. If you know anyone who worked with this program or also acquired fabric from it, please email Lois.Tuffin@CanadianQuilterAdministration.com.
