Have you discovered old quilts and/or patches in your attic or a closet?  Are there quilting patterns there?   

When cleaning out a closet in the old farmhouse where I grew up, after my mom developed Alzheimer’s, I discovered some old quilting patches.  Some were simply pre-cut pieces and others consisted individual blocks with the pieces stitched together.

I’d never seen these before and knew my mom hadn’t made them.  Although she encouraged me in my quiltmaking, she hadn’t done any since she was a young girl.  When I discovered them, Mother no longer had any memories about the blocks and pieces.

So I let my imagination take over.  These pieces must have been something given to Mother after her mother died because there were other mementos of that era in the box.  If my grandmother made them, it wasn’t when I was quilting with her. Perhaps they were from earlier days than that.

My daughter framed some of them as keepsakes for relatives.  Now that we have some books on fabric history, perhaps she and I can somewhat date these pieces.  This is another instance where I wish that quilts could talk.

Have you found any old quilting secrets in your attic or closet?  Share with us!

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

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Are There Quilting Secrets in Your Attic?

 If your quilt could tell a story, what would it say? I think of the quilt I call, The Wedding Quilt.  I recall it always lying on the bed in the guest room of our farmhouse.  I can visualize one day, as Mother, Sister and I cleaned the room and made the bed for a visit from my aunt and uncle. 

Mother had aired the quilt on the clothes line on the south side of the house and now was folding it to place at the foot of the bed.  I don’t know if Sister or I asked a question or Mother was reminiscing.  However, she related that this quilt was one Father and she received as a wedding gift about 10 years before.

She probably told us who gave it to them, but now I don’t recall.  I hope someday that information will come forth from my subconscience.  Then I could better piece a story together.

If the quilt could talk, it might tell:

• Who made it.
• Where the various fabrics came from.
•  Who selected the pattern for the quilt.
• Did more than one lady sew and quilt it?  There were many fine stitches so it took quite some time.
• What did the quilters say as they worked on it.  Everything was made by hand, not by sewing machine.
• Does it recall Mother’s pleasure when she received it?  She must have treasured The Wedding Quilt because she placed it on the guest bed where it was used occasionally, not every day.

When I had to move Mother to my home after she developed Alzheimer’s, I found the quilt, now tattered and worn, midst a pile of old papers and rags, in a closet.  It also had been damaged by mice who must have liked the fabric and batting.

However, I’ve been able to salvage pieces of it and now am wondering what to do with them.  I also wish the quilt could talk and tell me stories of its origin.

What stories do your quilts tell?   With those you make, you’ll recall when, where and why you made them. 

Why not write these stories down?  So you’ll leave a legacy and future generations won’t be left to wonder.

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

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If Your Quilt Could Tell a Story

 Do you believe that escaping slaves, during the Civil War [in the United States], often used quilts and their symbols as guides to freedom? 

Are you on side of the story that maintains there isn’t enough evidence, only folklore, to justify this theory? 

Or are you trying to figure out just where you stand?

Much discussion has evolved and a number of books written about this topic, from various viewpoints.  Justifiably, the slaves made quilts during the early to mid-1800s for their owners and themselves.  Did they incorporate secret codes or symbols into the quilts and their patterns to guide fellow escaping slaves a path to freedom?

Although the experts can’t agree, quilter Barbara Reeves Hart presents programs on the topic.  Learn about one she’ll be giving on Feb. 2, Quilts preserve a part of history telling story of Underground Railroad.  She finds that people are fascinated by this topic.

From the nearby woods, a runaway slave looks with hope at the colorful quilts spread out on the plantation’s clothesline. Did those displayed quilts give him a message, show him the way to freedom?   (From the newspaper article above by Fran Fralow in the Gaston Gazette.)

The book, Hidden  Plain View, A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad, by Jacqueline L. Tobin and Raymond G. Dobard, popularized the idea of the codes found in quilts of this era. 

The secret code used by Ozella [McDaniel Williams'] ancestors to assist fellow enslaved blacks in their escape to freedom became the subject of Hidden in Plain View.

Numerous novels, including Jennifer Chiaverini’s The Runaway Quilt, along with children’s books tell this tale and captivate readers.  Songs also have evolved around this theme of secret codes in quilts

Some researchers claim there is no valid evidence, only folklore, to support the theory, so they are dubious.

Where do you stand on “The Underground Quilt Controversy?”

Related Posts: 

The Runaway Quilt (An Underground Railroad Novel)

Hidden in Plain View – A Favorite Quilt Book

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

Post from: Blisstree

The Underground Quilt Controversy

 Instead, this exploration has evolved from reading The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills.  (The illustrations are so beautiful that I simply had to post a large version of the cover.)

  In The Rag Coat, Minna doesn’t have a coat to wear to school when the weather is cold.  Therefore, the ladies in her mother’s quilting group create one of the scraps left over from their quilting projects.

Quilts Tell a Story

As they make the coat, the ladies relate stories about their family members who wore each piece of clothing.  They also mentioned various events the scraps of fabric brought to mind.  The other children at school make fun of Minna’s coat until they learn their stories are interwoven into it.

Your quilts and patchwork clothing can tell stories, too, if you use leftovers from items you’ve made.  Also, you can include good fabric from an outgrown dress, worn jacket, blanket, tablecloth or other items that have meaning in your family.

Incorporating Quilting With History

Fourth graders in New Hampshire, where I live, also study the history of the state, so I could tie quiltmaking in with the students’ social studies lessons.   I shared with the children the quilt I made with my grandmother, many years ago when I was eight years old.  Then they began telling of baby quilts their moms or grandmothers made for them.

I also read them my story, “Sarah Jane’s Daring Deed,” from the Tales of Adventure & Discovery anthology consisting of my stories, poetry, and illustrations.   This led into discussions of pioneer living and quilting.  For a writing workshop, some of them wrote about additional adventures Sarah Jane and her new friend, Little Fawn, encountered. 

In my story, Father and Sarah Jane’s brother, Stephen, were away at the nearest settlement, a couple days ride away, purchasing or bartering supplies they couldn’t acquire or produce at their homestead.  Mother, Sarah Jane and her little sister Lucy were all alone at their home in the wilderness.  That’s when Sarah Jane’s adventure begins.

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The Joys of Introducing Youngsters to Quilting

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.

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Fascinated by Redwork – A Unique Type of Quilting

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Ruby McKim’s Quilt Patterns Included in E-book

        Ruby McKim wrote the classic quilt pattern book, 101 Patchwork Patterns, many years ago.  She became well-known in the quilting world before she died.

Now her granddaughter, Merrily McKim Tuohey,  with the encouragment of Ruby’s family, has set up a web site,  McKim Studios , with stories of her life, quilts, patterns, and other treasures.

At WomenFolk.com, you’ll also find more information about Ruby McKim and her life.  It was through this site that I was led to the McKim Studios.

If you have Ruby’s famous book in your collection, have used any of her patterns, or looked to her work for reference, you’ll find both of these sites about her fascinating.

       And here is another of Ruby McKim’s quilt books.

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Ruby McKim’s Story & Quilts on Granddaughter’s Web Site

“This is a campaign to raise awareness and funding for the sacrificial volunteer work of hundreds of thousands of quilters who provide quilts for sick babies, orphans, homeless people, nursing homes, cancer and Alzheimer’s patients, soldiers and victims of disaster – those most in need of the touch of God’s love and comfort that quilts represent.”

This event will climax a month of quilting events, including those surrounding Centennial Stitches – Oklahoma History in Quilts.

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Charity Quilt Day at Buckboard Quilts

 Until then I didn’t even know I had a muse or was supposed to!  However, as I put pencil to paper, a whimsical lady appeared, who seemed to be floating in air above a desk with my work.  Now when I’m asked if I have a muse she comes to mind. 

         Does this apply to my quilting, too.? Could you say that someone or something inspires you…one person or feeling more than others? 

 My thoughts of quilting so often go back to my grandmother sitting in her rocking chair beside the kitchen woodstove on winter evenings when I was ill with anemia and spent much time with her and my aunt at their Trails End Farm.  There Nanny taught me to stitch quilt pieces together from the flowered sacks the chicken feed came in. 

Nanny’s mother-in-law was a quilter, too, although she had died before I was born.  However, these ladies, along with stories my mother told about quilting on the farm when she was small, linger in my mind as I ponder my Trails End qulting heritage. 

So, if I were to say I had a muse, it might be the lingering aura of the Trails End quilting ladies.

Do you have someone or something that inspires you with your quilting?

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Do You Have a Quilting Muse?

When these sewing machines were invented in the mid-1800s, they were the height of modernization.  Seamstresses were delighted they no longer needed to stitch clothing and quilts and do mending by hand. 

Finally my 4-H teacher bought a portable electric sewing machine that sat on a table.  She taught us to use this but warned us to “be careful of your fingers.  That needle goes awfully fast.”

We still have a treadle sewing machine that my daughter has claimed.  It’s considered an antique.  One of these days, we’ll have to haul it from storage in the garage and see if it really works.  In the meantime, she uses her computerized machine for quilting and fabric art.

Anne Kusilek . at Antique Quilt Dating, has written several articles about the non-electric, people powered, or treadle sewing machines…the history of them and her experiences.  As I read these articles, I was taken back in time to a childhood when Mother, Sister and I used treadle sewing machine in my parents’ bedroom to make many items of clothing and sew patches for quilts.

These old-time sewing machines have become collectibles.  Some are used for display and decorative effect.  Others are used for sewing, as Anne Kusilek does.

A number of books, as well as Anne’s articles, have been published about the history of the sewing machine.

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Quilting & Sewing with a Treadle Machine