Pine Cone to launch historic line

By Andrea Lillo -- Home Textiles Today, 4/8/2002 12:00:00 AM

PITTSFIELD, MA —

Sharing a dedication for historic preservation, bedding manufacturer Pine Cone Hill and Colonial Williamsburg, in Williamsburg, VA, will formally introduce the Colonial Williamsburg collection this market.

"Colonial Williamsburg's vast archives provide endless opportunities for the reinterpretation of 18th-century designs for today's consumer, and we plan to bring the diversity and excitement found in the archives to life in each of the collections," said Annie Selke, founding owner and president of Pine Cone Hill.

Using the foundation's textiles archives, Selke designed the collection around four color stories, translated onto quilts, matelasses, and sheets, as well as such accessories as bed skirts, Euro shams, decorative pillows, rugs and duvets. She added that the collection wholesales for less than Pine Cone Hill's existing line, due to better sourcing and larger volumes of product. For example, a quilt wholesaling for $138 in the Pine Cone Hill line may be $95 in the Colonial Williamsburg line.

"I appreciate old textiles so much," said Selke, who plans to add to the collection every market. "The archives completely adapt to today with their clean designs."

The collection contains four printed and three solid-color quilts. The Blue Resist quilt is a bold pattern of indigo flowers, reversing into a graphic. The Calamanco cotton quilt has a stitched floral and avian design. The Greenhow Chintz quilt was inspired by two 18th century printed chintzes.

Four styles of sheets will be available, including the Ashton Crewel sheets, which are patterned after an 18th century English embroidered counterpane. An Ashton Crewel coverlet is also available.

The printed sheet pattern is the Raleigh Rose Toile sheet, inspired by an original copperplate toile print from the Williamsburg collection, offered in either blue or green.

The Crochet sheets have an open cotton crochet lace pattern inset, adapted from a crocheted-edge blanket cover.

Multi-stripe ticking accessories include yarn-dyed striped sheets in a herringbone twill weave and complement many of the Williamsburg patterns. A flame stitch pillow and rug round out the collection, in a bold, colorful pattern.

In addition, the William and Mary matelasse line, a staple at Colonial Williamsburg for 30 years, will now be produced by Pine Cone Hill. A mythological flora and fauna design characteristic of the Baroque period, the pattern will be available in silver green, buttercup, terra cotta, indigo, white, sky, sprout, bone and cornflower.