TAHAWUS CENTER WINDOWS GALLERY
"Warmth and Beauty"
A Celebration of Five Adirondack Quilters
"WARMTH AND BEAUTY" at Tahawus Center
Spring 2021
A Brief History of American Quilts
Life was unforgiving in Colonial America for many families, and with poor lighting inside households, quilting was a rare pastime for the women. It was a necessity, rather than a hobby. What we know as ‘Colonial quilts’ and coverlets came from well to do homes. They were a symbol of wealth, and were mainly decorative with delicate detailing. In the 1840s American women began to express their creativity through quilting, thanks to the expanding textile industry and a rise in quilting bees.
By the early 19th C, American-produced cotton fabrics were being manufactured cheaply in a large array of prints, helping to make pieced and appliquéd quilts more affordable, though many fabrics of wool, cotton, and silk were still being imported. The quilts from this period were often made in medallion style, with a variety of elaborate borders surrounding a patchwork center.
By the 1840s a new style emerged: the Baltimore Album or Friendship quilt, with elaborately appliquéd floral and other figures, often with each block bearing a different design. This remained a popular style as did its contemporary, the signature, or album quilt, in which each block was made and signed by a different maker. The quilt given as a keepsake, to a bride by her friends, or to the minister by the women of the congregation, or to a young man celebrating his 21st birthday.
Pieced quilts remained popular, especially for everyday use, often quickly made, block by block, then quilted when time and materials allowed. The Great Depression of the 1930s popularized the feedsack quilt. Cloth sacks in which animal feed and flour and other staples were packaged were produced in a wide variety of cheerful prints.
The 1970s marked a quilt revival, thanks in part to the nostalgic interest in crafts generated by the American Bicentennial. A major influence was the 1971 exhibit, “Abstract Design in American Quilts,” curated by Jonathan Holstein and Gail van der Hoof at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. Vintage quilts, a few Amish-made, were displayed like modern art, and Art Quilts were born. Important museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian began to display quilts from their collections.
By the 1980s timesaving tools and techniques, especially the rotary cutter and strip piecing, began changing quilting. Quilting remains a very popular craft enjoyed by people of all ages. It has become much more of an art form with the introduction of computers and high-tech sewing machines, giving quilters the opportunity to produce elaborate designs in a matter of hours instead of weeks.
Interest in quilting is not confined to North America. Great Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan have flourishing quilting communities. American quilts are collected and copied worldwide as folk art and textile art. Learn about Classic Quilt Styles on then "More About" page.
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