Barbara Brackman

Barbara Blackman has been crazy about quilts since she first encountered them in friends’ midwestern homes as a kid as her New York City family didn’t make quilts. It’s been a hobby, a business and (OK) an obsession ever since.

She’s been designing fabric for Moda for thirty years, specializing in reproduction prints, particularly William Morris repros with an Arts & Crafts flair. She’s currently working on another “Best of Morris” collection reflecting the 19th-century designer’s view of the English meadow ground with flowers large and small and a palette derived from natural shades.

Barbara’s most recent exhibit was the summer, 2022 show at the New England Quilt Museum, “Hospital Sketches: Appliqué Quilts Inspired by Civil War Healthcare Workers,” featuring samplers stitched from the annual Block-of-the-Month patterns she offers on her Civil War Quilts blog where historical blocks are accompanied by historical stories. 

Last year she published the third edition of her Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patters and companion computer program BlockBase+ from Electric Quilt. Since 1979 her index to pattern names and sources has been the go-to resource for information and pattern drafting. 

Barbara loves to blog about quilts. Check out her pages:

Material Culture: Quilts & Fabric Past & Present

https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/

Civil War Quilts specializing in quilts, fabric and women’s lives from the era. 

https://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/