News |

EPOCH STYLE CAN REVEAL HISTORY OF AMERICAN QUILT

An in-depth knowledge of textile history is necessary to accurately date quilts from America`s past. Particularly in isolated areas, quiltmaking changed little, so only a quilt`s fabric–not its style–is of use in deducing its story.

Although few collectors can claim such expertise, most do enjoy knowing from whence their quilts came. According to Country Home magazine, even the novice collector will be able to place a wide number of quilts in their proper historical perspective by learning to recognize the most typical quilting styles of certain major epochs.

During the years between the American Revolution and the beginning of the westward migration, bedcovers blossomed with cotton cutouts salvaged from leftover bits of expensive European chintz. Using a method called broderie perse (Persian embroidery), women carefully snipped around the bird-and-flower motifs of the imported chintzes and appliqued them on fields of plain domestic cloth to make the most of the patterned fabric available to them. Patchwork precursors of the pioneer quilts also were common, and many combined the patchwork and the broderie perse techniques. Early quilts usually were constructed by adding border strips to a large, central fabric panel, giving the bedcover a framed effect.

Two other early quilt types are linsey-woolsey and white work. Linsey-woolsey quilts were made from large, vividly colored pieces of homespun sewn to a linen or wool backing and lavishly quilted in large floral or feather motifs. White work bedcovers, often called bridal quilts, were quilted in intricate patterns using the tiniest of stitches.

During the years of the westward journey, from 1840 to 1870, the majority of America`s pieced quilts were stitched. As families moved West, fabric

(though readily available in the East) once again became a scarce commodity. That scarcity led to uniquely American patchwork masterpieces.

These were the years of the hole in the barn door, the Rocky Mountain puzzle and hundreds of other patchwork patterns that reflected the joys and sorrows of women`s lives during pioneer times. Each a work of art created from the scrap bag, these quilts were stitched of geometric pieces painstakingly cut from years of cast-off clothing and tired household linens. Only on occasion were these precious scraps teamed with new cloth.

Techniques as well as tastes changed during this part of the 19th Century. Overblown chintzes and monochrome copperplate prints made way for tiny domestic calicoes, roller printed in a new range of hues made possible by the advent of colorfast synthetic dyes. The cramped quarters of prairie homesteads called for quilting on a smaller scale, so women turned to piecing and appliqueing lap-sized blocks rather than beginning with a quilt-sized piece of cloth.

Applique quilts remained popular during these years, particularly in the more affluent East and South. But because they usually required new cloth to execute their careful color schemes, applique quilts often lack the earthy exuberance of the scrap-bag quilts from the same era.

By the 1860s the sewing machine had begun to lighten the daily sewing tasks of thousands of American women, but quilting itself remained primarily a manual task. Practicality aside, quilting by machine would have put an end to the quilting bee–a social event that made pioneer life a little easier to bear.

Hastily thrown up shanties along the westward trail made way for gingerbread mansions filled to the rafters with sumptuous furnishings and awash with a rainbow of brilliant colors. The quilts of the late 1800s illustrate the extravagance of the Victorian age. In fact, the quilts that most typify those years when Victoria last reigned in England are not really quilts at all, but thin parlor throws meant to thrill the eye–not warm the body. At home on the tabletops, sofa arms and piano backs of overstuffed parlors, these throws had neither quilting nor batting.

Pieced from the best silks, satins and velvets (materials newly available to the growing middle class), the patchwork throws of this era are rich mosaics of color and texture. Fine quilting was no longer the skill of importance; proficiency in embroidery and the mastering of a multitude of stitch types was emphasized.

The end of World War I signaled the beginning of a decade of affluence and optimism unparalleled in America`s history. For the first time, increased applications of technology blessed the middle class with both leisure time and the money to enjoy it.

Yet, during the decade of the 1920s when machines made almost anything possible, there surfaced an odd nostalgia. Collecting antiques became all the rage, and the art of quilting experienced an unprecedented renaissance.

The typical quilts born of this nostalgia were not children of necessity; warm, woolen blankets were readily available at the nearest department store. Instead, many women bought yardage specifically for their quilted creations, indulging in the rainbow of pastel hues that saturated the market.

Inspired by patterns in magazines and newspapers, or aided by mail-order kits, women all across the land stitched up thousands of quilts in such patterns as the double wedding ring, sunbonnet babies or the popular Dresden plate.