QUILT HISTORY STORIES
ELGIN, ILLINOIS
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
LeeWard Mills and Lee Wards Story
Book 7
Susan Wildemuth, Atkinson, IL
History of LeeWard Mills and LeeWards
General Mills Years (1969 –1985)
Bicentennial and Beyond
1976 was the year the United States celebrated its Bicentennial and there was a rekindling of interest in crafts and needle arts, in particular, quilt making. Quilt kits (in-house manufactured and other company manufactured) were not the largest LeeWards seller, but they were a product that sold well. On discussing LeeWards quilts with fellow auction hounds, a “newbie” adamantly declares, “LeeWards only made cross-stitch quilts!” That is simply not true; from the very first catalog, LeeWards sold a variety of adult and crib quilt kits utilizing pieced, cross-stitched, or applique construction methods.
New and seasoned quilt collectors should note that adult applique quilt kits sold by LeeWards and Herrschners from the 1950s through 1980s are consistently misdated as 1930s quilts on online auction sites and by auction houses, because they have an “old look” to them. Also, people do not realize that art needlework companies like “the big two” sold applique quilts alongside their cross-stitch ones. In contrast, some of the crib quilts featured in LeeWards and Herrschners catalogs were actually “reincarnations” of earlier crib quilt designs from companies like Homeneedlecraft Creations and Gold Art Company.
What does a person interested in collecting vintage quilt kits do about dating their finds? If you really want to learn more about quilt kits and quilts in general, it all comes down to education. Read everything you can on quilt history and with a list of questions in hand, attend a regional quilt history study group like the Iowa Illinois Quilt Study Group in Kalona, Iowa, or national quilt study group like the American Quilt Study Group out of Lincoln, Nebraska. Rosie Werner is also working on a Quilt Kit Web Site that will be available in 2010. These groups of women and men like questions and will help you sort the fact from the fiction.
Lee Anderson - Permission Granted in Writing
to Use This Image
1976 brings a change in company management as Lee C. Anderson, who has been with the company from March 1968 through October 1976, leaves his position as President of the LeeWards division of General Mills, Inc. to pursue other employment opportunities. When Mr. Anderson closed the door to his office for the last time in October 1976, LeeWards, which had flourished under his management, was roughly earning $80 million annually for General Mills, Inc. with a $60 million (retail stores) and $20 million (mail order) split.
Larry Kunz - Permission Granted in Writing to
Use This Image
There was young man who had been working in the wings, another LeeWards multi-tasker, who had been a part of the LeeWards employee family since 1973. He would not be the next President of LeeWards; that position went to Larry P. Kunz (1977-1983) followed by Dennis Johnson (1983-1985), but that post would be a part of his future. The young man’s name is John Popple and we’ll meet him in the Munford section. (107)
Special Note:
Author would have to have photos/scans of Dennis Johnson and John Popple for this article
It is the mid 70s and LeeWards was still opening up retail stores, but business began to move away from the traditional “soft line” categories to a very broad assortment of art-hobby and needlecraft items. Tole Painting with oils on all kinds of items from old pails to bread boards was popular, acrylics, decoupage, ecology art which utilized shells and other “earth” components, strawberry and apple motifs could be seen in all kinds of art-hobby work, crocheting and knitting had not gone out of style, and artificial flowers were big.
Christmas ornament kits were a consistent customer favorite throughout the 60s and 70s. “Boutique Ornaments” and other Christmas ornament kits were popular sellers at LeeWards in the 1960s and 70s. The ideas for the ornament kits came from a wide variety of sources. The public, artists, big and small manufacturers, and LeeWards employees all contributed design ideas.
Don Kaufman, one of three LeeWards buyers who dealt in Christmas items back in 1977, handled the Christmas hardware lines of imitation trees, garlands, lights and the Boutique Ornament line. (108) These ornaments, made with sequins, beads, pins, glue, a pre-formed shape such as a bell, tree, or boot, and other doodads, were considered the Cadillac of the LeeWards Christmas line. The design selection process went like this: design ideas were submitted, samples were created, and a certain number of samples, around 100 to 120, were chosen out of maybe 500 designs. Mr. Kaufmann would then visit manufacturers in the Orient to get the production cost figures and finalize plans for the product. “The actual ornaments in the form of sequins, beads, pins, trim, and Styrofoam in their packaging would be sitting in the company warehouse by May of the year they were to be sold. “ (109)
Authors Collection
In 1977 LeeWards offered “112 ornaments at their Elgin store location, and over 100 of those ornaments were their own designs with only 12 coming from outside manufacturers such as Spinnerin.” (110) 42 New Christmas Ornaments were featured in the 1977 LeeWards Christmas Catalog 91. (111) Don Kaufman shared in a 1977 Courier-News article, “LeeWards tries to replace about 50% of their boutique line ornaments each year.” Customers enjoyed the fresh products and loved the opportunity to create an innovative Christmas ornament each holiday season.
In today’s Christmas collectible market, the actual vintage ornaments created from these kits have gained a following on the Internet with twenty-first century Christmas ornament collectors. People are interested in creating new items from these old kits to add ornaments to their collections and to re-capture a piece of their past, by doing the same craft with their children that they did with their mom, grandma, or auntie when they were a child.
LeeWards did their own in-house manufacturing of many of the art-hobby and needlecraft kits until around 1978, when the manufacturing department was closed and they began to buy all their products from hundreds of outside suppliers. (112) This decision marked a shift in the company dynamics from the earlier mom and pop type organization to a corporate style operation.
Around 1980 the company produced a publication at their 1200 St. Charles Street, Elgin, Illinois office called The LeeWards Craft Advisor. This 4-page newsletter was available for free in LeeWards retail stores and gave their customers a glimpse into what was “hot” in the art-hobby arena, a free craft lesson, a forum for questions and answers which could be submitted to LeeWards “Craft Advisors,” and activities that were going on in the craft industry such as contests or exhibitions.
The 1980s era of crafting was an interesting mix of many types of “soft” and “hard” craft items. There was a huge interest in miniatures for dollhouses, room scenes, shadow boxes, and printer boxes which utilized doll house items. Latchhook was popular, as were the plastic canvas needlepoint kits. Counted cross-stitch had overtaken the stamped cross-stitch in popularity, but many women were still embroidering, knitting, and crocheting. Quilting remained popular with newbies entering this arena, some wanting to learn the traditional hand-piece, hand-quilt methods and others testing the waters of machine quilting. Sampler quilts were the hit of the day along with pre-quilted adult and baby cross-stitch and embroidery quilts. Art quilts or free-form quilts were coming on the scene, which utilized hand-dyed fabrics. Artificial flowers were very popular for all kinds of uses from outside décor such as wreaths to indoor events such as weddings. Customers were hungry for items they could create to enhance their home decoration schemes during the holidays and throughout the year.
“Make and take” and “quilt-in-a-day” classes were becoming more appealing to women with a briefcase in one hand, a baby bottle in the other, a list of chores in her head, and an ache in her heart to be creative. For these “super ladies,” the desire to do art-hobby and needlecrafts was as strong as their mothers and grandmothers, but they were interested in a more streamline way to fit it into their busy schedules, and the craft industry was evolving to reflect those needs.
Catalog Division Comes to an End
LeeWards discontinued its catalog division in the fall of 1983 to focus purely on the retail portion of the business. (113) According to the U.S. Copyright Office, Catalog No. (114) was the last catalog copyrighted by LeeWards Creative Crafts, Inc.. Women and men who looked forward to seeing these catalogs in their mail boxes after a long day of work mourned the passing of this division of the business.
It should be noted that LeeWards was alive and well in many large communities throughout the United States via their stores. The retail division continued to expand with more retail stores opening each year. LeeWards management under General Mills, Inc. came to a close in 1985, when Munford, Inc. of Atlanta Georgia purchased the company and a new era for the art needlework company began.
