Why Quilts Matter History Art Politics 2011 Instagram

Ask a Ranger for the Quilt Discovery Tour companion booklet to take with you as you explore Homestead National Historical Park!

Securely engaged in a bloody Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln did non hesitate when Congress presented him with legislation that could energize a weary nation. When he signed the Homestead Act of 1862, President Lincoln sent a clear message that he believed the Union could and would endure, and that it would prosper.

As a result, 270 million acres of land, endemic past the Federal Authorities, in 30 states, was offered for homesteading, thus creating the Westward Movement, one of the largest migrations of people in our nation'due south history.

The pioneers spent months, sometimes up to a yr - preparing for their trip West. Men saw to the wagons, animals, weapons, farm equipment and tools. The women salted meats and stale fruits and sweetness corn, purchased coffee and beans and barrels of sugar and flour. They packed dishes, habiliment, utensils, needles and thread…and they sewed. In fact, a great deal of sewing was done, as travel guides suggested that each family should bring enough bedding so that each man, adult female and child would have 2-3 blankets or quilts.

While some quilts were packed as treasures in trunks, others were kept shut at hand for daily use. They served a variety of purposes not only on the trip west, but also in one case the pioneers arrived at their destination.

Through the years, quilts accept become documents of history. They are the products of their society, influenced past the culture, and the surroundings of the people who made them. The history of America can exist seen in the history of quilts. Stitched into these quilts is the rich heritage of thrifty cocky-sufficient women who helped homestead the land, the history of families sewn into quilts ane patch or one stitch at a time, and the legacy of the art of quilting, passed on from generation to generation.

Thousands of quilt blocks and patterns have been created and sewn through the decades. The quilt patterns or "blocks" that are displayed on the Quilt Trail were in the quilts used by pioneer women every bit they traveled West and homesteaded the prairie. They also describe other popular patterns used in 1862, when the Homestead Deed was signed by President Lincoln, up until the Human activity was repealed in 1986.

Follow the trail to learn more about quilt making and the history of quilts and how they truly are documents of history, reflecting who we were every bit a nation and a people.

9 patch

Nine Patch

The Nine Patch is a popular blueprint used by pioneer women. The primeval homesteaders had neither time or cloth to spare. Most of the quilts they made were utility quilts, apace sewn together for warmth.

The Nine Patch is i of the simplest and quickest quilts to sew, and because information technology was a good style to use upwards every small scrap of fabric bachelor, it was used frequently.

On the prairie, sewing was an essential skill. Young girls learned to sew blocks earlier they learned to read. At an early age, often as young as 3 or 4, girls were taught to piece simple blocks such as the Nine Patch. Many were very skilled at piecing a cake past age five.

Edith White, who grew up in the mid-1800's remembered, Before I was 5 years onetime, I had pieced 1 side of a quilt, setting at my mother'southward knee one-half an hour a twenty-four hour period. This training was chosen fireside training.

Log Motel

The Log Cabin cake is one of the most well-known and pop of all patchwork patterns. To pioneers traveling Due west, it symbolized dwelling, warmth, dear and security. The center square of the cake was done in cherry to represent the hearth, the focal betoken of life in a motel or habitation.

The name, Log Cabin, comes from the narrow strips of fabric, or logs bundled around the center square. Each fabric strip or log was added to the pattern in much the same way logs were stacked to build a cabin; and because the directly lines and small pieces of the pattern could utilize nearly any cloth scrap available, it often became the final step in the recycling of fabric .

Many Log Cabin patterns were worked in two colour schemes, lights and darks, divided diagonally in the middle. This represented the sun's east to west move in the sky. Every bit the sun rose, its light shown on the cabin, creating the light side of the block. As the dominicus traveled westward, part of the motel was left in the shadow, creating the dark side of the block. This is oft called the Sunshine and Shadow design.

Pinwheel

Nineteenth century quilts were primarily practical; dazzler was secondary. Quilts served as window and door coverings. Hanging quilts on the clay walls of a soddie, made them seem more than homelike. Quilts could serve equally privacy walls, creating sleeping areas in a soddie, or one room motel. Quilts folded and laid on a board placed betwixt ii chairs or tree stumps, became a sofa.

When a quilt became so badly worn around the edges that fifty-fifty rebinding could non rejuvenate it, a seamstress would cut information technology down to eliminate the worn areas, or rework it into a kid's quilt. Whatsoever quilt was too precious to discard.

The importance of quilts in women's lives was all-time expressed in the statement of 1 19th century homesteader, Lydia Roberts Dunham, who said, "I would have lost my mind if I had not had my quilts."

Viii Pointed Star

Stars are probably the most common motif used on quilts. Homesteaders traveling West used the stars for guidance; and they looked upon stars as religious symbols of their faith in God.

There are hundreds of star patterns. Some quilts accept just one big radiating star, ofttimes called the Star of Bethlehem or Blazing Star, while in other quilts, dozens of smaller stars are used. The simplest and most popular star pattern is an viii-pointed star.

A star design is not an easy design to cut or sew together. Precision is extremely important as whatsoever inaccuracy in cutting or piec-ing is multiplied as pieces are added. If poorly pieced, the quilt will non lie flat when finished. An intricate star pattern was i manner for a woman to show her needlework skills.

Many times the quilt maker deliberately sewed a fault somewhere in the quilt. It is thought, by some, that this reflected the maker'due south faith in God; for only God can brand a perfect thing.

Crazy Quilt

The Crazy Quilt is probably the oldest of quilt patterns. Early quilters used any scrap or remnant available, regardless of its colour, design, or textile type. Worn out wear, women'due south calico dresses, men'southward pants and shirts, household linens, and other oddly shaped fabric scraps were fitted and stitched together. The result was a hodgepodge of color, and a quilt with a story behind each chip.

Making utilitarian quilts fell out of favor in the belatedly 1800's and early 1900's as America became more industrialized and technology brought improvements to the home.

The Crazy quilts or throws of this era featured rich colors and textures and were used to decorate the parlor. Skill in fine embroidery was emphasized. Victorian quilters filled their quilts with bits and pieces of their personal past; a piece of father'southward vest, a husband's tie, lace from a wedding veil, or ribbons commemorating political events.

Rose of Sharon

One of the oldest applique quilt patterns is the Rose of Sharon. The Rose of Sharon, mentioned in the Bible, might actually refer to a wild tulip that grows today on the plains of Sharon in Palestine. When the Bible was translated into English language, the discussion rose was used in place of the word tulip.

During the 1800s, in that location was a custom for a young girl to make a baker's dozen of quilt tops before she became engaged. This collection consisted of 12 utility quilts, and one corking quilt, which was pieced or appliqued, every bit a show piece for a bed. The Rose of Sharon was ofttimes used for the neat quilt. Many young women traveled West as brides, their neat quilt folded safely in a torso.

The Whig Rose is some other proper noun for this pattern. Information technology is thought the name came from the 1828 Presidential election. The newly formed Whig party hoped to shell out Democrat, Andrew Jackson. The Whig political party dissolved in the mid 1800's, merely the blueprint name lived on.

The quilts the homesteaders brought with them were a condolement to these women who traded their abode, family and friends in the East, for the incertitude of traveling through vast prairies in the Westward. A quilt that held special value to the pioneer women was the Friendship Quilt.

Often it was done is hush-hush, and then given to the woman as a going abroad gift. It normally was a group try, with each block existence sewn past a friend or relative with their proper noun embroidered in the center.

Putting a Friendship quilt on the bed, gave a woman a sense of connexion with her former mode of life. It kept alive the memory of family and friends, providing comfort and company during the hard days of homesteading.

I adult female homesteader said, "When I get lonely, I read the names on my quilt. "It was like putting her arms around someone and giving them a hug.

God'south Eye

America was founded on the principle of religious free-dom, so quilts that reminded the homesteaders of their devotion to God were especially meaningful. The trip to new land was filled with danger and daily challenges which tested even the strongest men and women. Information technology was a rare person who did not lose a family member, often a child, forth the trail.

The practice of using quilts as burial shrouds was fairly common among westward travelers. Wood was often deficient for coffins, and then families used what was bachelor and advisable. Wrapping a loved 1 in a quilt was a way of not only preparing the body for burial, merely of giving reassurance to the living that the decreased person was all the same linked to his or her family. A quilt that carried a Biblical proper noun was a source of comfort, and with their indelible religion, kept the family going.

Other popular quilt patterns were Jacob's Ladder, Cross and Crown, Bethlehem Star, Crown of Thorns, David and Goli-ath, Eastern Star and Star of Eden.

Wild Goose Hunt Nature was an obvious and rich source for quilt patterns. There are numerous patterns named for trees, flowers, animals and birds.

The homesteaders watched the migration of flocks of geese and created quilts with that in mind. Although the triangle shape is used in hundreds of other quilt designs, in this quilt block, triangles represent the geese. Pioneer women expressed their creative abilities and creativity in the mode they bundled the triangles or geese, and in the colors they used. That may be one reason why the Wild Goose Chase pattern has at least 14 variations.

Other patterns that reflect nature include Comport Paw, Dove in the Window, Hen and Chickens, Dogwood and Sunflower.

Quilting was not just a woman'southward activity. Over the years, men take besides been quilters. In fact, when they were boys, at least two presidents, Calvin Coolidge and Dwight D. Eisenhower, helped their mothers piece quilts.

Corn and Beans

Quilt patterns reflected our country's agronomical club and the family'south dependence on the crops they harvested, the fruit and vegetables they grew, and the foods they preserved. Upwardly until 1920, most people lived on farms. But 2% of the population resided in towns or cities. A quilt pattern that reflects this agronomical influence is Corn and Beans, both of which were essential to the homesteaders.

Quilting allowed women to escape from the hard piece of work, rigors and drabness of their everyday routines. With vii-viii women gathered around the quilt frame, a quilting bee, offered an excellent way to socialize.

The Quilting Bee was such a popular consequence that Stephen Foster, one of America・south beloved songwriters, wrote a song about it:

"In the sky the brilliant stars glittered

On the banks, the pale moon shone,

And was from Aunt Dinah'south quilting party

I was seeing Nellie home."

Churn Dash The homesteader's life and their daily activities contributed names to many quilt blocks. Nineteenth century quilts reflect what women saw around them, and what was of import in their lives, such as the churn, a common household item.

A quilt historian says that quilts had characteristics so localized that they could be classified geographically virtually equally hands every bit the Yankee twang or the southern drawl. But as the homesteaders traveled West, blending together on the trail and in the new territories, the patterns became intermingled and renamed.

The Churn Dash pattern, for example, has 21 different variations and names. Merely, whatever the name, i can exist certain it was meaningful to the maker, for even the simplest quilt represented a considerable investment of time and energy. And when the cold winter winds blew snow through the chinked cracks of the log cabin, a quilt was a welcome comprehend, whatever its name.

Schoolhouse

Settlers went West for a better life, and function of that amend life was didactics. It was natural so, that the schoolhouse was oftentimes 1 of the first public buildings constructed in many communities.

The Schoolhouse cake was often a variation of a house or church pattern. Nearly featured a side view of the building and were either pieced or appliqued. Depending on the skill of the quilter and time available to her, crosses in the windowpanes and outlines of the doors could exist added.

During Earth State of war II, quilts were a style to raise money to support the Ruddy Cross. The Signature Quilt was specially popular. Business people, store owners, and community citizens paid a modest fee to accept their names embroidered on quilt blocks. The finished quilt was raffled off with all proceeds going to the Red Cross. These quilts now serve every bit fascinating community records.

Boozer'due south Path

Information technology is easy to imagine the origin of this proper name. The meandering diagonals resemble a drunkard's staggering walk.

Sewing for a crusade is an quondam tradition. Women fabricated quilts to heighten money and consciousness, both to promote the abolition of slavery and to promote women'due south rights. Women beyond the country were also involved in the Temperance Movement. By 1907, The Women'southward Christian Temperance Marriage had 350,000 members.

Prohibited from voting, the Drunkard'due south Path was a popular way for a woman to express her stance on alcohol and its utilize. Information technology appears that more quilts were fabricated for this crusade than for any other.

Although other colors were used, blueish and white became the Temperance Marriage colors: white for purity and blue for water, the purest potable available.

Basket

Naturalistic motifs, such as flowers, leaves and vines, have been favorite textile designs for centuries, and American quilts share this tradition. Many of these quilts are appliqued considering this method is best suited to the curved shapes of the flowers and vines.

This aforementioned theme is possible to create in a pieced quilt. Baskets, with blossom designs, were a popular motif among quilt makers from approximately 1850 on, every bit they could be easily adjusted to adapt individual tastes, fabrics and color combinations.

The variety of patterns seems most endless, from baskets with handles to those without, to those with appliqued fruit and flowers added to the pieced basket, to pattern variations including Cleaved Sugar Bowl, Cake Stand, Bloom Pot and May Handbasket.

Anvil Not only did quilt patterns reflect the daily piece of work of the women who helped to homestead the prairie, they told the story of the challenging piece of work of the men.

The Anvil pattern represented 1 of the necessary and of import activities of the early settlers-blacksmithing.

Other old-fashioned and basic patterns include Saw-Molar, Bowknot, Carpenter'due south Wheel, Compass, and Monkey Wrench.

Past 1890, catalogue sales included quilt patterns. If a woman ordered her yard goods from Sears or Wards, she could purchase whatsoever of 800 designs for just a dime.

Past the early 1900's, magazines went a step across publishing patterns. Some had a cavalcade where readers could share favorite patterns and new ones they had designed. Quilters were no longer restricted to only quilt patterns known in their region. From bustling city to lonely farmhouse, women could be making the same quilt.

Dresden Plate

During the 1920's and 30's, Dresden, Germany produced porcelain plates decorated with elaborate designs using flowers, fruits and foliage. These plates became the inspiration for the Dresden Plate quilt block.

To create the block, the petal shaped wedges of the pattern are pieced together and the completed plate is and so appliqued to a square block of material.

Many refer to quilts made during this era as feedsack quilts, because quilts were made by recycling the sacks that had been used for belongings grain and seed. Women saved and traded the feedsacks to get the colors and patterns they wanted. Often, they would transport a bit of a specific feedsack with their menfolk, when they went to town, to make sure they returned with the desired blueprint and color.

Before printed patterns, quilters would sew a block together, equally a style to give each other the pattern. Subsequently, sample blocks, in cotton or silk, could exist ordered from catalogues.

Grandmother'due south Flower Garden

Grandmother's Flower Garden was popular in the late 19 th Century, and hit its elevation of popularity near 1925.

This block was popular during the Depression when quilt making was almost a necessity, every bit women were forced to return to frugal homemaking once over again. The hexagon provided a style to employ pocket-size fabric scraps, and was a cheerful reminder of colorful bloom gardens, a much needed lift during hard times. The number of hexagons in the finished quilt and their size were a matter of pride for the quilter.

This pattern has a long history, dating back to the Colonial Period where it was known every bit Mosaic, Honeycomb, or French Bouquet.

Godey's Ladies book, founded in 1830, published the blueprint in 1835. It is thought to be the get-go pieced quilt pattern published in America.

Sunbonnet Sue

Sunbonnet Sue was one of the about popular patterns to emerge in the early on 1930's. Sue had outset appeared with her role-ner, Overall Nib, as outline embroidery in the belatedly 1880's. Pat-terns for applique appeared around 1910. Feedsack prints were ofttimes used to create Sue's dress and bonnet. A personalized quilt would characteristic cloth from a child'south dresses.

During this period, quilts with juvenile themes for the nursery and young children emerged. Embroidered picture quilts, done in turkey red on a white background were very pop. Quilt themes were taken from plant nursery rhymes, story book char-acters, alphabet blocks, or folk tales. The quilts were crib size and were often used to teach children to sew together or embroider.

These designs too marked the realization that a kid was a unique and distinct personality with special interests of their own. No longer were crib quilts miniaturized versions of adult patterns.

Double Wedding Ring During the early 1900's women'south tastes shifted from dark colors to a rainbow of pastel colors -watermelon pinks, mint greens, and lemon yellows. The Double Hymeneals Ring was a design that lent itself well to the pastel fabrics.

Many of these quilts were made using quilt kits which could exist ordered through catalogues. Some of the kits supplied patterns and instructions. The more expensive kits included pre-cut fabrics. These saved the quilters hours of work, equally the design used hundreds of small pieces which needed to be cut exactly for the pieced quilt to lie smoothly when completed.

A feature of many Double Nuptials Band quilts was its scalloped edge created past the circles that made upward the quilt.

Lincoln Platform Deeply engaged in a bloody Civil State of war, President Abraham Lincoln did not hesitate when Congress presented him with legislation that could energize a weary nation. When he signed the Homestead Human action of 1862, President Lincoln sent a clear bulletin that he believed the Union could, and would endure, and that information technology would prosper.

As a issue, 270 million acres of country, owned by the Federal Government, in thirty states, was offered for homesteading, thus creating the W Motion, one of the largest migrations of people in our nation's history.

The quilt patterns or blocks that are displayed in the Quilt Discovery Experience were in the quilts used by pioneer women every bit they traveled West and homesteaded the prairie. They also draw other popular patterns used in 1862, and in successive years, until the Homestead Human action was repealed in 1986.

Follow the Quilt Discovery Experience to learn more than most quilt making, the history of quilts, and how quilts truly are documents of our American history.

Nebraska Pinwheel

Wheels correspond movement. The pioneers depended on wheels to carry them across the plains.

For the homesteaders, wheels were vital to their lives. They were the basis of their transportation. Wheels were used in sawmills and in gristmills where grain was footing into flour or meal.

In the early 1900's, windmills pumped water for livestock and made life on the homestead easier. Because of its importance to the homesteaders in their everyday lives, the wheel was oftentimes a favorite quilt pattern.

When the United States entered Globe War I in 1917, quilt making took on new significance. The authorities took all the wool produced for commercial utilise, and actively urged citizens to brand quilts using the slogan, "Make Quilts-Salvage the Blankets for our Boys Over There." Every bit a outcome, many utilitarian quilts for home use were made. These quilts soon earned the nickname of, "Liberty Quilts."

Nebraska State Block The history of the state quilt block goes back many years. In 1907, the Fancywork Section of a popular farm magazine, Hearth and Domicile asked readers throughout the land to contribute pieced block patterns representing their state. Selected blocks appeared in monthly issues of the magazine until the series ended in 1912. The patterns printed in the magazine sold for 5 cents each.

Through the years, a number of variations to the original pattern were made. Quilters today are able to alter the overall effect of the block by irresolute color combinations and the use of lite and dark fabrics within the pattern.

"Our lives are like quilts,

Bits and pieces, joy and sorrows

Stitched with beloved."

The best kind of sleep beneath Heaven above,

Is under a quilt, handmade with love.'

Liberty Star Cake

Through the years, women have been closely connected with political issues. Women listened to the men, and from their discussions, formed their own opinions. Their needles became their pens; their quilts their texts.

Patriotic quilts take been fabricated ever since the Revolutionary War. They portrayed love for one's country and celebrated American heroes such equally George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Quilts featuring the American Eagle enjoyed wide popularity from the tardily 1780'due south until the 1840's, were revived during the Civil State of war and once more for our country'southward Bicenten-nial.

Women used quilt designs to make their political statements. Patterns, which for years had Biblical or household names, were given relevant names by women who had social concerns on their minds. The pattern known as Jacob's Ladder became the Cloak-and-dagger Railroad. The renaming of the Job'south Tears pattern to Slave Chain, demonstrated northern women's political sentiments.

Sources

Bishop, Robert, Secord, William, Weissman, Judith Reiter and Ketchum, Jr. William C. The Knopf Collectors' Guides of American Antiques Quilts. Chanticleer Press, Inc., 1982.

Brackman, Barbara, Create Your Family unit Quilt, The Electric Quilt Visitor, 2001

Brackman, Barbara, Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, American Quilter's Lodge, 1993

Crews, Patricia Cox, Naugle, Ronald, Nebraska Quilts and Quilt Makers, University of Nebraska Printing, 1991

Cross, Mary Bywater, Treasures in The Trunk, Rutledge Hill Press, 1993

Dallas, Sandra, Simonds, Nanette, The Quilt That Walked to Gold, Breckling Press, 2004

Dietrich, Mimi, A Quilter'due south Diary Written in Stitches, Martingale & Company, 2008

Ferrero,Pat, Hearts and Hands, The Influence of Women and Quilts on American Society, The Quilt Digest Press, 1987.

Finley, Ruth Eastward., Old Patchwork Quilts and The Women Who Made Them, Charles T.Branford Company, 1929.

Guebert,Alan, "Homestead Act is Uniquely American Story", Lincoln Journal Star, September 25, 2011

Martin, Nancy J., Pieces of the Past, That Patchwork Place, Inc., 1986.

Pellman, Rachel T., Ranck, Joanne, Quilts Among the Patently People, Good Books, 1981

Regan, Jennifer, American Quilts: A Sampler of Quilts and Their Stories, Gallery Books, 1989

Websites

world wide web.patternsfromhistory.com/pioneer_patterns

world wide web.patternsfromhistory.com/bible

www.patternsfromhistory.com/colonial

www.womenfolk.com/quilting_history/pioneer

www.womenfolk.com/quilt_pattern_history/temperance.htm

www.quilting-in-america.com/History-of-Quilts.html

vinespons1958.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.nps.gov/home/planyourvisit/quilt-discovery-experience.htm

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