Rebecca Scattergood Savery

The daughter of John and Elizabeth Head Scattergood, Savery was born into a family that had lived in Philadelphia since the late seventeenth century.

[2] The Saverys were active in the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends, and it is assumed that Rebecca conformed to the traditional roles and practices ascribed to Quaker women of her era.

All use English roller printed cotton fabric and wool batting, and the Friendship quilts are marked with 175 names, as well as with a series of inked drawings.

[2] Savery is best known for the sunburst-patterned quilt which she produced in 1839 for her granddaughter Sarah Savery, born that year; measuring nine feet by nearly ten feet and containing almost four thousand diamond-shaped pieces, each about four inches long, it is currently owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in whose quilt collection it is the central piece.

[4] A third quilt in the pattern is held by the American Folk Art Museum.