Margo Krager is a renowned fabric historian and the owner of ReproductionFabrics.com, a specialty business dedicated to researching and selling historic textiles. With a deep passion for textile history, Margo has spent decades studying and sourcing fabrics from various periods, from the Colonial era to the early 20th century. Her expertise lies in identifying, researching, and reproducing fabrics that reflect the artistry, techniques, and cultural significance of past eras.
As the founder of ReproductionFabrics.com, Margo has built a reputation for quality and authenticity in the world of historical quilting and costuming. Her collection includes an extensive range of fabrics, including printed cottons, silks, wools, and linens, many of which are painstakingly recreated using traditional methods and materials to match the original designs. These fabrics are sought after by museums, historical reenactors, textile conservators, and costume designers who value both their historical accuracy and the beauty of their craftsmanship.
Margo has spent over twenty five years researching cotton printed and woven fabrics used in quilts and garments. This includes extensive library research on textiles, investigating print and dye technology developments, visiting museums all over the US and in Europe, and viewing both private and public textile collections. We also own several vintage fabric sample books including our classic c. 1830 Dargate Book (vintage = actual fabric from the past). Margo has given lectures to quilters across the country and fabric retailers.
Textile Society of America 9th Biennial Symposium, (2004).
Abstract - Download at the University of Lincoln -Nebraska
In the spring of 1803, Meriwether Lewis traveled to Philadelphia to prepare for his journey west. During a busy month there, he gathered thirty-five hundred pounds of supplies. His shopping list included “Indian Presents”: beads, tomahawks, fishing hooks, combs, and “30 calico shirts.”
Israel Whelan, Purveyor of Public Supplies, purchased from twenty-eight Philadelphia merchants many of the needed items, including the calico shirts. Where did he get them, were they ready-made and what did they look like?
The North American marketplace of 1803 offered a wide variety of fabrics. Canoe manifests from the customs house at Michilimackinac in 1802 listed “Indian calicoes”, “painted cottons” and “striped cotton made into shirts.” These items were for trading posts at Duluth and westward. The Choteau ledgers from St. Louis at that same time mention sale of “indienne” and “caillaico” yardage as well as “shirts of indienne.” The United States Factory System (1796-1882) requested plain and printed shirts as trade items. Philadelphia newspapers advertised auctions of local merchandise and goods arriving from Europe and Asia. Textiles available in the city that Spring included “dark and light Indian calicoes”, “cases of chintz” and “Germantown prints.”
In 1904, the quartermaster at Schuylkill Arsenal found six previously unknown Lewis and Clark documents. One was a list of “Supplies from Private Vendors.” Included in this list were payments for “calico” and “mak (in)g. shirts.” Lewis and Clark traded made in America shirts on their epic journey West.
A Message from Margo, Fabric Historian and Owner of Reproduction Fabrics
A Stitch in Time: My Journey with Reproduction Fabrics
In 1981, I decided to take a leap of faith, leaving behind a 15-year career as a Medical Technologist. I often joke that I simply "changed needles" when I opened my first fabric store in Newcastle, WY. At the time, JCPenney had just announced the closure of their fabric departments nationwide, and I saw an opportunity to bring fabric back to the community.
When I first started in the business, finding just one shelf of reproduction fabrics in a store was thrilling to me. Today, I still have customers walk into my store who are amazed by the sheer variety of reproductions available in the market. It’s incredible to see how far the industry has come!
Fast forward to 1987, when I celebrated my 40th birthday by purchasing a quilt shop in Bozeman, MT. A decade later, in 1997, I launched my first website (with help from my husband Ron)—a bold move that allowed me to begin shipping fabrics to customers around the world. Today, I’m thrilled to serve a vibrant and creative customer base that includes costume designers for TV, movies, theater, opera, and re-enactors and of course quilters!
I’ve handled all kinds of "fabric emergencies," including a Friday-afternoon call from a New York costume designer who needed material delivered for a Monday TV scene. No two days are alike, but the joy of helping people bring their projects to life keeps me inspired!
My goal has always been to provide the best reproduction fabrics for quilt and garment projects. I’ve even written for "Dress" (Costume Society of America) and love diving into fabric history—like why we call them polka dots or the fascinating bans on printed cottons in 18th-century Europe. And I have had a chance to design and produce my own fabric lines as well, mostly based on my vintage sample books from 1830s, 1860s and the Civil War Eras.
Presented at “Appropriation • Acculturation • Transformation,” Textile Society of America 9th Biennial Symposium, Oakland, California, October 7-9, 2004. Copyright 2004 Textile Society of America.