Meet multi-talented designer Mary Koval
Mary Koval, quilt collector; dealer; fabric designer and lover of textiles chats with Michelle Marvig
I am extremely lucky to visit Houston every year with the Travelrite / Quilters Companion tour. My first stop on Preview Night is always the many antique quilt stalls that are scattered among the other retail stands on the show floor.
I have got to know lots of the antique quilt dealers, but Mary Koval is one of my favourites. I have known Mary for quite a few years, as a dealer and a fabric designer, but I was surprised at how much I did not know when we sat down and had a chat.
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Mary Koval has always been a part of the industry since I have been quilting. It turns out she has been in it for 45 years. Like many of us, Mary had a history of sewing clothing for her family before she found quiltmaking.
She taught herself how to construct quilts from a book, originally making her quilts by hand. With small children underfoot, Mary thought she could run a business, making and selling quilts. She did do this for a short time, working with a friend and selling 10 quilts in the first year.
Now we all know how much time and effort goes into making a quilt. Due to her love of quilts, Mary’s eye wandered to antique quilts as well, and she purchased her first antique quilt top for $7.50. She completed it and added it to her sales inventory.
She discovered that people loved purchasing old quilts, as well as the new quilts, and it was less stressful to collect and sell old quilts. As a result, her new business of dealing in antique quilts began.
In 1981 Mary attended her first quilt show as a dealer of antique quilts, and at her busiest could be found at up to 35 shows a year. For the first five years of her antique quilt business, Mary Koval sold everything that she purchased and never kept anything.
She was yet to become a collector of quilts. On one fateful day in in Ohio, while on a quilt hunt, Mary went from dealer to collector. While at another antique dealer’s home she purchased a few textiles. Then, the dealer offered Mary a more expensive quilt from her own collection.
The quilt was brought into the room, pattern folded to the inside. Mary could already tell this was a special quilt. When the quilt was opened up, a stunning blue and white Touching Star with exquisite hand quilting was revealed and it touched Mary’s heart.
Needless to say, she purchased the quilt and a life-long love affair with blue and white quilts began. Mary carried the quilt home on her lap, cherishing the antique textile. It was to remain in her collection until she generously donated it, along with 26 other quilts and 5000 yards of antique fabric, to the Wisconsin Fibre and Quilt Museum in Cedarburg.
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While out hunting for quilts for the business, Mary Koval earnestly started looking for more blue and white quilts. Her dream was to have a collection of 100 blue and white quilts and to hold an exhibition.
However, fate had a different path for Mary. Another quilt stole Mary’s heart — a red and green appliqué quilt. In order to purchase this new love, Mary had to sell some of the quilts from the blue and white collection.
In 2005 she shared her love of the blue and white quilt in a book called Mary’s Favorite Blue and White Quilts, published by Chitra Publications. The first Touching Star quilt is featured, along with eight other beautiful antique quilts.
Not every antique quilt is in excellent condition. Some of her purchases required repair work, so Mary Koval started to purchase antique fabric in order to faithfully repair the quilts. This lead to another rather large collection.
One day her husband Joe, who works with Mary in the antique quilt business and is an avid collector in his own right, discussed the size of this stash and the possibility of selling some on the stands along with the quilts. It was an immediate success.
In 1999, a fabric designer for an American textile company came to Mary to ask for her help putting a reproduction range of fabric together.
Mary’s years of dealing in fabric and quilts had given her an extensive knowledge of not only quilt designs, but fabric designs too. Mary helped and when she had finished, the designer told Mary she had just put a collection together and asked her to design reproduction fabric collections.
She has worked with Timeless Treasures, Free Spirit, Blank Quilting and currently works with Windham Fabrics. Mary’s current range is called Rhapsody in Blue — she still has that love affair with blue fabric and quilts.
However, she does not limit herself to this colour palette. Mid 2017 will see a collection of stunning prints called Simply Red. She designs two to four collections a year and has a permanent range called Mary’s Blenders, with 80 pieces currently. It is designed to work with all reproduction ranges.
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When Mary Koval was still making quilts for sale 40 years ago, she dreamed of owning a shop. But it was not until 2010 that she was to realise that dream. Her husband Joe loves architecture and purchased a building that dates back to 1813 in their home town of Bedford, Pennsylvania.
It now houses not only her quilt shop, but a retreat centre which has sleeping accommodation. It can be rented out, and Mary often holds her own retreats, hosting Australian quilter Di Ford for a successful retreat in October, 2016.
Mary also teaches, with classes based on design elements in a quilt. The lesson may start with a dash of history based on an antique quilt, then she will go on to embellish the design. All this and Mary still manages to attend five quilt shows a year with her antique quilts.
Mary’s personal collection of quilts is very diverse, with doll quilts, patriotic quilts, black and white, folk art, Amish, appliquéd, pieced and, of course, blue and white. But the quilt that means the most to her is not one that you would pick if you saw the collection.
It’s a Double Irish Chain in orange, green and lavender that was commercially machine quilted in the 1930s. What is so special about this quilt is that it was made by Mary’s grandmother, and Mary Koval did not know of the quilt’s existence, or her grandmother’s foray into quilting, until after she had passed away. It turns out textiles did run in the family.
Is it any wonder that when I asked Mary if she did not work with quilts, what she thought she might do, she became very emotional. Textiles and quilts are more than just items to her. She is absolutely passionate about them and lives with them every day, not imagining ever doing anything different.
Mary’s love of textiles is as infectious as her smile, and she enjoys sharing her knowledge. In 2017 that will include a new book with Quiltmania and an exhibition of her quilts that will be held at the European Patchwork Meeting in Saint Marie Aux Mines, France. And if you ever make it to the Quilt Festival in Houston, drop by and say hello to Mary and Joe. They are always happy to share their knowledge and quilts.
You can visit Mary Koval website here
