A Little Quilt History

Sarah McNeal is a multi-published author of time travel, paranormal, western, contemporary and historical fiction. Her stories may be found at Publishing by Rebecca Vickery and Prairie Rose Publications. Her website: http://www.sarahmcneal.com  

A Bit About The History of Quilts

I can’t imagine there is one among you who doesn’t know what a quilt is, but for the sake of clarity, it is the stitching together of layers of cloth with padding between that usually incorporates pieces of different colors of material to form a design. It can be simple with simple stitching, or artistic and complicated with decorative stitching, and even incorporate embroidery in the pattern of the design.

It is believed that quilting began as early as ancient Egypt.

In the United States, quilt making became a common activity during the late 18^th century and early 19^th century. Since commercially made blankets were economical and most women spent time to weaving and spinning clothing for their families, quilt making was a time consuming activity that only the wealthier women could lend their time to, and, therefore, only a few performed Colonial quilting.

I was surprised to learn that quilts were originally not made with scraps of material. Instead, they were decorative items made to display the quilter’s fine needlework.

Whole cloth quilts, broderie perse, and medallion quilts were a particularly popular style of quilting during the 19^th century. These quilts appear to be a solid piece of fabric, but were actually strips of fabric sewn together since weaving looms were not big enough to produce a large enough cloth to cover an entire bed. They consisted of three layers: a top with a layer of padding that was often wool, and a bottom cloth. The hand sewn stitching held the layers together. In those early days, it was the stitching that was the decoration. The early American quilts came from Europe and only the wealthy could afford to buy them.

In Canton, Massachusetts, the Canton Historical Society believes they have the oldest whole cloth quilt in America made of wool in 1786 by Martha Crafts Howard.

The surviving whole cloth quilts feature natural designs like feather designs, outlines of flowers, and so on. Some quilts are made even more beautiful by incorporating stuffed and corded quilting, often termed trapunto, which is an Italian word used to describe the technique of stuffing more padding into certain areas of the design to raise up the design and distinguish it from other areas of the quilt.

 Broderie perse is a term that refers to the applique of cut out motifs from printed fabric onto a solid background. This form of quilt making has been done since the 18th century. The popular printed fabric during this period was chintz imported from India. Because printed fabric was more expensive even for the wealthy, quilters would cut out birds, flowers, and other natural designs and applique them to the plain background. These broderie perse quilts were used on the best beds in the house, or reserved for times when guests were staying over.

Medallion quilts are made around a center. The center was sometimes a solid piece of large scale fabric like a toile or a Tree of Life, an appliqued motif or a large pieced star or other pieced pattern. The central area was surrounded by two or more borders. Although some borders were solid, many were pieced or appliqued.

In the mid 19^th century when the industrial revolution began, quilting changed drastically because quilters no longer had to spin and weave their own cloth. By the 1840’s, with a huge variety of fabrics readily available, quilt-making became so much easier and, therefore, more widespread. While some quilts were made from scraps of cloth from other projects, many quilts were made with fabric purchased specifically for the quilt.

Another huge development during this period was the invention and availability of the sewing machine. In 1856, the Singer Company introduced an installment payment plan that made more families able to have a sewing machine. Now women could sew their family’s clothes in less time and sew part of their quilts by machine as well.

When the American Civil War broke out, women made quilts to raise funds for the abolitionist movement, to support the war effort, and to provide warmth and comfort to the soldiers. Sometimes women would apply anti-slavery poems and sayings to the quilts they sold at fairs to show the plight of slaves. Stories came out of quilts being used to signal slaves of safe houses they could go to designated by a certain kind of quilt hung on the clothesline. Not all historians agree on this belief.

Not only were quilts used to raised money for the war effort both in the North and the South, but quilts were made for the soldiers as well. Many women remade quilts from bed covering to create two quilts from one bed cover. The quilts were distributed to the soldiers by the United States Sanitary Commission in the North. Things were more difficult in the South since, although the South raised cotton, it was milled into fabric in the North. Fabric became almost impossible for women of the South to obtain so the Southern women had to spin and weave the cloth before they could make the quilts. Both sides used practical designs for soldiers’ quilts. Sadly, due to the extreme use these quilts endured, few have survived.

There are a variety f types of quilts such as Amish quilts with their bold designs, distinctive designs and exceptional stitching, Crazy quilts that arose in the late 19^th century with their abstract shapes randomly stitched together with fancy stitches, artistic quilts, and Traditional quilts made with appliqué designs, meticulous stitching, and even embroidered elaborately. Traditional quilts were created for special occasions such as weddings or when a new minister arrived. 

(example of a traditional quilt with embroidery from New Mexico)

My grandmother made a quilt for each of her grandchildren. They were very special with applique and embroidery with intricate stitching. For my oldest sister, my grandmother had appliqued women with bonnets and aprons over their dresses with a pocket. In each pocket, she placed a penny. I’m sure my sister removed all the pennies and spent them on candy. My quilt was made with kittens in baskets with embroidery and fancy stitches. My quilt met an untimely end during my fire bug period.

I used a traditional quilt in my story, When Love Comes Knocking, in the Christmas anthology from Prairie Rose Publications, Present for a Cowboy soon to be released. My widowed heroine, Penelope Thoroughgood, made a beautiful traditional quilt with the help of her mother for her some day marriage.

 (my contribution) When Love Comes Knocking

A lonely widow…an indiscretion…a gift for redemption

Blurb:

Penelope Witherspoon was charmed into marriage by Evan Thoroughgood only to learn she loved a philanderer, who gambled away his inheritance and drank too heavily. It came as no surprise that four months after their marriage, Evan was shot dead for cheating at cards. Since his death, Penelope has come to depend on his older brother, Gil. In fact, she has come to love and respect him. No two men could be further apart in character. But, if Gil learns of her secret indiscretion, he will want nothing further to do with her. What is Penelope to do?

Excerpt:

“I need to be on my way as well.” Gil had already risen from his chair and put his dish and fork in the dry sink. He approached Penelope with his face expressionless. “I’ve got some things to do before I head on home and I don’t want to wait too long since a storm is headin’ this way.” He shrugged into his long, wool coat and shoved his hat on his head. “If you need anything, or the wood gets low before I get back, just send someone to tell me.”

She reached out her hand to him. “Thank you for everything you did today. It means a lot to me. I always enjoy your company.” She wanted to say more—so much more, but she had no sense of how he would react.

When he clasped her hand in his, her heart stuttered in her chest. Does he have any idea how much I care for him? “Any company is good in a storm.” 

She hated to think what he meant by that. His eyes turned dark, like black coffee, and he didn’t smile. “Your company is exceptional to my way of thinking.” What more could she say? She certainly wasn’t going to open up like a tin can and spill out all her feelings to him. If he didn’t feel the same, she would be humiliated and she didn’t want to ruin their friendship.

He still held her hand when he dipped his head toward her. For one brief moment, she thought he might even kiss her. Oh goodness, if only he would. If only…

But he didn’t. She saw a light ignite in his eyes as he stared at her mouth, and then he backed away. “Thank you for the supper. You cook a fine meal. Well, goodnight, Penelope.”

“Goodnight, Gil.” She wasn’t sure he even heard her. He shut the door as she spoke. Something’s not right.

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Please Note:

All photos of quilts from Public Domain/Wickipedia

References

Carolyn Ducey, "Quilt History Timeline".

Levie, Eleanor; Place, Jennifer; Sehafer Sears, Mary (1992). Country Livings Country Quilts, p. 98. Hearst Books, New York. ISBN 0-688-10620-X.

 Levie, Eleanor; Place, Jennifer; Sehafer Sears, Mary (1992). Country Livings Country Quilts, p. 98. Hearst Books, New York. ISBN 0-688-10620-X.

Sources

Dunton Quilting Collection, Archives and Manuscripts Collections, The Baltimore Museum of Art.

Books

[2005]Celia Eddy: "Quilted Planet A Source Book of Quilts from Around the World".

2004: Roderick Kiracofe, Mary Elizabeth Johnson. "The American Quilt: A History of Cloth and Comfort 1750-1950". Clarkson Potter. ISBN 1-4000-8096-7.

1994: Laurel Horton (Editor). "Quiltmaking in America: Beyond the Myths". Rutledge Hill Press. ISBN 1-55853-319-2.

1995: by Sandi Fox. "For Purpose and Pleasure: Quilting Together in Nineteenth-Century America". Rutledge Hill Press. ISBN 1-55853-337-0.

1989: Barbara Brackman. "Clues in the Calico: A Guide to Identifying and Dating Antique Quilts". Howell Press Inc. ISBN 0-939009-27-7 .