Quilting (stitching together layers of padding and fabric) is as old as ancient Egypt if not older and wholecloth quilts were very common trade goods in wealthy circles in Europe and Asia going back as far as the 15th century.

Piecing fabric together is also very old. It was more often used for clothing but also occasionally for decorative objects like this exquisite pieced pillow from the 15th century.

The making of pieced quilts made up of cut pieces of fabric sewn in block form with the blocks then sewn together to make the quilt is a more recent development. Pieced block quilts, often called patchwork quilts, did not become the dominant form of quilt making until the mid-19th century, and still is not the traditional form in Provence, Wales, and parts of India.

Quilt making was uncommon in America in the late eighteenth century and early years of the nineteenth. Most women were busy spinning, weaving and sewing in order to clothe their family. Commercial blankets or woven coverlets were a more economical bedcovering for most people. Only the wealthy had the leisure time for quilt making so Colonial Quilting was done by only a few.

Obviously quilts were not made of left over scraps or worn clothing as a humble bedcovering during this period. Instead they were decorative items that displayed the fine needlework of the maker.

Whole cloth quilts, broderie perse and medallion quilts were the styles of quilts made during the early 1800s.

Changes in quiltmaking during the mid nineteenth century

Progress in technology deeply affected the number and styles of quilts made during the middle years of the 1800s.

The industrial revolution brought about the most dramatic change as textiles came to be manufactured on a broad scale. This meant women no longer had to spend time spinning and weaving to provide fabric for their family’s needs. By the 1840s the textile industry had grown to the point that commercial fabrics were affordable to almost every family. As a result quilt making became widespread.

A great variety of cotton prints could be bought for the making of clothing and even specifically for making a quilt. Although scraps left over from dressmaking and other sewing projects were used in quilt making, it is a myth that quilts were always made from scraps and worn out clothing. Examining pictures of quilts found in museums we quickly see that many quilts were made with fabric bought specifically for that quilt.

Another major shift was in the style of quilts made. Although a few earlier quilts were made in the block style, quilts made up of blocks were uncommon until around the 1840s. With so many fabrics being manufactured quilters could create their blocks with a delightful variety of fabrics.

Some block style quilts were made of a set of identical pieced blocks while others contained a variety of blocks made with different patterns. The blocks were sewn together and a border may or may not have been added.

During this period the invention and availability of the sewing machine contributed to quilt making. In 1856 The Singer company started the installment plan so that more families could afford a sewing machine. By the 1870s a good many households owned a sewing machine.

This affected quilt making in two ways. First of all women could make clothing for their family in much less time leaving more time for quilt making and secondly they could use their sewing machines to make all or part of their quilts. More often the sewing machine was used to piece quilts but occasionally the quilting was done with the sewing machine.

One significant type of quilt made during this period were signature quilts. Indelible ink was available after 1840 making it possible to not only sign a quilt but to add inscriptions including poetry, personal messages or other information. The more elaborate autographs and inscriptions are seen most often in quilts made before the Civil War.

We refer to quilts in which all the blocks were the same pattern as friendship quilts. Often each person made a block and signed it. Other times one person made the quilt then each person signed a block. Sometimes a person with exceptional handwriting inscribed all the signatures. There was no single way that friendship quilts were made.

Friendship quilts had special meaning for those who were traveling westward as they could look at the quilt and remember friends and family left behind.

The other kind of autograph quilt was the album quilt that consisted of several unique quilt blocks. More often these album blocks were appliquéd while the friendship quilts were usually made up of pieced blocks. The most elegant of thes album autograph quilts were Baltimore album quilts.

Baltimore album quilts originated in Baltimore, Maryland in the 1840s. These album quilts of lovely appliquéd blocks were sometimes designed by the maker though in time patterns by accomplished designers were used as the popularity of this quilt style spread. They reflected the prosperous community of Baltimore as most were made not with scraps but with new fab

The Crazy Quilting Fad

In terms of quilts the latter years of the nineteenth century the best know quilt style was the Crazy Quilt. Crazy quilts were made of abstract shapes sewn together. Usually the quilt maker then used embroidery to embellish the quilt. First fancy stitches were sewn along the seams. Often the maker also added embroidered motifs including flowers, birds and sometimes a spider and web for good luck. Crazy quilting was quite the fad during this period. Magazines encouraged making crazies. Young women were particularly eager to make them. These quilts were seldom used as bedcoverings. Instead they were made smaller and without batting to be used as decorative throws.

Traditional Quilts Were Still Made

Because the crazy quilting craze was so popular during this period one might overlook the fact that many traditional quilts were also made. Utilitarian quilts were pieced and tied or simply quilted for everyday bed coverings while beautiful pieced and/or appliquéd quilts were created for special events like a wedding or when a beloved minister was transferred to a new location. These were more often elaborately quilted.