Deerfield Arts & Crafts home page

In Their Words

Raffia and Roses: A visit to the Red Shop

Read Aloud

We then cross...to where a hanging basket of roses sways in an open barn window and the sweet scent of dried raffia floats out. Inside Mrs. Gertrude P. Ashley presides over a room full of beautifully colored and woven baskets, where every flower that grows is reproduced in design and there are baskets for purposes, for which we never thought of using baskets before. The colors which the raffia takes are exquisite, and the designs which have been thought out and woven by Mrs. Ashley and her daughters are a pleasure to look at. All around the room hang great bunches of raffia which Mrs. Ashley has just dyed in some sample American dyes which were sent her; she has not worked this raffia into baskets yet.

"Ye Olden Time," Springfield Republican July 11, 1919.