Rotarian Fellowship of Quilters and Fiber Artists Issue Number Five
September 2007 Hi everyone I have been reading some of my older magazines and found these interesting stories about some of the Amish quilters and their traditions so thought I might pass it on. Apparently the Amish first. started quilt making around the 1860's, and it seems they adopted the English style of machine piecing. Although they may have adopted this method of quilt making, they developed their own designs based on their strict belief that everything they created should be functional. Their quilts consisted of straight-edged geometric designs and solid coloured fabrics. They did not use appliqué because it served no purpose and printed fabrics were considered too extravagant. However, they were free to use intricate quilting and could feel safe in the knowledge that technically they were merely holding the quilt top, batting and backing together. A young Amish girl would have attended school in a one-room schoolhouse, not gone to high school, her hair would have remained uncut for her entire life and was covered at all times with a white cap. She would have made between 12 and 20 quilts by the time she was married at 16 years of age. Amish women did all their own cooking and baking, made most of the family's clothes, grew vegetables, milked the cows, tended the garden and helped with some of the farming duties (sounds just like my life on our New Zealand farm!). Their quilts were made from scraps of material and were often made from flour and sugar bags with animal feed sacks sometimes used as backing. They would stretch the quilt out on a frame, and raw cotton gleaned from the cotton fields would be pulled from the cotton bolls, teased out a little and then placed on the backing. The top was then put in place and would be quilted through all three layers.
Around the turn of last century, Amish quilters had a custom of putting a mistake in their quilts - "because only God can create a perfect thing". Amish quilters today say that they no longer have to put in deliberate mistakes - they make enough mistakes without even trying! Well now, doesn't that sound familiar?!! Happy stitching everyone. 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. |
Every expected baby had a quilt
made for its arrival. The sad part is that any antique baby quilt you may
find in good condition is probably that way because the baby did not survive.
They did not make multiple cot quilts, but would make one for a particular child
before it was born. If the child died at birth or in infancy, the quilt
was put away and never used again.