ABOUT SUNBONNET SUE
Sunbonnet Sue appeared in quilting circles sometime around The Great Depression. She was a blocky little girl with a big bonnet that covered her face. The big, blocky shapes were simple and colorful. Many older quilts show her little figure framed in squares or triangles with simple sashing strips and squares in between.
My own grandmother made me a Sunbonnet Sue quilt during the 1950's which I've cherished all these years. I remember her spending hours picking out fabrics and juxtapositioning the quilt blocks for balance and composition. She hand-stitched all her quilts with applique' and added embroidery here and there.
Since then, Sunbonnet Sue has branched out into many careers and activities; and most of us who have fallen in love with her have marvelled at the things she's gotten up to these past few generations. With the broad use of embroidery sewing machines, Sue can be presented as a much more complex figure than the original little person made up of four little scraps of calico.
These drawings show Sue dressed for the Pow-wow and other Indian pursuits and occupations. Dressed in her prayer shawl, she is ready to dance; wearing her knife, she is ready to prepare a freshly killed buffalo to make pemmican and jerky; dressed in her everyday dress, she is ready for daily challenges; with her papoose on her back, she is ready for foraging.
Her everyday clothes were plain, soft-tanned deerskins. Her ceremonial and dance regalia, though, were heavily beaded or trimmed with quillwork. When the traders brought cloth to the tribes, Sue was anxious to have cotton calico for summer and everyday wear. Her calico dresses were made, though, using the same pattern she used for the deer skins - called the "Wing Dress".
