Amazing quilt made of Vintage labels

I met 95 year old sewing aficionado Lilly Weissenberger in Washington Maine last week, and she showed me this amazing quilt she made between 1950-1980. She said she started it on a whim and it turned into a huge project, apparently the neighbors etc... would bring by their labels to add to the available options, she tried to not re-use any of them.
The quilt is willed to the Colby College museum, where I think Mrs. Weissenberger may have worked.
I thought VFG would enjoy! I've got about two dozen photo's I'll try to convert them to the uploadable size and post them if there's interest!

Oh my goodness, thank you for showing this to us!

were they taken from worn out items do you know?

Cool, but I keep thinking there are a lot of vintage pieces that now don't have labels to help identify them!

I think about half of them were, She said that a lot of them had been saved up as she grew up, so there are some from the 20s and thirties too, then while her children were young after the war she started to put it togehter fromt he collection she'd put togehter. As people learned of the project in the VERY small town, they'd bring over labels from EVERYTHING, I saw hat labels, shoe labels, furniture and mattras labels etc.. the great majority seemed to be Fashion labels, with a good selection of those being menswear as well.
I have a feeling it got to the point where when anyone got something the labels came off within a short amount of time and ended up in her sewing basket...

thanks, wouldn't it be fab to identify when and what they all came from? I would love to see the shoe labels personally!

More pictures added to original post, and more here too!

Sorry for the wonky layout, this is my first time at this...

And these are the last two!! I tried to go over the whole thing a few times to make sure I got everything... I love old labels and stuff, and am fascinated by the wide variety, especially the WW2 uniform labels...

I posted all the rest of the pictures in web-size for everyone to look over... I'm not quite good enough to know exactly what goes to what... but hope you Enjoy!

I have a feeling not too many of the garments themselves are still around. Just these.
What got worn out/stained etc... as a garment became scrap or quilting or cut down.

This is neat but I can't help thinking of the clothes the labels were once attached to. It's kinda like looking at a fur coat - gorgeous but you can't not think of where it came from. It sure is cool though and I can only imagine the amount of work that went into it.

Ouch!
I can assure you that nothing died to make this. Or was wasted.
It is intended as Art. Not as a commercial product.
It is a creative expression of her love of sewing.

That is a LOT of labels. No wonder it took 30 years. I just loved looking at them all.

Several years ago a posted a label quilt on my blog. It was made from unused labels from the Artistic Weaving Company. Just amazing!

Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry - that wasn't intended as an insult! It's only my nature as a vintage lover to imagine something as it once was. I've seen damaged stuff beautifully (and usefully) re-purposed and I've seen good stuff destroyed beyond recognition (think Courtney Love). This quilt is amazing and it's perfectly stitched, I'm truly in awe of it's maker - honestly!

Ah, OK, I misunderstood. She, and her quilt, blew me away. And from what I've seen she is just tickled that other people love it. I don't think she really intended it but anything as a creative outlet/labor of love.

Totally amazing! What a treat to see all these pics...thank you so much for sharing!