Perhaps the most well known quilting is from this region of the world. In the northern states and Canada, quilting has been part of a very strong tradition in domestic arts and crafts, ensuring American and Canadian families had both beautiful and functional fabrics in their homes.
However, it is most definitely the stuff of myth and legend that quilting was commonplace, either for practical or decorative reasons, in the early colonial times.
The original settlers worked hard and long, and there was little time spare for the artistic quilting that we mistakenly link to these early days. In these days, plain cloth and wadding would have been used to reflect the restrictive religious beliefs of many of the settlers for whom decoration was considered inappropriate.
These early colonial women would have to weave their own cloth, and undertake all the other domestic tasks – and apart from the fact that the men were considered above such humble work, they tended to be outside in the fields, tending the big livestock, and building or fencing.
Women’s lives were hard, and initially often lonely. They had poor access to civilization, often settling in isolated areas, with near neighbors possibly miles away.
Only later on, as families and farms became more established, and the community facilities developed, were women able to have the time and leisure to quilt. Even then it was largely in the better off homes where domestic help was brought in, that the lady of the house would do the decorative quilting.
Of course, women settlers would bring with them the skills learned from their families, so a variety of styles and patterns were imported via them to America. Nevertheless, there was only a very limited amount of fabric available in the early days, and it wasn’t really until the mid 1800’s that there was fabric available for quilting to be affordable. Prior to this date, most families used blankets – of varying quality and warmth, but nevertheless cheaper than quilts.
The colonial style underwent a resurgence in the twentieth century. The styles of houses, of furniture, and the soft furnishings, all became very popular, both in America, and abroad. The idea of ‘old colonial style quilts’ was part of the marketing done by magazines and manufacturers, but the quilts they were advertising were definitely made much later than they suggested, probably from the 1850s.
About this time, the manufacturing industry was becoming established, and women in America found they could buy materials. Those who had sheep for wool and grew cotton, could get the raw materials made up into fabric, and no longer had the hard, and time consuming job of weaving and fabric making.
This gave women more time for other things, among them of course, was quilting. So this is really the point in time where American quilt making really became a reality.
Patterns became available, and could be bought in magazines or in stores, but American women enjoyed using the patterns that their friends and family used, and pattern sharing was the norm, rather than buying new ones. These patterns became the traditional American quilting patterns that are still famous today.
Quilting was not an easy hobby for many women. Space in the homes of the majority was limited. The quilting frames were generally large enough for at least 6 women to work at, and initially were home made.
Most homes didn’t have spare space for the frame, so it would either be put together and then taken apart as needed, or connected to a pulley system and hoisted up to the ceiling when not being used.
The quilting bees that enabled women to get together were limited to the number of people who could fit in the available space around the frame.