The relationship between whitework bedcovers and impending marriages is made explicit in this example by Sarah Stoddard that displays a date seven months before she was wedded to Franklin Brewster of Ledyard, Connecticut. Although white is today strongly identified with brides, this history accrued over centuries. From an ancient association between undyed cloth and purity, white took on religious meanings of innocence, baptism, conversion, and resurrection in the early Christian era. It was not until the late nineteenth century, however, that white was specifically identified with the Virgin Mary. The first documented white wedding dress was worn by Anne of Brittany when she married Louis XII of France in 1499. Queen Victoria wore an all-white wedding gown in 1840, thereby starting a fashion trend in England that spread to other countries and persists to this day. 

The popularity of imported Marseilles coverlets inspired some women to turn their weaving skills to entrepreneurial ventures. As early as 1807, Eliza Wildes Bourne (1765–1844) of Kennebunk, Maine, began weaving fancy white cotton counterpanes. The geometric scalloped border with pine tree motif that is hand-embroidered on four sides of this candlewick bedcover imitates the woven patterns of weft-loop coverlets, such as those made by Hannah Wilson (1787–1869) of New Hampshire.

Stacy C. Hollander, "Sarah Stoddard Candlewick Spread," exhibition label for White on White (and a little gray). Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2006.