"Quilting" itself has been known since ancient times- padded jackets
and vests were quilted, it afforded some protection against arrows,
etc. Quilted clothing in the steppes of Russia, central China, etc.
was a way to make warmer clothing. I know some types of bed quilts
were made in northern Europe and the craft brought to the colonies.
I'm sure there are histories of this.
Nancy
-------
I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.
--Daniel Boone
On Jan 23, 2007, at 12:23 PM, Martha Katz-Hyman wrote:
> Henry,
>
> Quilting as a sewing technique to stitch together layers of cloth and
> padding did exist in the 18th century, and there are many surviving
> bedcoverings that are constructed in this way, with very decorative
> stitching. There are also surviving 18th century bedcoverings that
> are
> constructed from cloth with appliques applied to the top layer, and
> which
> are then sewn to a backing, with some kind of padding between the two
> layers, with quilting stitches. In all probability, enslaved women
> sewed
> these kinds of bedcoverings in the 18th century. Patchwork quilting
> begins
> to be found towards the end of the 18th century, with its fullest
> development in the 19th century, and "crazy quilts" appear towards
> the end
> of the 19th century.
>
> This is my general understanding of the history of this technique.
> Since I
> am not a textile historian, I would welcome corrections and
> clarifications
> from any textile historians on the list.
>
> Martha Katz-Hyman
>
> On 1/23/07, Henry Wiencek <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> While I agree with Nancy's comment that we have to be careful about
>> dismissing things just because there's no documentation, the quilt
>> story
>> seems to have been invented recently, out of whole cloth, so to
>> speak. Take
>> a look at the H-SLAVERY discussions for more details on this. One
>> historian
>> remarked that slaves didn't make quilts in the eighteenth-century, a
>> "blanket" assertion I'd like to check.
>>
>> Henry Wiencek
>> Charlottesville
>>
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