Fascinated by Redwork – A Unique Type of Quilting

Redwork, a popular type of quilting in the mid to late 1800s, consisted of creating designs by embroidering with red floss on muslin background.  Since pre-printed squares, as well as a skein of  floss often could be purchased for one cent each, redwork also was referred to as “penny squares.” 

This type of quiltmaking is gaining in popularity again.  Quilters can do the embroidery work by hand or by machine these days.

At QuiltedParadise.com, you’ll discover a great deal of information about Redwork…its history along with instructions on how to do it by hand and by machine.

Also, there are a number of books available with patterns and instructions.

A variation of this was Bluework, with the quilters using blue embroidery floss instead of the red.  The blue wasn’t quite so popular, but resulted in attractive quilts, too.