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For three centuries, American women have quilted in formal and informal groups. Elizabeth Huntington wrote in her 1802 diary, "I have a quilt or two to piece and I want your help extremely, it is a dull business for me alone." ¹ Quiltmakers find that quilting with others serves a variety of purposes from speeding up a tedious process to providing some economic security.

Examples abound of quilts made by groups. Evidence exists of church-based sewing circles in the early 19th century as well as the more commonly known quilting parties. Relief organizations, and more recently, independently formed groups for specific causes have engaged in quiltmaking. Families, neighbors, and church women regularly come together to make quilts to commemorate important people or events.

During the 20th century, quiltmakers formed groups in order to establish a sense of identity as well as for mutual support and education. Particularly during the last half of the century when fewer mothers and grandmothers passed on the tradition of quiltmaking to their daughters, quiltmakers established guilds and online communities as a way to further the tradition. Quilt guilds have played an important role transmitting the tradition of quiltmaking, supporting the growing ranks of teachers and lecturers, and affirming a traditional female identity.

Quiltmaking cooperatives-organizations helping quilters in economic need to support their families-surfaced as early as the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s. Cooperatives either taught women how to quilt or taught them how to hone the skills they already had in order to sell their quilts to the public. Although the relationship of these quilters to their patrons has caused some to critique cooperatives' structure, they have played a significant role in maintaining quiltmaking traditions and bringing attention to groups of folk artists.

Throughout American history, collaborative quilting has sped up the process, strengthened community and familial relationships, provided social and educational opportunities, and sometimes provided economic opportunity.

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Groups and Guilds | World Quilts: The American Story

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For three centuries, American women have quilted in formal and informal groups. Elizabeth Huntington wrote in her 1802 diary, "I have a quilt or two to piece and I want your help extremely, it is a dull business for me alone."

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PBS Wisconsin A Century of Quilts - Part 1

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PBS Wisconsin A Century of Quilts - Part 1

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Fabric of A Nation at Skirball Cultural Center

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Fabric of A Nation at Skirball Cultural Center

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Fabric of a Nation: Quilts Ask What it Means to Be American | KCET

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Bisa Butler: Portraits | Exhibition Stories

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Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories

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A note on quilt guilds versus craft clubs

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A note on quilt guilds versus craft clubs

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One of the distinguishing characteristics of the current quilt revival has been the development of guilds. Although craft guilds have been around for centuries, quilt guilds at the end of the 20th century have distinct qualities.

Historically, craft guilds were highly structured organizations that weilded great influence over their members and sometimes held significant political power. These guilds were hierarchical and designed to enforce an exceptionally high level of craftsmanship through apprenticeship programs and inspections. The quilt guilds that began surfacing in the 1970s share the formal organization of craft guilds, but they are based on a more democratic system of teaching, sharing, and community service and encourage more informal structures of teaching and support.

Guilds separate themselves from other less formal quilting clubs and groups by creating sets of by-laws, electing officers, and setting membership dues. They also have a tendency to be much larger with less focus on the social aspects of quilt clubs. As many guilds grow and acquire diverse memberships, members have chosen to create small groups (often called bees within the guild).

Guilds serve as non-profit organizations that promote the craft and art of quiltmaking by passing along the tradition to members and to the wider community. Meetings usually include presentations on quilt history or contemporary techniques along with a member "show-and-tell" and standard business. Many guilds have circulating libraries of quilt books, hold workshops and retreats, organize yearly or biannual quilt shows, and do community outreach through charity quilt projects and "living history" exhibitions at special events.

During the 1980s and 1990s, quilt guilds across the country helped preserve historic quilts through county and state survey projects sometimes as organizers of projects, sometimes as volunteers.

Like much of quiltmaking in the 21st century, the quilt guild has gone online. Quilt guilds, particularly large, urban ones, maintain websites that allow members to stay up-to-date on meetings, events, and groups. Some quilt guilds are beginning to form online allowing quiltmakers to connect across geographical boundaries.

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The Guild Movements | World Quilts: The American Story

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One of the distinguishing characteristics of the current quilt revival has been the development of guilds. Although craft guilds have been around for centuries, quilt guilds at the end of the 20th century have distinct qualities. Historically, craft guilds were highly structured organizations that weilded great influence over their members and sometimes held significant political power.

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The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

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Bed quilts and coverlets, appliquéd, pieced, embroidered, or woven, are some of the few handmade objects that were created by American women to express their artistry and skill. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, women of all social strata made quilts and coverlets. Although many of these were meant to be primarily utilitarian, they were often designed to be pleasing to the eye as well, and sometimes they were imbued with significance far beyond being simple covers for a bed. During the heyday of quiltmaking in the nineteenth century, America's increasingly mobile population was moving westward, settling in the wilderness. Easily portable, and certainly necessary, bedcovers might be some of the few decorative objects a woman had in her home. Bedcovers were often wedding gifts, or made by a young woman to take with her to her future husband's house. If that new home was distant from friends and family, a bedcover became an important keepsake from her old life. Quilts were also made to celebrate the birth of a child, as gifts to thank important members of the community such as the local minister, and even sometimes in remembrance of the dead ( 1983.349).

In the eighteenth century, quilts made of lengths of a single type of cloth, usually wool, called "whole-cloth quilts," were the most popular type of bedcovering found in America. They were practical, and because they were often filled with wool batting as well as having both top and bottom layers made of wool, they were very warm. The three layers were stitched together with running stitches in decorative patterns. This type of quilt could be made in the colonies or imported from England. Fancier whole-cloth quilts, made with silk tops, or, in the second half of the century, with lengths of English copperplate-printed cotton, were also imported here.

Beds were designed to be fully draped with curtains in the eighteenth century. The enclosure made by the curtains provided both warmth and privacy. New England women sometimes created full sets of embroidered bedhangings for their best bed. A full set would include four curtains, a head cloth, valances, and a coverlet. (Coverlets can be defined as single-layer, unquilted bedcoverings.) These colorful bedhangings and coverlets were usually made of linen or linen/cotton, and embroidered in wool with flowers, birds, trees, and vines ( 22.55). Bed rugs, heavy embroidered wool pile coverings decorated with floral motifs, were also popular in New England, protecting their owners from the cold northern winters ( 33.122).

After the turn of the nineteenth century, finely printed cottons became widely available in the United States. In the early years of the new century, most were imported from England and France. Women took advantage of these bright and beautiful chintzes, and cut out portions of the patterns and sewed (or "applied") them onto plain white bedcovers. These "appliqué" quilts and coverlets were particularly popular in the Mid-Atlantic and Southern states, but were found throughout the young nation ( 38.59; 1970.288). Bedcovers in this era usually had a centrally focused design. After the first few decades of the century, cotton printed with small repeating patterns ("calicos") replaced the large-scale patterned chintzes in popularity for quiltmaking. These were available both imported from overseas, and from the newly opened textile mills of New England. Calicos were used to make "pieced" quilts and coverlets; these are bedcovers in which the decorative top layer has been made of many small pieces of fabric that have been stitched together to form the design ( 23.80.75; 1988.24.1).

During the middle decades of the nineteenth century, quilts had become an acknowledged art form within many communities. Quilts were produced that were not intended for use as everyday bedcovers; instead, their primary purpose was to commemorate an event or relationship. As such, these special quilts were preserved and treasured by their owners. When this type of quilt was made by a group of women (each contributing a patterned square), they were called "Album" quilts ( 52.103). If they were made by a single quiltmaker, to be given to someone on a specific occasion such as a marriage, they were called "Presentation" quilts ( 1974.24). A quilt related to this type in our collection is the extraordinary "Signature" quilt, which is made of hundreds of pieces of silk that have been signed in ink by some of the most important figures of the nineteenth century ( 1996.4).

Another popular type of bedcovering during the second quarter of the nineteenth century was the woven wool and cotton coverlet. While the earliest of these coverlets could have been woven in the home ( 10.125.410), professionally woven coverlets were more common by the end of the 1820s. They were made by mostly male weavers who set up shop in rural communities throughout the East Coast and Midwestern states. These independent weavers made coverlets, table coverings, and carpets for the local market. Many were immigrants from the British Isles or Germany, both places with large weaving industries firmly in place by the nineteenth century. The British-trained weavers, who settled in the New York-New Jersey area, had been trained as carpet weavers, and the doublecloth coverlets they produced on their Jacquard looms resembled ingrain (flatwoven) carpets in both structure and the large medallion motifs they employed ( 67.33; 1988.127). The German weavers had been trained as linen weavers and produced a variety of household linens in addition to coverlets and blankets. They used a somewhat different weaving technique to make their coverlets, one that is related to damask weaving. These German weavers settled in Pennsylvania, and eventually made their way west to Ohio and Indiana ( 56.113).

Another important group of American quiltmakers, the Amish, also followed the same route west from Pennsylvania in the nineteenth century. The Amish started making quilts at a relatively late date, and most classic Amish quilts date from the first half of the twentieth century. Amish quilts differ in appearance from other American quilts in several notable ways. Amish quiltmakers use only solid colored fabrics in a somber color palette, often employ distinctive piecing and quilting patterns, and their quilt patterns can have specific meaning within the Amish community ( 1973.94; 1988.128). Like their style of "old-fashioned" dress, even today Amish women intentionally create quilts that are a visual statement setting their community and traditions apart from those of the modern world.

Peck, Amelia. "American Quilts and Coverlets." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/amqc/hd_amqc.htm (October 2004)

Peck, Amelia. American Quilts & Coverlets in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exhibition catalogue. Revised edition. New York: MQ Publications, 2007. See on MetPublications

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American Quilts and Coverlets | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

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Easily portable, and certainly necessary, bedcovers might be some of the few decorative objects a woman had in her home.

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Identifying oneself as a professional in the quilt industry in late 20th- and early 21st-century America is becoming common even though needlework and quiltmaking skills are not passed down within families as often as in the past. This has led to a new era of professionals in quilting, first as teachers and authors, later as professional quiltmakers.

In the 1960s and 1970s, people interested in making quilts realized there was very little in the way of how-to instruction available. Those with the ability to teach or to write began filling the gap. The how-to quilt book industry has exploded in the intervening decades to include pattern books, basic quiltmaking methods, and advanced techniques. According to the 2010 Quilting in America survey, dedicated quiltmakers bought 4.4 books on average each year and subscribed to the same average number of magazines, citing learning new tips & techniques as one of the primary reasons.

Quilters who had a little bit of know-how established another group of professionals-the teachers. Teachers often specialize in a design method, construction technique, or particular type of quilt. They teach at quilt shops, guild meetings, quilt shows, and retreats. Some are local experts; others are nationally-known. Television and online programs are alternative teaching arenas. The National Quilting Association, established in 1970, has even developed a Certified Teachers Program in basic quiltmaking.

Skilled quiltmakers have created businesses for every stage of production. Quilt shop owners are the nexus of the industry as a physical location for enthusiasts and professionals. There are certified quilt appraisal programs and certified quilt judge programs. Pattern design, custom quilt, and long-arm machine quilting businesses have all created profitable niches. These professionals find that custom-producing quilts and quilting for others allows them to build at-home businesses with flexible work schedule. Jeannie Spears began publishing The Professional Quilter magazine in 1983, eventually launching the International Association of Professional Quilters, a resource for professionals that includes a magazine, classes, and seminars.

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21st-Century Professionals | World Quilts: The American Story

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Identifying oneself as a professional in the quilt industry in late 20th- and early 21st-century America is becoming common even though needlework and quiltmaking skills are not passed down within families as often as in the past. This has led to a new era of professionals in quilting, first as teachers and authors, later as professional quiltmakers.

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University of Lynchburg Digital Lecture 

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University of Lynchburg Digital Lecture 

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Hello there! I am thrilled to announce Part Two (17th and 18th Century Quilts) in this series on the history of the American quilt brought to us by Molly Williams. Over the next six weeks Molly will explore the people, politics, patterns and processes that informed the development of the American quilt. She will take us from early African-American quilts to the 21st Century Art quilts that we see today. I find the history of textiles inspiring and fascinating and I hope you enjoy this series.
17th and 18th Century Whole Cloth Quilts
It is widely thought that the American tradition of patchwork began with the early settlers utilising every scrap of imported fabric to make warm quilts for the homestead. However research suggests that expensive, imported English whole cloth quilts were found in early colonial homes. The making of American whole-cloth quilts did not become established until the 1750's and it was not until after the The Revolutionary War, when America was freed from trade restrictions imposed by the English, that quilting evolved with a unique American style - bolder colors and innovative designs.

*images (clockwise): " Copper plated printed whole-cloth quilt 1785," " Cornish trapunto quilt early 17th Century," " Whole Cloth Quilt," " Trapunto Close up," " Whole Cloth Quilt,"

A whole cloth quilt is not made from a single piece of fabric, as the name suggests; it simply means that the quilt is made from fabric of a single color or intricately embroidered to produce a highly textured, tactile design. In addition to embroidery, Trapunto or 'stuffed technique,' was used to add extra texture and dimension to whole cloth quilts.
17th and 18th Century Indian Chintz
By the beginning of the 18th century, Broderie Perse, French for "Persian Embroidery", was a popular method of applique created from patterned chintz imported from India. The clearly defined floral motifs were cut out and appliqued onto plain cloth backgrounds, resulting in stunningly beautiful pieces. These quilts were luxurious, expensive and used for display on special occasions.

*images (Clockwise): " Broderie Perse Quilt," "Broderie Perse Fragments "

In the 19th century, The Industrial Revolution brought about two key innovations which helped to popularize American quilting. Firstly, mechanised looms emerged, resulting in cheaper American fabrics and yarns. Secondly, the invention of the sewing machine accelerated the process of stitching small pieces of fabric together, making it quicker and easier to piece and produce quilts.- Molly
Click here to see all the posts in this series.

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The History of The American Quilt: 17th and 18th Century Quilts

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It is widely thought that the American tradition of patchwork began with the early settlers utilising every scrap of imported fabric to make warm quilts for the homestead. However research suggests that expensive, imported English whole cloth quilts were found in 17th and 18th Century Quilts.

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African-American Women's Quilting (Actually more of a class introduction, but there are some interesting points)

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African-American Women's Quilting (Actually more of a class introduction, but there are some interesting points)

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African-American Women’s Quilting on JSTOR

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Elsa Barkley Brown, African-American Women’s Quilting, Signs, Vol. 14, No. 4, Common Grounds and Crossroads: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in Women’s Lives (Summer, 1989), pp. 921-929

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PBS Wisconsin A Century of Quilts - Part 2

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PBS Wisconsin A Century of Quilts - Part 2