Press Release Regarding the 1974 White House Christmas Decorations

For release at 3:00 p.m. Tuesday, December 10, 1974 THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary to Mrs. Ford This year's White House Christmas decorations reflect Mrs. Ford's interest in American hand crafts. She has tried to emphasize decorations that can be made at home out of inexpensive materials and items around the house. Decorations focus on a return to the crafts--centering around patchwork and quilts--and stressing the country's early Christmas customs. The theme of crafted quilts and patchwork is carried out throughout the State Floor but is predominant in and around the Christmas tree in the Blue Room. Red quilted, bows add color to various wreaths and greens, and Crazy Quilts are used in the Red Room and will be used in decorations during the Ford's Christmas parties. All fabrics are American-made. A wreath of mixed greens appears in each window on the State Floor and in each of the windows of the Family Quarters on the north side of the White House (a total of 34 wreaths) . The wreaths are 36" in diameter and are fashioned of noble and silver fir, incense cedar, and blue juniper. The firs come from Washington and Oregon. The Blue Room The Christmas tree, a 19 1/2 foot concolor fir, is located in the center of the Blue Room. It is decorated with the following ornaments: patchwork balls made by senior citizens and Appalachian women; hand-made natural-wood baskets which contain nuts or gumdrops; hand-crafted wooden toys; patchwork bows, wreaths, and ribbon garland which cascades from the top of the tree. In addition, there are 600 tiny mirrors in oval and rectangular shapes which hang from the branches; dried statice (California heather) on the branches which creates a snow-like effect; and 50 spice sachets made from a combination of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, and a touch of orange. The patchwork Christmas balls. There are 550 patchwork balls in four shapes: round, pentagon, orange-peel, and Christmas lantern. They are made of two fabrics: a small-printed cotton in a variety of patchwork designs; and a water-stained moire. The cotton patchwork balls were made by women in the Appalachian area of North Carolina who were commissioned by Blue Ridge Mountain Industries. The moire balls were crafted by senior citizens across the country, coordinated through The Quilters Workshop in Bayside, New York. The moire was donated by Cohama Fabrics of New York. The Christmas lantern pattern of patchwork ball is a design or Sginated for the White House this year by Mauve Greenbaum of Vhitestone, New York, working through the Quilters Workshop.