Antique Red & White Drunkard's Path Quilt on Archer Brand Feed Sack Backing

A hand-pieced and hand-quilted Drunkard's Path variant in classic turkey red and cream cotton, with the curved quarter-circle blocks arranged to create the optical rhythm of interlocking pinwheels across the field. Small solid red squares anchor each of the four corners of the wide cream border, a folk-tradition flourish that frames the geometry. Quilting is worked in close diamond grids through the pieced field and in larger looping motifs across the border.

The backing tells the story of its making: an intact Archer Brand 100 lb. cotton feed sack from Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., Minneapolis, Minnesota, with the trademark archer logo and "U.S. Trade Mark No. 395,800, Issued June 2, 1942" still legible. That trademark date places construction in the mid-1940s, squarely within the wartime and immediate postwar era when thrift quilting from repurposed sacks was at its peak. A grandmother's quilt in the truest sense — pieced from scraps, backed with what the farm had on hand.

CONDITION

Good with no remarkable damage. Faint mothball odor from storage. A few faint scattered stains to the cream ground. Quilting and piecing remain sound throughout; red dye is strong and unfaded.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• 76" L × 70" W
• Construction: Hand-pieced, hand-quilted cotton
• Pattern: Drunkard's Path variant with corner-square border
• Backing: Archer Brand feed sack, Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., Minneapolis, MN
• Trademark Date on Sack: June 2, 1942