Issue Number Three
Ailsa McKenzie, Editor
MAY 2006
Hi everyone
Well, it is time I put pen to paper (or fingers to the computer in this case) and produced another newsletter for our Website.
“Patchwork and quilting have become so firmly associated with each other in the past hundred years that it is often difficult to remember that they are two distinct crafts, each with separate history and tradition.
Nowhere is this more true than in the British Isles, where early patchwork was often unquilted and wholecloth quilts, with their emphasis on quilting pattern, developed their own identity. Indeed, some of the very earliest recorded uses of quilted fabric were the padded garments worn underneath metal armor for comfort and protection. There are records of quilting used as a technique in the making of bedding and of quilted clothing as far back as the fourteenth century. From the eighteenth century, there are surviving examples of exquisite quilting applied to many garments, including petticoats, coats and babies’ bonnets.
Early records relating to quilts, mainly those made for royal or noble households, suggest that quilting was regarded as another branch of the embroiderers’ skill. Quilting was frequently used as a background to embroidery on bed hangings, valances, coverlets and pillows, probably carried out by members of an Embroiderers’ Guild in a town or city. In the rural areas, quilting would have been a real cottage industry, to make warm and serviceable bed coverings. There were ‘Village Quilters’ who took orders for making quilts (mostly in South Wales) who went from farm to farm making quilts in return for their keep. There were also professional quilt makers who, for a fee, would mark the pattern on a quilt top ready for the owner to quilt over the lines. They used templates and free hand drawings.
I hope you will find this interesting, and if anyone has any history of their country’s patchwork or quilting, knitting, sewing, or any other fiber craft, could you please send it to me for inclusion in this newsletter.
Happy stitching everyone.
Regards,
Ailsa
Note: The Rotarian Fellowship of Quilters and Fiber Artists is a group dedicated to promoting the fiber arts as an opportunity for fellowship. This fellowship operates in accordance with Rotary International Policy, but is not an agency of, or controlled by, Rotary International.