Brackman Numbers

Detail of a quilt from the New England Quilt Museum.

See the worksheet on this quilt and a full photo by clicking here:

http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=21-41-D0

I enjoy browsing through the Quilt Index online database. I go to the main page (http://www.quiltindex.org/)
and put the name of a pattern in the quick search box at the top. I picked the name Old Maid  to see what would come up.

Lots. Among them the above quilt. I often go to the Full Record page and read something about the quilt.

If you do this you will see this category as you scroll down.
BrackmanF011a

1689a

That is the Brackman number for the pattern. It refers to my books The Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns and the Encyclopedia of Applique, each of which lists patterns with a number.

 I wish I had thought of a name for this category besides mine--- like Encyclopedia Number or EPQP Number, but people started calling it a Brackman Number in the 1980s and now I am stuck as a number. I've always meant to change my name to something glamorous like Starr or Wandrous but now it is too late.

Anyway...Once you know the Brackman Number for a pattern you can look it up in my bound Encyclopedia or if it's pieced and a block in BlockBase.

The New England quilt above is number 1689a.

Pattern names include Double X, Jackson Six and Old Maid's Puzzle.

In BlockBase you can print out a pattern too.

Here's a detail of another quilt I liked from the Index.

 I looked at the full record and found the Brackman Number.

Here's the full record link:

http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=4B-82-BEA  

It's #3807

Clicking on the "Search by Number" area of BlockBase I found that it has many names, among them Dutch Rose, Triple Star and Eccentric Star.

One can browse through the many thousands of quilts on the Quilt Index, check out its pattern number (the Brackman number) and find the pattern in BlockBase. If you have the number it's easy to find the pattern, which can be printed any size for template piecing, rotary cutting or paper piecing.

#3119

# 4065 and #1950