Washington and Friends Crossing the Delaware

George Washington and Friends

February 22 is the birthday of our first president, George Washington.  There are many textiles depicting patriotic themes. 

This textile is a panel measuring 43x23 inches depicting George Washington crossing the Delaware River. The colors are startling with vivid reds, blues and gold.  The fabric is textured reminiscent of “bark cloth”(the fabric your gramma used to cover her patio furniture or perhaps used as draperies).  This textile was produced by the Reliable Textile Company of NY under the trademark Wesco-Reltex. 

Wesco-Reltex selvedge

  Other subjects for similar textiles were patriotic motifs such as the bald eagle and, in quite a different vein, depictions of puppies and other cute animals.  Supposedly, these panels were meant to be hung or framed.

Reliable Textile Company, NY was incorporated in 1926

In researching this textile I came upon 5 identical panels being offered on Ebay.  They must have made quite a few of these panels in the 1970’s. My fabrics (I have 2 panels) are unused. Actually, I cannot imagine a use for them.  Maybe someone might want to add them to their collection of patriotic memorabilia.

The Winter Olympics will end this weekend.  I wish to congratulate all the athletes who participated.  You are all winners and inspirations to us all.