Rose Coverlet

Keener worked in Womelsdorf, a town which boasted three coverlet manufacturers in the mid-nineteenth century.  His existing coverlets date from 1836 to 1847.  He used a jacquard loom attachment and tied-beiderwand weave structure in a distinctive red, black, and blue color scheme with stylized floral and foliate motifs.  Tied-beiderwand is a single thickness cloth made of cotton warp, and cotton and wool weft.  It has a ribbed texture in its warp, often including blue or brown warp threads alternating with natural threads.

The jacquard loom attachment, which utilized commercially available perforated cards to control the elaborate pattern, not only allowed for unlimited design possibilities, but also accounted for the similarity between many of the coverlets produced by professional weavers.