"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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