If you have ever been lucky enough to own a quilt handed down to you from a grandmother, great grandmother, or someone even farther back in your family tree, you understand how fascinating and valued they are. Over the years many myths have grown up around this quintessentially American craft. Quilt museums have researched some of the most popular with some surprising results.
Quilts are one way to get an intimate glimpse into the country's early years. We have mental pictures of Colonial housewives lovingly sewing bed covers out of old scraps saved from former projects. It confirms our belief that early settlers didn't waste what little they had. There is a widely held belief that quilters helped runaway slaves by encrypting codes into their quilts that gave instructions for getting to the Underground Railroad.
Scrap bags, where housewives keep bits of cloth leftover from sewing projects, may be a modern myth. This fits in with our view of colonists who had to use ingenuity and hard work to create everyday objects. The fact is that most of these early quilts were made from whole cloth. It was not your everyday fabric either. These quilts came from expensive imported fabric instead of scraps. Quilting from scraps didn't come into the picture until after the Industrial Revolution.
It is commonly believed that colonial women made quilts. This fits our picture of Americans with limited resources but plenty of resilience. Historians have found this to be fairly rare. In colonial times, textiles were expensive commodities. It was only after industry technology made mass produced cloth affordable that cutting up material and sewing it back together made economic sense.
Another common belief is that quilting is an activity exclusive to women. Even feminists have embraced the idea that quilts demonstrate the ability of women to make something out of nothing and to create a community through the common act of quilting. In fact, there are a number of men who are professional quilters and create unique quilting patterns. Their works are on view in museums along with their female counterparts.
Most Americans believe that quilting is specific to the United States. It is true that Americans have their own distinct styles and traditions, but some of them can be traced back to England and France. The popular mosaic patchwork designs most are familiar with actually originated in Britain. Some of the earliest quilted textiles have been found in Mongolia. These date back to the first century.
One of the most persistent myths surrounding the American quilting phenomenon is that it played a powerful part in the Underground Railroad. The belief is that quilters sewed code into their creations to guide fugitive slaves to safe havens along the their way to freedom. There seems to be no real evidence of this. Historians say it's most likely a folk tale derived from a particular family.
Quilts are universally loved. They are admired for their beauty and the stories they tell. Some of the most popular myths may not be factual, but that doesn't take away from the historical significance of the quilts themselves.
Quilts are one way to get an intimate glimpse into the country's early years. We have mental pictures of Colonial housewives lovingly sewing bed covers out of old scraps saved from former projects. It confirms our belief that early settlers didn't waste what little they had. There is a widely held belief that quilters helped runaway slaves by encrypting codes into their quilts that gave instructions for getting to the Underground Railroad.
Scrap bags, where housewives keep bits of cloth leftover from sewing projects, may be a modern myth. This fits in with our view of colonists who had to use ingenuity and hard work to create everyday objects. The fact is that most of these early quilts were made from whole cloth. It was not your everyday fabric either. These quilts came from expensive imported fabric instead of scraps. Quilting from scraps didn't come into the picture until after the Industrial Revolution.
It is commonly believed that colonial women made quilts. This fits our picture of Americans with limited resources but plenty of resilience. Historians have found this to be fairly rare. In colonial times, textiles were expensive commodities. It was only after industry technology made mass produced cloth affordable that cutting up material and sewing it back together made economic sense.
Another common belief is that quilting is an activity exclusive to women. Even feminists have embraced the idea that quilts demonstrate the ability of women to make something out of nothing and to create a community through the common act of quilting. In fact, there are a number of men who are professional quilters and create unique quilting patterns. Their works are on view in museums along with their female counterparts.
Most Americans believe that quilting is specific to the United States. It is true that Americans have their own distinct styles and traditions, but some of them can be traced back to England and France. The popular mosaic patchwork designs most are familiar with actually originated in Britain. Some of the earliest quilted textiles have been found in Mongolia. These date back to the first century.
One of the most persistent myths surrounding the American quilting phenomenon is that it played a powerful part in the Underground Railroad. The belief is that quilters sewed code into their creations to guide fugitive slaves to safe havens along the their way to freedom. There seems to be no real evidence of this. Historians say it's most likely a folk tale derived from a particular family.
Quilts are universally loved. They are admired for their beauty and the stories they tell. Some of the most popular myths may not be factual, but that doesn't take away from the historical significance of the quilts themselves.
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