Quilt

Quilt

Unique Quilts have been an expression of American women over the past hundred years

by Jack Boldune
Quilting has been an expression of American women over the past hundred years. Quilts are being reappraised by historians, art critics and a growing public as a form and expression of American folk art. The creativity of generations of women in America is gaining recognition for their handmade quilts. Quilts are no longer stored in closets and trunks. Happily quilts are finding their way back into our lives and homes. Many quilts can also be found on the walls of galleries and museums in the world. Quilts have come to be a amazing design tradition which has developed in the United States, since colonial times.

By the mid-eighteenth century there were three major distinct English needlework styles used in quilts which had found their way to America. First there was the appliqué covers, pieced patchwork (stitched shapes) and quilted whole cloth coverings.

By the 1770’s a religious revival movement called The Great Awakening was offering a more generous and loving picture of God. This was important in the story of quilting because it transferred the responsibility for moral and religious education directly from the clergymen to the women in the home. Women established an environment where training would be offered to America’s future citizens. The nineteenth century encouraged the creation of a well-ordered and comfortable domestic setting.

This developing domestic way of life was the chief reason for the development of needlework and quilting as occupations for women. By the 1800’s it was considered necessary and proper for a young woman to do needlework in order become a better homemaker and companion.

Following the Revolutionary War and again following the War of 1812 the American market was flooded with manufactured items. These included fabrics. It became family traditions for neighborhoods to gather for functions – these were often composed of women – needlework and quilting were take the shape of becoming what is known today as quilting bees.

Quilting took a social and involvement of complete family for weddings and births. Husbands and brides-to-be drew complex patterns on a quilt top or cut out templates from which patterns were cut. Grandmothers and children threaded needles and cut out patterns, while mothers sewed pieces together and quilted the top. A quilt represented the creative efforts of an entire family.

The manufacture of cotton was America’s first national industry. It became a well-applauded talent to make something ornate out of a basket of old scraps, and the creation of a unique quilt symbolized womanhood.

The developing middle classes with a network of women’s sewing circles, often associated with churches, became a reform. Quilts were made to memorialize historic causes. Together with continuing tradition of bees, quilting, get-togethers, fairs, and auctions, handmade quilts were the new social acceptance.

As an accomplished teacher, lecturer and quilter Linda S Branscomb has become admired in her local community as well as nationwide. She continues to volunteer and teach in her local community. You can find some of her original work here -http://www.scorpionllc.com/store/Crafts/Quilting
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