Quilting

Natasha Adams
Ms. Elizabeth Fields
English 1101
July 13, 2012

The Art and History of Quilting

Quilting is a unique art form involving sewing together several different layers of material. These layers are put together in unique patterns. Quilting requires the knowledge of several different types of tools and supplies. Included in the supply list is the batting, which is cotton polyester blend that gives the quilt its thickness, and several different types of material with different patterns. The tools’ list includes the cutting tools, items such as scissors and a rotary cutter. Another quilting tool is the quilter’s basting tacker, a tool that is “used to baste or tack the quilt layer together” (Leone 29). Some other supplies include basic sewing materials such as pins, a sewing machine, hand needles, cutting mat, ruler, iron, and spray starch. These tools and supplies are used today, but in the twelfth century, quilters did not have these modern conveniences. Because quilting was much more tedious then, it was used only to make clothing worn by European crusaders underneath a heavy suit of armor. This use was the first known account of quilting, and historians mark it as the birth of quilting (womenfolk.com/history). Quilting became known in the United States during the 1800’s. Quilting has made an impact on the lives of women and slaves during the 1800s, has become a folk art form in the late 1900s, and has evolved into a trail of quilts. Quilting impacted the lives of women in several ways. First, quilting gave women an outlet to express their intellectual abilities. According to Bell Hooks in the essay “Piecing It All Together,” these intellectual abilities emerged by letting “the creativity of quilting moves the creator beyond self into a place of transcendent possibility” (344). Second, women used quilting to share family history. Women shared their family’s history by using quilting as a part of the family’s culture and passing this culture down from generation to generation through teaching their daughters and granddaughters how to quilt. In contrast, Dianne Leone, the writer of Crazy with Cotton, describes quilting as a pastime for only the elite colonial women. Because poor working class women could not afford to quilt, nor did working class women have the time (Leone 6). Thus, leading individuals to believe quilting was not an important part of women’s history. Quilting was in fact performed just for fun and a pastime with no under lying meaning. Like women, quilting impact slaves lives as well; quilting gave slaves a sense of hope during desperate times, and helped aid in the documentation of the slaves’ history. Since slaves were not afforded the right to be educated, most of them were unable to read and write. Therefore, slaves used quilting and a way to document their family history. Also the blanket were easy to carry and served multi purposes for slaves making the quilted blanket a more conveyance fit at the time. Another way that quilting impacted slave’s lives is by being used as a code for the underground railroad. According to Nur Hiyati’s, “The Art of Quilting” writer declares: “The quilts expressed, through design and color, such messages as when it would be safe to leave, whether a house offered a haven or was a place to avoid, or even which houses contained Muslims. A pattern such as the log cabin block could mean various things, depending on whether the center of the block was red, black or yellow. Red represented a fireplace and warmth, black, safety for slaves and yellow meant "caution." The Wagon Wheel pattern meant "the time is coming soon," and the Tumbling Blocks pattern signaled, "the time is now"(1).

In contrast, a womensfolk.com state that this is only a myth due to there is no concrete evidence that the code existed. Due to the lack of evidence in history books; however, there is verbal evidence provided by past slaves that with the Underground Railroad and has passed the quilts down through the generations along with the quilter’s stories. In the late 1900s was the first time quilting is considered an art form. Before the 1900s quilting was more of bedding and used in home decor. According to the website womanfolk.com/history, “Jonathan Holestein and Gale Vander Hoof were the first to display an exhibit in the Whitney Museum” (womanfolk.com/history). The exhibit did very well and brought quilting into a new form of folk art. Also quilting as an art form lead to competitions throughout the states. The most common place for quilting competitions was the county fair. However, the competition did come with controversy as new styles of quilting evolved. Judges of the competitions seem to prefer the more traditional quilting style rather than newer styles of quilting, which carries logos and larger patterns. As quilting evolved in the 1900s, it became more common to use the quilts as wall décor. Also quilts were more likely to be displayed in museums and art galleries. Today communities have used the quilting designs and ideas to evolve quilting into another art form called the trail of quilts. Al Goldsmith a Lavonia Chamber of Commerce representative claims that “the trail if quilts was an attempt by the county to attract more tourist to the small communities around the Lake Hartwell area.” Mr. Goldsmith also committed on how much “the trail of quilts has united the community in a group effort.” Mr. Goldsmith describes the quilts as an adventure with a history lesson hidden inside. The trail of quilts is not the tradition quilt you would have in your home; it is a monument outside certain area of the county. On the front of the monument is a quilt patter on the backside is a brief history about the area the monument is in. Also on the back on the monument is the direction to the next monumental piece of history. Quilting has provided another way to connect individuals to history. Thus, by producing the trail of quilts. Quilting has touched the lives of many through the years and continues to be a great part of folk art and the communities. Bell Hook says it best when she wrote: “It is vital that attention to this culture of place not be seen as a dead or dying expression of creativity, to be treasures because it is no more. Instead it should be regarded as a part of a continuum where this legacy of creativity of using the imagination to enhance well-being, if fully honored, will no doubt take new and different forms” (347).

Works Cited
Breneman, Judy Anne “Womenfolk: The Art of Quilting” http://www.womenfolk.com/. N.p. n.d. Web 11 July, 2012
Goldsmith. Al. Telephone interview. 12 July 2012.
Hiyati, Nur. "The Art of Quilting." Azizah 2001: 99-104. GenderWatch. Web. 11 July 2012 .
Hook, Bell. “Piecing It All Together.” The Reader. James C. McDonald. New York, Person. 2012. 344-347.
Johnson, Julie. “ History of Quilting.” http://www.emporia.edu/cgps/tales/quilte~1.html. Emporia State Unversity, n.d. web. 11 July 2012.
Leone, Diana. “Crazy with Cotton Piecing Together Memories and Themes.” Hong Kong. 1996. Print
Parron, Suzi. “Barn Quilts and The American Trail.” http://americanquilttrail.blogspot.com/. Blogger. n.d. web 11 July 2012.

Cited: Hook, Bell. “Piecing It All Together.” The Reader. James C. McDonald. New York, Person. 2012 Leone, Diana. “Crazy with Cotton Piecing Together Memories and Themes.” Hong Kong. 1996.