When permanent settlers arrived in the new world, they brought many of their crafts from Europe, and quilting was among them, though for many reasons, early quilted bedcovers were rare, and few survived the roughweather, usage, and incidents of life in a new and primitive land.
The life of most early settlers was hard and unforgiving. Homes were often no more than rough cabins that gave minimal protection from the elements. Food was often scarce, and diets were poor. Sanitation and hygiene were poor to non-existant, and sickness was always hovering, including mass killers like smallpox, cholera, and influenza.
Few women were educated, or even taught to read anything but the bible. Women were expected to marry and bear children. They generally were legal "chattel"- first of their fathers, then of their husbands. They could not vote or hold office, had few civil rights, generally married young, worked hard, and usually bore many children - and just as often lost many or all of them to disease or disaster.
Women did a full day's work - raising and rearing children, house-hold duties (including spinning, sewing, cooking, cleaning, etc.), providing for the men, and often even plowing and other hard labor, while the men went hunting. Even upper class womens' lives were more difficult than ours today. Even after settlements became better established, a woman's daily life was still difficult. Many were dead by 40.
There was little time for recreation, and quilting, when practiced, was "work", probably done around other work, or by those who could afford household help. Diaries and journals of the period indicate that most of the quilting was done from May through November, which would probably be due to the longer days and hence longer and better light.
The upper classes in the more settled areas along the Eastern seaboard sometimes had heirloom or imported quilts, and had more leisure time to construct quilts, but the lower classes, especially along the frontier, likely had few, if any.
Some writers and historians believe that the dearth of quilts that can be proven to date from this period demonstrates that there were few quilts made in America prior to 1750. While it is certainly true that fewer quilts may have been made, contemporary diaries and journals show that quilts were being made, although perhaps not in great numbers. Some quilts exist which are proven to have been made well before that date. The famous "Saltonstall" quilt (the earliest surviving "pieced" American quilt) is dated to 1704, another quilt dated to 1708, 1726, etc.
However, among the earlier quilts, there seems to have been a preference for the whole cloth style, often using glazed wool in bold colors, including indigo and red, though some were white cotton with white linen backing.
As with the much older Tristan quilt mentioned above, these solid color quilts featured heavily quilted designs that provide both texture and ornament. The motifs were often similar to their ancestors - floral, feathered or geometric patterns or a combination. Again as in earlier quilts, some depicted people, animals, vessels, etc. They required skilled needlework, and, as in earlier times, only those women of means and their servants had the time to develop these skills.
There is a white linen whole cloth counterpane quilt in the Smithsonian which is signed and dated (1760) in cross-stitch. Quilting stitches are done as a center medallion, flowers, feathered stems, and baskets, with a background of close parallel lines.
During the early 1700's, the Amish settlements were begun, mainly in Pennsylvania. These included the famous Pennsylvania "Dutch" (actually "Deutch", i.e., German) settlers. They were and remain members of a religious sect, mainly from Germany, whose practices deliberately separated them from their fellow settlers. They developed the distinctive quilts now known as "Amish". These quilts are now collectors items, and have become very costly.
Patchwork Quilts
Patchwork quilts are made by cutting fabric into shapes such as hexagons, squares, triangles, or other designs, and then sewing them into a large overall design. Some patchwork quilts have over 4,000 pieces.
Nobody is certain of its origins, but the idea of combining pieces of cloth or other substances for decoration and wear is without doubt a very old one. The concept may have originated partially as a way to recycle cloth, which were then very costly and / or labor-intensive to produce.
Though not a quilt per se, an Egyptian canopy from c. 980 B.C. is generally regarded as the oldest surviving example of patchwork. It was apparently used on festive occasions by a queen, and consists of squares of dyed gazelle leather sewn together and decorated with symbols. The colors of the different pieces of skin are bright pink, deep golden yellow, pale primrose, bluish green, and pale blue. Badly damaged in places, this piece is preserved today in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
The earliest known surviving American pieced quilt is considered by many to be the "Saltonstall" quilt from about 1704. Dating was possible because the quilt was paper-pieced with newspapers, which in those days were sometimes left on the inside as an extra inner lining. (Paper adds warmth, and is one of the best insulators for its weight - which is why homeless people often line their clothing with it at night and in cold weather.) When some of the fabric wore out, the date on one became visible, thus giving us an idea of its period.
However it originated, it is a practice that was carried on to modern times - my paternal grandmother used to quilt with worn-out clothes and other fabrics that were beyond mending, but still had good areas which were then cut out and thrown in her scrap bag for quilting or patching use. Now, the patchwork pieced quilt also enjoys the quilting renaissance that has spread world-wide.
American Revolution
During the American Revolution, quilts with patriotic themes were popular, depicting battles and their heroes, and patriotic symbols (despite the lack of imported fabrics). From 1782, when the bald eagle was adopted as a national symbol, it became incorporated in many quilts. Patterns such as "Burgoyne Surrounded" and "Whigs' Defeat" may date from this period.
As with many quilts, there is quite an interesting story to this motif - "Gentleman Johnny" Burgoyne was arguably the best tactical commander the British had. He was defeated at the critical battle of Saratoga while he was attempting to fight his way South to join General Lord Charles Cornwallis - an move that, if successful, would probably have destroyed the revolutionary forces, and ended the war with a British victory.
However, though initially victorious, he was foiled, mainly through the efforts of a valiant and able American officer who was one of the best tactical commanders on either side in that conflict - he had been called "The Rebel Wolfe" after the victor of Quebec in the French and Indian Wars. This officer was personally brave, and had been severely wounded several times in action, since he "led from the front". However, he was later to become known for a darker act, and his name is still synonymous with treachery - Benedict Arnold.
Here is a traditional Burgoyne Surrounded, with the red squares representing the British "Redcoat" forces, who at that period fought in "British square" formations, with the blue rectangles and squares representing the American forces. (The Continental Army's uniform at that time was blue, a color which they kept for many years.)
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Memorial quilts were also made, using clothing of the deceased during this period a practice not seen as macabre in those times, when life was uncertain and often short at best, and people had a sentimentality that. Unfortunately, relatively few of the earlier colonial quilts have survived. As with earlier quilts, conditions were against their survival - climate, wear, disaster, etc. However, we have records of quilts in inventories, wills, diaries, and journals. Quilting Developments in the late 18th Century Life had gradually became somewhat more settled, and conditions had gradually improved. There was easier access to cloth, both American and imported, and a little more time and security for the domestic arts. Quilting was more widely practiced, and began to enjoy one of its first "booms" at this time. Embroidery, popular for appliqué and samplers, was also used in quilting. One popular style of quilting during this era was broderie perse (from French - "Persian embroidery"). It is actually a form of appliqué. Imported prints were rare and costly. Some sources say wealthier women would use it, others that it was a form of "recycling" the cloth when it was worn. Whichever the case, flowers and other motifs were cut from a print fabric, a small seam turned under, and then appliquéd to a larger solid fabric. One of the oldest surviving wholly intact quilts (dated to 1708), is a broderie perse mosaic. Floral fabrics from France are popular imports for broderie perse. Imported chintz (glazed cotton cloth) became popular about this period. Chintz has some advantages - it didn't shrink like wool and can be laundered more easily than linen or silk. Roller printing was developed in England c. 1783, and, (after the war), became popular in America. Cloth could be produced faster and cheaper than earlier methods. It produced the same amount of fabric 4 minutes that it would take 6 hours to print by hand. During this period, we also see Pinwheel block patterns appearing. Patchwork blocks and pieced borders begin to be more common, and are often incorporated, but the center medallion design with borders remains the norm. Reverse appliqué was also seen in medallions during this period. Whole-cloth quilts were still very much in vogue, traditionally made by using a solid top. they often had beautiful and elaborate designs. As with the earlier period, very few quilts from the period survived, and then mostly the fine quilts of the upper classes, which had less wear and were more likely to survive long enough to be handed down. Floral wreath and basket appliqué became popular among quilters in the 1790s. Intricate feathered hearts, flowers, vines and other motifs were also seen, and there may have been some early form of patterns in use. Quilts were often bound with cotton or linen tape or straight-cut fabric strips. |
