Quilting

The rise of cotton farming and manufactured cloth in the early 1800s meant that the cost of fabric was less than ever before. As a result, quilting became a popular pastime for early American women. To make a quilt, women bought fabrics in a variety of colors and stitched them together to create elaborate geometric designs or pictures. Then they would stitch the finished piece to two other layers of fabric to create a three-dimensional effect. Quilting was a way women could express their creativity and showcase their skill with a needle and thread. The size of quilts meant that quilting could also be a social activity. Quilting bees were popular social events that brought together many women to create one quilt.

This is the unfinished top piece of a quilt that was made in Georgia. The quilter cut three different fabric colors into elaborate shapes and sewed them onto a white background to create birds, trees, fruit, and baskets. Sewing smaller pieces of fabric onto a larger piece to create a design is called appliqué. Seeing this piece in its unfinished state gives the viewer a sense of just how much labor went into creating a finished quilt.

• APUSH Connection: 4.5 Market Revolution: Industrialization
• Teach this object together with the following for a larger lesson about women’s art and craft in early America: Silhouettes, Observations of the New Nation, Symbols of Accomplishment, and Propagating “American” Womanhood.
• To learn more about what early American women did in their free time, see: American Cookery, Silhouettes, Observations of New Nation, and Novel for a New Era.

AMERICAN CULTURE