THE QUILT IN AMERICA
The date of the quilt's advent into America is unknown, and--because
of the lack of knowledge concerning the house furnishings of the early
colonists--can never be positively determined. Quilts were in such
general use and were considered as such ordinary articles that the
early writers about family life in the colonies neglected to mention
them. We do know, however, that quilted garments, bedspreads,
curtains, and the like were very essential to the comfort and
well-being of the original settlers along the Atlantic seaboard.
[Illustration: PEONIES
About 75 years old. Made for exhibition at state fairs
in the Middle West. Colours: red, green, and yellow]
[Illustration: NORTH CAROLINA LILY
Over 80 years old. Flowers: red and green; the border
has green buds with red centres. The quilting designs
are remarkable for their beauty and originality]
Extensive investigation has shown that the introduction of the arts of
patchwork and quilting to the American continent is due entirely to
the English and the Dutch. No evidence has been found that Spanish or
French colonists made use of quilting. The Spaniards in the warm lands
of the South had little real need of warm clothing, and--outside of
possible appliqué heraldic devices on the coats of the early
explorers--may be considered as having brought to the New World none
of the art so popular in Spain at the time. The French who opened up
Canada brought none of the quilting or patchwork of France with them.
While needlework was taught at a very early date in the convents of
Quebec, it was apparently only the more fanciful kinds of embroidery.
As a protection against the biting northern winters, the early French
settlers sought protection under furs, which could be obtained quite
readily in the great woods. To secure more bed clothing, it was very
much easier to engage in a little hunting than to go through the
laborious processes of piecing and quilting. To both Spanish and
French, the new world was strictly a man's country--to adventure in
and win riches upon which to retire to a life of ease in their native
lands. With them, therefore, the inspiration of founding a home and
providing it with the comforts of life was lacking; and without such
inspiration the household arts could never flourish.
The English and Dutch planted their colonies along the coast from
Virginia to Massachusetts with the primary object of founding new
homes for themselves. With them came their wives and daughters, who
brought along as their portion such household comforts and
conveniences as they possessed. Under their willing hands spinning,
weaving, and the manufacture of garments began immediately. Their
poorly heated log houses made necessary an adequate supply of bedding
and hangings for protection against the winter cold. Substantial,
heavy curtains, frequently lined and quilted, were hung over both
doors and windows and were kept closely drawn during the bitter winter
nights. In the more imposing homes were silk damask curtains with
linings of quilted silk to keep out the drafts of cold that swept
through the rooms.
In Massachusetts in the early colonial days quilted garments,
especially petticoats, were in general use. It is a curious
circumstance that we owe this bit of information largely to the
description of runaway slaves. The Boston _News Letter_ of October,
1707, contains an advertisement describing an Indian woman who ran
away, clad in the best garments she could purloin from her mistress's
wardrobe: "A tall Lusty Carolina Indian Woman, named Keziah Wampun
Had on a striped red, blue and white Home-spun Jacket and a Red one, a
Black and quilted White Silk Crape Petticoat, a White Shift and also a
blue with her, and a mixt Blue and White Linsey Woolsey Apron." In
1728 the _News Letter_ published an advertisement of a runaway Indian
servant who, wearied by the round of domestic drudgery, adorned
herself in borrowed finery and fled: "She wore off a Narrow Stript
pinck cherredary Gown turned up with a little floured red and white
Callico. A Stript Home-spun quilted petticoat, a plain muslin Apron, a
suit of plain Pinners and a red and white flowered knot, also a pair
of green stone earrings, with white cotton stockings and leather
heel'd wooden shoes."
A few items in a list of articles ordered from England for a New
England bride, Miss Judith Sewall, who was married in 1720, give some
idea of what was considered as a suitable wedding outfit during that
period. The bride belonged to a rich family and no doubt had
furnishings much more extensive than usual: "A Duzen of good Black
Walnut Chairs, A Duzen Cane Chairs, and a great chair for a chamber,
all black Walnut. One Duzen large Pewter Plates, new fashion, a Duzen
Ivory-hafted knives and forks. Four Duzen small glass salt cellars,
Curtains and Vallens for a Bed with Counterpane, Head Cloth, and
Tester made of good yellow watered camlet with Trimming. Send also of
the same camlet and trimming as may be enough to make cushions for the
chamber chairs. A good fine larger Chintz quilt, well made." This list
also includes such items as kitchen utensils, warming pans, brass
fenders, tongs, and shovels, and "four pairs of large Brass
candlesticks."
As the resources of the new country were developed, the women were
given some respite from their spinning, weaving, and garment making.
Much of their hard-won leisure was spent piecing quilts. In the
rigorous climate of bleak New England there was great need of warm
clothing and bedding, and the spare moments of the housekeeper were
largely occupied in increasing her supply. To make the great amount of
bedding necessary in the unheated sleeping rooms, every scrap and
remnant of woollen material left from the manufacture of garments was
saved. To supplement these, the best parts of worn-out garments were
carefully cut out, and made into quilt pieces.
[Illustration: FEATHER STAR WITH APPLIQUÉ
The "Feather Star" pieced blocks alternate with blue and
white blocks on which are applied scroll designs. This
quilt, which is the only one of this pattern, was made
about 1835. It was designed by a Mr. Hamill for his
sweetheart, Mary Hayward]
[Illustration: TULIP TREE LEAVES
A modern quilt made by the mountaineers of South
Carolina. Colours: light blue and pink]
Beautiful, even gorgeous, materials were imported for costumes of the
wives and daughters of the wealthy colonists. There may be a greater
variety of fabrics woven to-day, but none is more splendid in texture
and colour than those worn by the stately ladies of colonial times.
The teachings of the strict Puritans advocated plainness and
simplicity of dress; even the ministers in the churches preached
against the "sinfulness of display of fine raiment." Notwithstanding
the teachings and pleadings of the clergy, there was great rivalry in
dress among the inhabitants of the larger colonial towns. "Costly thy
habit as thy purse can buy," was unnecessary advice to give to the
rich colonist or to his wife. Men's attire was also of costly velvets
lined with handsome brocades; beautifully embroidered waistcoats, silk
stockings, and gold lace trimmings were further additions to their
costumes during the pre-Revolutionary period.
After these gay and costly fabrics had served their time as wearing
apparel, they were carefully preserved and made over into useful
articles for the household. The pinch of hard times during the
struggle for independence made it imperative for many well-to-do
families to economize. Consequently, in many old patchwork quilts may
be found bits of the finest silks, satins, velvets, and brocades,
relics of more prosperous days.
Alice Morse Earle, in her charming book on "Home Life in Colonial
Days," gives us a rare insight into our great-grandmothers' fondness
for patchwork, and how highly they prized their bits of highly
coloured fabrics:
"The feminine love of colour, the longing for decoration, as well as
pride in skill of needlecraft, found riotous expression in quilt
making. Women revelled in intricate and difficult patchwork; they
eagerly exchanged patterns with one another; they talked over the
designs, and admired pretty bits of calico and pondered what
combinations to make, with far more zest than women ever discuss art
or examine high art specimens together to-day. There was one
satisfactory condition in the work, and that was the quality of
cottons and linens of which the patchwork was made. Real India
chintzes and palampores are found in these quilts, beautiful and
artistic stuffs, and the firm, unyielding, high-priced, 'real' French
calicoes.
[Illustration: MEXICAN ROSE
Made in 1842. Colours: red and green. Note the exquisite
quilting]
[Illustration: CURRANTS AND COCKSCOMB
Small red berries combined with conventionalized leaves.
This quilt has captured first prizes at many state
fairs]
"Portions of discarded uniforms, old coat and cloak linings,
brilliantly dyed worn flannel shirts and well-worn petticoats were
component parts of quilts that were needed for warmth. A magnificent
scarlet cloak, worn by a Lord Mayor of London and brought to America
by a member of the Merrit family of Salisbury, Massachusetts, went
through a series of adventures and migrations and ended its days as
small bits of vivid colour, casting a grateful glory and variety on a
patchwork quilt in the Saco Valley of Maine.
"Around the outstretched quilt a dozen quilters could sit, running the
whole together with fanciful set designs of stitchery. Sometimes
several quilts were set up, and I know of a ten days' quilting bee in
Narragansett in 1752."
The women who came from Holland to make their homes on the narrow
island at the mouth of the Hudson were housekeepers of traditional
Dutch excellence. They delighted in well-stocked linen closets and
possessed unusual quantities of sheets, pillow cases, and bedding,
mostly of their own spinning and weaving. Like their English
neighbours to the north, in Connecticut and Massachusetts, they
adopted quilted hangings and garments for protection against the
severity of winter. Their quilted petticoats were the pride and joy
of these transplanted Hollanders, and in their construction they
exerted their highest talents in design and needlework. These
petticoats, which were worn short enough to display the home-knitted
hose, were thickly interlined as well as quilted. They were very warm,
as the interlining was usually of wool. The fuller the purse, the
richer and gayer were the petticoats of the New Amsterdam dames.
While not so strict in religious matters as their Puritan neighbours,
the early inhabitants of New Amsterdam always observed Sunday and
attended church regularly. Within the fort at the battery stood the
church, built of "Manhattan Stone" in 1642. Its two peaked roofs with
the watch-tower between was the most prominent object of the fortress.
"On Sunday mornings the two main streets, Broadway and Whitehall, were
filled with dignified and sedate churchgoers arrayed in their best
clothes. The tucked-up panniers worn by the women displayed to the
best advantage the quilted petticoats. Red, blue, black, and white
were the favourite and predominating colours, and the different
materials included fine woollen cloth, camlet, grosgrain silk, and
satin. Of all the articles of feminine attire of that period the
quilted petticoat was the most important. They were worn short,
displaying the low shoes with high heels and coloured hose with
scarlet clockings; silken hoods partially covered their curled and
powdered hair; altogether a charming and delightful picture."
The low, flat land of South Manhattan lying along the Hudson, because
of its similarity to their mother country, was a favourite
dwelling-place in New Netherlands. This region, known as Flatbush, was
quickly covered with Dutch homes and big, orderly, flourishing
gardens. A descendant of one of the oldest Dutch families which
settled in this locality, Mrs. Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt, in her
book, "The Social History of Flatbush," has given many interesting
details of early New York life. She tells of the place quilt making
held in the community, and how the many intricate patterns of
patchwork pleasantly occupied the spare moments of the women, thus
serving as a means of expression of their love of colour and design.
The following little domestic picture shows how conveniently near the
thrifty housewife kept her quilt blocks: "A low chair with a seat of
twisted osier, on which was tied a loose feather-filled cushion,
covered with some gay material. On the back of these chairs hung the
bag of knitting, with the little red stocking and shining needles
plainly visible, indicating that this was the favourite seat of the
industrious mother of the family; or a basket of patchwork held its
place upon a low stool (bankje) beside the chair, also to be snatched
up at odd intervals (ledige tyd)."
One reliable source of information of the comforts and luxuries that
contributed to pleasant dwelling in old New York is found in old
inventories of household effects. Occasionally complete lists are
found that throw much light on the furnishings of early days. Such an
inventory of the household belongings of Captain John Kidd, before he
went to sea and turned pirate, mentions over sixty different kinds of
house furnishings, from a skillet to a dozen chairs embellished with
Turkish embroidery. Among the articles with which John Kidd and his
wife Sarah began housekeeping in New York in 1692, as recorded in this
inventory, were four bedsteads, with three suits of hangings,
curtains, and valances to go with them. Feather beds, feather pillows,
linen sheets, tablecloths, and napkins, ten blankets, and three
quilts. How much of this store of household linens was part of his
wife's wedding dower is not stated.
[Illustration: CONVENTIONAL APPLIQUÉ
The designs are buttonholed around. Colours: soft green
and rose. This quilt is over 100 years old]
[Illustration: SINGLE TULIP
Colours: red and yellow. Seventy-five years old]
The early settlers in Virginia and the Carolinas were mostly English
of the better class, who had been landed proprietors with considerable
retinues of servants. As soon as these original colonists secured a
firm foothold, large estates were developed on which the manners and
customs of old England were followed as closely as possible. Each
plantation became a self-supporting community, since nearly all the
actual necessities were produced or manufactured thereon. The loom
worked ceaselessly, turning the wool, cotton, and flax into household
commodities, and even the shoes for both slave and master were made
from home-tanned leather. For their luxuries, the ships that carried
tobacco and rice to the English markets returned laden with books,
wines, laces, silverware, and beautiful house furnishings of every
description.
In the colonial plantation days of household industry quilts, both
patchwork and plain, were made in considerable numbers. Quilts were
then in such general use as to be considered too commonplace to be
described or even mentioned. Consequently, we are forced to depend for
evidence of their existence in those days on bills of sale and
inventories of auctions. These records, however, constitute an
authority which cannot be questioned.
In 1774 Belvoir, the home of the Fairfax family, one of the largest
and most imposing of houses of Virginia, was sold and its contents
were put up at auction. A partial list of articles bought at this sale
by George Washington, then Colonel Washington, and here given, will
show the luxury to which the Southern planter was accustomed: "A
mahogany shaving desk, settee bed and furnishings, four mahogany
chairs, oval glass with gilt frame, mahogany sideboard, twelve chairs,
and three window curtains from dining-room. Several pairs of andirons,
tongs, shovels, toasting forks, pickle pots, wine glasses, pewter
plates, many blankets, pillows, bolsters, and _nineteen coverlids_."
[Illustration: DAISY QUILT
For a child's bed]
It was customary in the good old days after a dinner or ball for the
guests, who necessarily came from long distances, to stay all night,
and many bedrooms, frequently from ten to twenty-five, besides those
needed for the family, were provided in the big houses. All were
beautifully furnished with imported, massive, carved furniture from
France and England. In one year, 1768, in Charlestown, South Carolina,
occurred twelve weddings among the wealthy residents of that city, and
all the furniture for these rich couples came from England. The twelve
massive beds with canopies supported by heavily carved posts,
decorated with rice stalks and full heads of grain, were so high that
steps were needed in order to climb into them. Elaborate and expensive
curtains and spreads were furnished to correspond. In one early
inventory of an extensively furnished house there are mentioned "four
feather beds, bolsters, two stools, looking-glass tipt with silver,
two Turkey carpets, one yellow mohair bed counterpane, and _two green
silk quilts_." From this it is evident that the quilt had already
found its place, and no doubt in great numbers, on account of the many
beds to furnish in the spacious house of the rich planters.
Shortly after the Revolution came the great migration from Virginia
over the ridges of the Blue and the Appalachian chains into what was
then the wilderness of Tennessee and Kentucky. The descendants of
these hardy pioneers who first forced their way westward still live
among the Kentucky and Virginia hills under the conditions which
prevailed a hundred years ago. In this heavily timbered rough country
they manage to eke out a precarious existence by cultivating small
hillside patches of cotton, corn, and a few vegetables. Immured in the
seclusion of the mountains they have remained untouched by the world's
progress during the past century. Year after year they are satisfied
to live this secluded existence, and but rarely make an acquaintance
with a stranger. Educational advantages, except of the most elementary
sort, are almost unknown, and the majority of these mountaineers
neither read nor write. As a result of this condition of isolated and
primitive living, existing in the mountains of Virginia, Kentucky,
Tennessee, and the Carolinas, the household crafts that flourished in
this country before the advent of machinery are still carried on
exactly as in the old days.
[Illustration: OHIO ROSE
This "Rose" quilt was made in Ohio about 80 years ago.
Colours: red, pink, and two shades of green]
[Illustration: ROSE OF SHARON
Made in Indiana about 65 years ago. It has a wool
interlining instead of the usual cotton]
The simple needs of the family are almost entirely supplied by the
women of the household. They spin, weave, and make the few plain
garments which they and their families wear. Day after day, year in
and year out, these isolated women must fill in the hours with little
tasks connected with home life. As in many other instances where
women are dependent upon their own resources for amusement, they have
recourse to their needles. Consequently, it is in the making of
quilts, coverlets, and allied forms of needlework that these mountain
women spend their hours of recreation.
The quilts, both pieced and patched, that are made in mountaineers'
cabins have a great variety of designs. Many designs have been used
again and again by each succeeding generation of quilters without any
variation whatever, and have well-known names. There are also designs
that have been originated by a proficient quilt maker, who has made
use of some common flower as the basis for her conventional design. It
has not been a great many years since the materials used in making the
mountain quilts were dyed as well as woven in the home. The dyes were
homemade from common roots and shrubs gathered from nearby woods and
meadows. Blue was obtained from wild indigo; brown from walnut hulls;
black from the bark of scrub-oak; and yellow from laurel leaves.
However, the materials which must be purchased for a quilt are so
meagre, and the colours called "oil boiled"--now used to dye
calico--are so fast, that the mountain women seldom dye their own
fabrics any more. They bring in a few chickens or eggs to the nearest
village, and in exchange obtain a few yards of precious coloured
calico for their quilts.
Miss Bessie Daingerfield, a Kentuckian, who is in close touch with
these mountaineers, tells us what a void the quilt fills in the lives
of the lonely women of the hills: "While contemporary women out in the
world are waging feminist war, those in the mountains of the long
Appalachian chain still sit at their quilting frames and create beauty
and work wonders with patient needles. There is much beautiful and
skilful handiwork hidden away in these hills. The old women still
weave coverlets, towels, and table linen from wool from their own
sheep and from flax grown in their own gardens. The girls adorn their
cotton gowns with 'compass work,' exact, exquisite. In some places the
men and boys, girls and women, make baskets of hickory reeds and
willows to delight the heart of the collector. But from the cradle to
the grave, the women make quilts. The tiny girl shows you with pride
the completed four patch or nine patch, square piled on square, which
'mammy aims to set up for her ag'inst spring.' The mother tells you
half jesting, half in earnest, 'the young un will have several ag'inst
she has a home of her own.' No bride of the old country has more pride
in her dower chest than the mountain bride in her pile of quilts. The
old woman will show you a stack of quilts from floor to ceiling of her
cabin. One dear old soul told me she had eighty-four, all different,
and 'ever' stitch, piecin', settin' up, quiltin', my own work and
ne'er another finger tetched hit.'"
Patchwork was an important factor in making plain the knotty problems
of existence, as Eliza Calvert Hall clearly shows when she makes "Aunt
Jane of Kentucky" say: "How much piecin' a quilt is like livin' a
life! Many a time I've set and listened to Parson Page preachin' about
predestination and free will, and I've said to myself, 'If I could
jest git up in the pulpit with one of my quilts I could make it a heap
plainer to folks than parson's makin' it with his big words.' You see,
you start out with jest so much caliker; you don't go to the store and
pick it out and buy it, but the neighbours will give you a piece here
and a piece there, and you'll have a piece left over every time you
cut a dress, and you take jest what happens to come. And that's like
predestination. But when it comes to the cuttin' out, why, you're
free to choose your own pattern. You can give the same kind o' pieces
to two persons, and one'll make a 'nine patch' and one'll make a
'wild-goose chase,' and there'll be two quilts made out of the same
kind of pieces, and jest as different as they can be. And that is jest
the way with livin'. The Lord sends us the pieces, but we can cut them
out and put 'em together pretty much to suit ourselves, and there's a
heap more in the cuttin' out and the sewin' than there is in the
caliker."
In the great Central West, from Ohio to the Mississippi, the early
settlers passed through the same cycle of development as did their
ancestors in the beginnings of the original colonies along the
seaboard. The same dangers and privations were faced, and the women,
as well as the men, quickly adapted themselves to the hardships of
life in a new country. Shortly after the War of 1812, which secured to
the United States a clear title to this vast region, the great
migration into the Ohio Valley began. Some families came by way of the
Great Lakes, some by wagon over the Pennsylvania ridges, and still
others by horseback over the mountains from Virginia. One and all of
these pioneer families brought with them their most cherished
household possessions. It is hardly necessary to say that every family
had one or more quilts among its household goods. Many cases are on
record of rare old mahogany bureaus and bedsteads transported hundreds
of miles over trails through the wilderness on pack horses. Upon
arrival at the site chosen for the future home, the real work of house
building and furnishing began.
[Illustration: ORIGINAL FLORAL DESIGNS
This quilt contains twenty blocks, each of a different
design. The border is composed of festoons decorated
with cockscomb and sprays of flowers. A southern Indiana
quilt made about 1825]
[Illustration: CONVENTIONAL TULIP
Made from a pattern used 130 years ago. Colours: pink
and green]
"Only he who knows what it means to hew a home out of the forest; of
what is involved in the task of replacing mighty trees with corn; only
he who has watched the log house rising in the clearing, and has
witnessed the devotedness that gathers around the old log schoolhouse
and the pathos of a grave in the wilderness, can understand how
sobriety, decency, age, devoutness, beauty, and power belong to the
story of those who began the mighty task of changing the wild west
into the heart of a teeming continent." Thus Jenkin Lloyd Jones, in
his address on "The Father of Lincoln," gives a graphic picture of the
labours and trials confronting those who made the first settlements in
what are now the flourishing states of Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky,
Illinois, and Michigan.
As in the colonies of New England, so here, the comforts of the
family depended upon the thrift, energy, and thoughtfulness of the
women. Practically every article of clothing worn by the entire
family, as well as all household supplies, were the work of their busy
hands. All day in the frontier cabin could be heard the hum of the
spinning wheel, the clack of the loom, or the click of knitting
needles. In many localities the added work of teaching the children
fell to the mothers, and the home lessons given around the fireplace,
heaped with glowing logs, were the only ones possible for many boys
and girls. It is of particular interest to note how often learning and
housekeeping went hand in hand in the first homes of this new country.
The few lines following are extracts from the diary of a busy Indiana
housewife of the period preceding the Mexican War, and show how fully
occupied was the time of the pioneer woman:
"November 10th. To-day was cider-making day, and all were up at
sunrise."
"December 1st. We killed a beef to-day, the neighbours helping."
[Illustration: CONVENTIONAL ROSE
A very striking pattern, made in Indiana about 75 years
ago. Colours: red, pink, and green]
[Illustration: CONVENTIONAL ROSE WREATH
This "Wreath of Roses" design has been in use for over
100 years. Colours: red, green, pink, and yellow]
"December 4th. I was much engaged in trying out my tallow. To-day I
dipped candles and finished the 'Vicar of Wakefield.'"
"December 8th. To-day I commenced to read the 'Life of Washington,'
and I borrowed a singing book. Have been trying to make a bonnet. The
cotton we raised served a very good purpose for candle-wicking when
spun."
In the Middle West, without friendly coöperation, the lot of the
pioneer would have been much more difficult than it was. Julia
Henderson Levering tells of the prevalence of this kindly custom in
her interesting "Historic Indiana": "The social pleasures of the
earliest days were largely connected with the helpful neighbourhood
assistance in the homely, necessary tasks of the frontier. If a new
cabin was to be built, the neighbours assembled for the house raising,
for the logs were too heavy to be handled alone. When a clearing was
made, the log rolling followed. All men for miles around came to help,
and the women to help cook and serve the bountiful meals. Then there
were corn huskings, wool shearings, apple parings, sugar boilings, and
quilting bees."
About 1820 a new channel of commerce was opened to the inhabitants of
the Ohio Valley, in the advantages of which every household shared.
This was the establishing of steamboat and flatboat communication with
New Orleans. From out of the Wabash River alone over a thousand
flatboats, laden with agricultural products, passed into the Ohio
during the annual spring rise on their way to the seaport by the Gulf
of Mexico. On their return voyage these boats were laden with sacks of
coffee, quaint Chinese boxes of tea, china and silk from France, and
mahogany and silver from England. In this manner the finest fabrics,
which were hitherto obtainable only in those cities that possessed sea
communication, were available in every river hamlet. Many of the fine
old quilts now being brought to light in the Central West were wrought
of foreign cloth which has made this long journey in some farmer's
scow.
In England during the middle of the past century, the Victorian period
was known chiefly for its hideous array of cardboard mottoes done in
brilliant wools, crochet tidies, and wax flowers. It is particularly
fortunate that at this time the women of the United States were too
fully occupied with their own household arts and industries to take up
with the ideas of their English sisters. By far the best needlework
of this period were the beautiful quilts and bedspreads, exquisite in
colour and design, which were the product of American women. The
finest quilts were wrought along designs largely original with the
quilters themselves, who plied their needles in solitary farmhouses
and out-of-the-way hamlets to which the influence of English idea in
needlework could not penetrate. In no locality in our country can so
many rare and beautiful quilts be found as in the Middle West. Many of
the best were made during those early days of struggle for mere
existence, when they served the busy housewife as the one precious
outlet for her artistic aspirations.
The type of quilt that may be called distinctively American was
substantial in character; the material that entered into its
construction was serviceable, of a good quality of cotton cloth, or
handwoven linen, and the careful work put into it was intended to
stand the test of time. The coloured materials combined with the white
were also enduring, the colours being as nearly permanent as it was
possible to procure. Some cottons were dyed by the quilt makers
themselves, if desirable fast shades could not be readily procured
otherwise. The fundamental idea was to make a quilt that would
withstand the greatest possible amount of wear. Some of the artistic
possibilities in both colour and design were often subordinated to the
desire to make quilts as nearly imperishable as possible. The
painstaking needlework required to produce a quilt deserved the best
of material for its foundation. Silks, satins, velvets, and fine linen
and cotton fabrics of delicate shades were not favoured as quilt
material by the old-time needleworkers, who wrought for service first
and beauty afterward.
A most beautiful example of the American quilt at its best is found in
the "Indiana Wreath." Its pleasing design, harmonious colours, and
exquisite workmanship reveal to us the quilter's art in its greatest
perfection. This quilt was made by Miss E. J. Hart, a most versatile
and skilful needlewoman, in 1858, as shown by the small precise
figures below the large wreath. The design is exceedingly well
balanced in that the entire quilt surface is uniformly covered and no
one feature is emphasized to the detriment of any other. The design
element of the wreath is a compact group of flowers, fruit, and
leaves, which is repeated ten times in making the complete circle.
The vase filled with drooping sprays, flowers, and conventionalized
buds forms an ideal centre for this wreath. Curving vines intermingled
with flowers make a desirable and graceful border. This quilt is a
little more than two and a half yards square, and the central wreath
fills a space equal to the width of a double bed, for which it was
evidently intended.
[Illustration: POINSETTIA
An appliqué quilt of red, blue, and green]
[Illustration: WHIG ROSE
On the reverse side is a small "gold pocket" in which
valuables may be secreted. Colours: yellow, red, and
green]
Miss Hart displayed unusual ability in choosing and combining the
limited materials at the disposal of the quilt maker in a newly
settled region. The foundation is fine white muslin; the coloured
material is calico, in the serviceable quality manufactured at that
time, and of shades considered absolutely fast, then known as "oil
boiled." Only four colours are used in the design: green, red, yellow,
and pink, the latter having a small allover printed design in a darker
shade.
Miss Hart planned her quilting quite carefully. In the large blank
spaces in the corners are placed special, original designs that have
some features of the much-used "feather" pattern. Aside from these
triangular corner designs all the quilting is in small diamonds, which
form a very pleasing background for the effective coloured designs.
The maker's name and the date are closely quilted in white in plain
bold-faced type just below the wreath. In the centre of the wreath, in
neat script in black thread, is quilted the name "Indiana Wreath," and
all the stitchery of top and quilting is the very perfection of quilt
making.
The beautiful white quilts that are treasured as relics of past
industry by their fortunate owners deserve special mention. They are
rare because nowadays no one will expend the large amount of time
necessary to complete one. The foundation of such a quilt is fine
white muslin, or fine homespun and woven linen, with a very thin
interlining. The beauty of the quilt depends upon the design drawn for
the quilting and the fine stitches with which the quilting is done.
There is usually a special design planned for these white quilts which
includes a large central panel or pattern, with smaller designs for
the corners embodying some of the ideas of the central panel. Around
these decorative sections the background is so closely quilted as to
resemble a woven fabric. This smooth, even background throws the
principal designs into low relief. After the entire quilt is
quilted and removed from the frames, the main design is frequently
further accentuated by having all the most prominent features, such as
the leaves and petals of flowers, stuffed. To accomplish this tiny
holes are made on the wrong side of each section of the design and
cotton is pushed in with a large needle until the section is stuffed
full and tight. This tedious process is followed until every leaf and
petal stands out in bold relief.
[Illustration: POPPY DESIGN
This is applied patchwork and therefore much more easily
made than pieced work; very simple quilting gives
prominence to the design]
The fashion which has prevailed for many years of dressing beds all in
white has no doubt caused the destruction of many beautiful quilts.
The white quilts that have been preserved are now considered too
valuable to be subjected to hard wear. The most exquisite ones were
made in the last of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth
centuries.
It was the rage for white bed coverings that shortened the lives of
many old pieced and patched quilts of good colouring. The "Country
Contributor" tells of her experiences in dressing up the white beds:
"I remember with regret the quilts I wore out, using them white side
up in lieu of white Marseilles spreads. The latter we were far too
poor to own; the 'tufted' ones had worn out; and I loathed the cheap
'honeycombed' cotton things we were forced to use unless we were going
to be frankly 'poor' and cover our beds with plain patchwork, made up
hurriedly and quilted in simple 'fans' in plebeian squares, as poor
folk who haven't time for elegant stitches did theirs. So I used the
old quilts, making their fine stitches in intricate patterns serve for
the design in a 'white spread,' turning the white muslin lining up. A
beautiful white spread it made, too, I realize now, more fully than I
did then, though I now would know much better than to turn the
wonderful appliqué stars and flowers and wheels from view. Strange, is
it not, that we relinquish so much of life's best joy and pleasure
before we know what actually is good?" This fashion prevails to-day,
in some instances insisted upon for sanitary reasons, but it has lost
to us many of the finest examples of quilting that existed because
where there were no coloured patterns to relieve the white expanse,
the quilting had to be perfect. If you have a white quilt treasure it,
for competent quilters are no longer numerous and few there are who
can reproduce it.