Few Americans have never slept under a quilt of one type or another. They are valued for their warmth, their beauty and their sentimentality.Commonly, quilts are composed of three layers – a solid piece backing, a middle layer of insulating material or batting and a top decorated in some fashion.Quilts have been a part of the American experience since the first travelers set foot on North American soil. Quilting had been practiced in many parts of the world for thousands of years. Indeed, a figure carved wearing a quilted garment was found that dated to 340 B.C., the first Egyptian dynasty.Though their knowledge and skill for quilting was abundant, Colonial women were short on free time. Conditions were not conducive for quilting either, with their homes being small, dirty, dark and smoky from a constant fire on the hearth. But bedding wears out eventually, and so they were forced by necessity to make new quilts from what materials they had available. Piecework or patchwork was developed in the mid-1700s when salvageable pieces of old clothes and bedding were sewn together and made into new quilts. This new development satisfied the women’s need for beauty and creativity while still allowing them to be practical and frugal.Hand piecing and quilting were taught to young girls right along with reading, writing and arithmetic as a necessary part of their education. By the time she was old enough to be engaged, a girl was expected to have pieced twelve quilt tops. The women of the community, as part of the preparations for the wedding, gathered to quilt the twelve tops and a thirteenth as well, usually a whole-top quilt of white fabric, quilted with hearts or bells.These quilting gatherings, or “bees” as they came to be called, provided pioneer women a much-needed respite from the hard work and loneliness of everyday life. They also fulfilled a social need, giving the women a chance to discuss marriage, childcare, homemaking and community issues. Many quilt patterns and patchwork designs were shared, altered, improved and named at the bees. Many of the names of patchwork designs popular today arose from this era. Examples are “straight furrow” and “barn-raising.”In 1793, the cotton gin was invented and soon the first U.S. textile factory was built. Cheap cotton prints became abundant and, as a result, women were able to be more creative with their patchwork and quilting. Patterns and designs were spread across the county by means of bees, letters, peddlers and settlers migrating to the West.Women packing up to migrate west numbered their quilts among their most prized possessions. As they journeyed on, they valued their quilts for other reasons as well. Quilts on the rough wagon trails were used to cushion fragile china, pad the hard seat of the wagon and keep rain from coming in the openings of the wagon covering. Oftentimes, quilts were used as burial shrouds for loved ones who died along the way. Among the patchwork patterns that were named during the migration west are Rocky Road to Kansas, Oregon Trail, Prairie Rose and Indian Hatchet.Many of the quilts carried west were friendship quilts or album quilts. These quilts were often composed of blocks pieced and signed by each member of a group of friends and given to the recipient as a remembrance of the group.The mid-1800s brought two developments that greatly affected the number and quality of quilts being made. The invention of the sewing machine in 1841 allowed women to piece quilt tops much more quickly. Agricultural fairs, much like the county and state fairs of today, became popular and allowed women to compete with one another in their quilt making. The period before the Civil War was a time of prosperity for the country. Fabric was cheap and available, and even the frontier women could buy fabrics brought west by the railroad.The “log cabin” patchwork quilt was designed during this time, commemorating the log cabin campaign of Abraham Lincoln. This design is commonly sewn with each square having a red center. Log cabin quilts with black centers were hung from clotheslines of homes that were safe havens for escaped slaves, thus marking the way of the Underground Railroad.During the Civil War, Soldiers Aid Societies formed. These groups gathered food, clothing and quilts to donate to Union soldiers. It is estimated that more than 250,000 quilts were donated. Thousands of quilts were lost during the war, with quilts in the north donated to the soldiers and quilts in the south looted and burned.After the war, the movement to quilt for social causes became predominant. Quilts were made, sold, raffled and auctioned to raise awareness and funds for temperance, abolition and suffrage causes.The twentieth century saw the popularity of quilting rise and fall repeatedly. The 1920s and ’30s saw a revival because of the publication of patchwork and quilting patterns and columns in newspapers and magazines. The 1940s saw a decline in popularity due to the United States’ entry into World War II. During the war, women went to work, leaving less time for creative pursuits. After the war, the common trend was to embrace new, modern things rather than old traditional ways. Quilt-making declined further in the ’50s and ’60s as quilts were considered old fashioned and out of style.A surge of interest in quilt making in the early ’70s was spurred primarily by the country’s bicentennial celebration, which aroused a new patriotism and caused fresh interest in history and traditional art forms. Guilds were created, operating much like the bees of the 1800s, but the members quilt for charitable causes. It’s estimated that in the United States there are over 1,500 quilt guilds with approximately 225,000 members.Piecing Partners Quilting Guild formed in Colorado Springs in the early 1970s. Today, about 300 members meet twice a month. Last year they donated 340 quilts to the El Paso County Department of Human Services for children in the foster-care program. They also donated 50 quilts to the Chaffee program, which oversees the older foster children who have reached the age of emancipation.Piecing Partners Quilting Guild has a group that meets in the Falcon area twice a month also. This smaller group has between five to 15 members at any given meeting, and they meet from 9 a.m. to noon on the first and third Mondays of each month. The group accepts donations of fabric, sewing supplies and funds, and welcomes new members at any skill level. For more information on the group meeting in Falcon, contact Dottie Newman at 494-0291.
