Winter Warmth: The Craft of Handmade Heirloom Quilts

A handmade heirloom quilt can envelop you in warmth and a craft tradition with roots that reach far back in time. Beautiful in design, handmade quilts often relay compelling stories of family and community built patch by patch, generation upon generation. 

Before diving into the history of the quilt, let‘s to set the stage with the defining characteristic of a quilt, which is its three-layered construction:

• A top layer (often pieced or appliquéd),
• A middle layer (batting or filling for warmth),
• A backing layer, with all three layers held together by stitching.

Now, curl up with us as we explore the fascinating legacy of handmade quilts, from their history to the techniques and customs that make them timeless treasures.

The Historic Artistry of Handmade Quilts

Though little evidence survives due to the volatility of fabrics over time, examples of quilting have been part of human history since antiquity. Quilting was rumored to have been practiced in ancient China and the Middle East. In addition, a pharaonic ivory figure from around 3000 BCE found during the excavations of the Egyptian temple from Abydos (now housed in the British Museum) appears to be garbed in a quilted or embroidered robe. 

Such lavishly stitched works grew significantly in popularity during the Middle Ages, when the functional applications of a warm covering were paired with elegant artistry. For example, portions of an elaborately stitched whole-cloth work known as the “Tristan and Isolde” Quilt that originated in 14th-century Sicily reveal how detailed and narrative even these early quilts could be. These luxurious quilts could be used to keep the most elite members of society warm, but they could also at times serve as wall coverings to serve the dual role of insulation and artistic display. 

These quilt-making conventions blossomed over the subsequent centuries. In the 17th century, Japanese makers cultivated the “sashiko” quilting technique that evolved from simply caretaking worn fabrics into elegantly stitched designs. Sashiko quilting proved particularly popular for protective garments, like those for firefighters, as the ample stitching allowed the fabric to hold more moisture and thus safeguard the wearer. 

Meanwhile, Indian workshops created embroidered colchas crafted from silk and linen in response to Portuguese demand. These examples of striking stitchwork were typically commissioned for significant events like marriages and could include moral or allegorical themes like “The Five Senses”. The field was also growing across Europe, such that the 17th and 18th centuries witnessed a plethora of both whole-cloth quilts and patchwork quilts whose techniques migrated to the Americas as early as the 17th century. As these techniques took hold in American colonies, quilting became more closely tied to cultural heritage and took on more of the form that we know and love today. 

American Cultural Connections with Handmade Quilts 

While American 19th-century quilts share in a careful choreography of fabric and stitching, several different handmade quilting practices offer a means to better grasp the sheer variety and artistry that handmade quilts can display. Some of these include: 

Amish Quilting

The Amish community arrived in the Americas in the late 18th century, and by the following century Amish handmade quilting began to flourish. Made from fabric scraps and hand stitched in alignment with Amish beliefs, Amish quilts were first and foremost function. Often, though, these talented makers conjured quilts in patterns like florals or the iconic “Diamond in a Square” that dazzled with an incredible variety of colors stitched together in intricate detail. 

African-American Quilting

Quilting also became a chief mode of artistic and cultural expression for enslaved and freed African Americans as it was a way to include colors and motifs that relayed parts of a family’s history. This quilting legacy contributed to 19th-century centers like that of Gee’s Bend in Alabama became famous for the quilts made by African Americans that featured bold colors and energized designs like the “Pine Burr” and other pieced works that conjured incredible visual appeal. 

Hawaiian Quilting 

Also emerging in the 19th century was a tradition of Hawaiian handmade quilts. Combining skilled sewing with elegant appliqués, Hawaiian quilts often pulled from the local landscape and lore for the themes and images woven into their designs. From bold anthurium blossoms to pineapple plants, the natural landscape of the Hawaiian island provided the perfect sourcebook for quilt motifs. 

As these cultural customs attest, the 19th-century American quilting legacy came to dominate the field and produce some of the most diverse and beloved quilts held by families, collectors, and museums today. 

Core Techniques of Handmade Quilts

Shared across these many generations of quiltmakers are several core methods and techniques that transform simple fabric into delightful works of art. These include: 

Patchwork and Appliqué

Two of the most common techniques seen in handmade quilts, patchwork and appliqué are similar yet also offer their own distinct outcome. Patchwork refers to the art of piecing together pieces, or patches, of fabric into a larger, grid-like design.  Given its often geometric precision, patchwork allows quiltmakers to blend fabrics and colors into dazzling displays. It is also one of the more historic modes of making quilts, as surviving examples of Civil War-era handmade quilts attest. 

Appliqués are similar in that they are sewn together, however, they can comprise any shape or form that a quiltmaker might wish. Often appliqués, used extensively in Hawaiian handmade quilts, are used as an accent within a larger patchwork quilt design to enhance the pictorial aspects of a quilt. 

Reverse Appliqué 

Related to appliqués but inverse in their execution, reverse appliqués involve sewing layers of additional fabric to one’s quilt that are later trimmed back such that each fabric color or pattern is revealed beneath. This layered trimming adds a sense of dimension to a quilt as it results in the appearance that motif or shape extends into the quilt itself, as can be seen in both historic and contemporary examples. 

Foundation Piecing

The foundation piecing technique involves stitching together smaller pieces of fabric onto a foundation template to create a larger quilting segment. Each piece is fitted and trimmed to match the template, often made from paper or from other fabric, and then stitched to its adjacent pieces. This process continues until the entirety of the meticulous design is sewn together. 

The challenge with foundation piecing is that the quilter must work in reverse such that the finished fabric will be on the opposite side of the foundation. This aspect is why it is beneficial to work with a translucent material, like vellum, as the foundation so a quilter can double-check that the seams and patterns align as wished. The method’s beauty, however, is that it can yield spectacularly complex patterns like intricate geometric motifs. 

These techniques, often in combination with one another, are core to the creation of the myriad handmade quilts treasured today.

Contemporary Connections to Handmade Quilts 

While the momentum of handmade quilts has lessened over recent generations, its artistry is still alive and well. Contemporary quilters continue to employ these age-old techniques to create designs that speak to modern expression and embrace abstract aesthetics. From the art quilts of contemporary icons like Faith Ringgold and Grayson Perry to the formation in 2008 of the Modern Quilt Guild, an international network that advocates for the spread of quilting techniques and practices, handmade quilting will assuredly be a tradition that lives long into the future. That future was only made possible, however, thanks to the pioneers of handmade quilts who dedicated hours to the creation of awe-inspiring quilts over past generations.