Denim is actually the back of this quilt. The front is an improvised motif of highly colorful, polyester and other dress print fans. The quilt came from the Harrisburg neighborhood of Augusta, Georgia, a few blocks from the historic Sibley Mill. The mill began production in 1880 and continued until 2006, making denim. I purchased this quilt from Siobhan Furgurson, who lived in the area and found it at an estate sale of the Lewis family. Siobhan met some of the family members, including a former worker at the mill who said his wife and her sister were always asking him to “bring home scraps and if they didn’t use them they traded them with women at church.” Siobhan speculated that through those trades they may have acquired the polyester used on the front:
Sibley Mill is currently being converted into a computer farm, or cyber village. There’s a fair amount about the Mill online, including Facebook. On one Facebook page dedicated to the Mill is an album of slides showing operations of the mill in the 1970s. The photos are excellent. Here are a few I find particularly compelling:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153434211739539&set=a.10153434211599539.1073741897.791579538&type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153434212114539&set=a.10153434211599539.1073741897.791579538&type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153434212454539&set=a.10153434211599539.1073741897.791579538&type=3&theater