"During the time when slaves lived in America, the art of quilting brought together European and African cultures. People thought that the African folk tradition was less important than the European tradition. Even though there was a big difference between these two cultures and traditions, quilting brought them together.
It brought together the values of both African American and European American women in a way that no other folk art tradition had. Storytelling and folklore are important to both of them in a big way. Both traditions have in common that they bring women together to sew and teach the traditions to new generations.
African Americans and European Americans both made quilts to keep their families warm. They also did it to show off their creativity and gain status, to keep track of family history, and to show different ideas and beliefs. Women thought it was the best way to spend time with each other and show off what they could do.
Even though quilting is a process that can be done in many different ways, it is also a cultural process that came about when African and European traditions met and mixed. One thing that came out of this was the rise of quilting in the United States. Both styles of quilting have a lot of meaning behind them. Storytelling and folklore are important to both of them in a big way. Both traditions have in common that they bring women together to sew and teach the traditions to new generations."
I don't feel bad about quoting from my e-book, The Essential Guide to Quilting if you don't mind. The book is mostly about how to quilt, but I thought it was important to look at quilting's history first. Like many of you who are reading this, I didn't know how important this craft was to our history and to the history of much of the world.
I go into more detail about the history in the e-Book. As I said in my autobiography, when I started quilting a few years ago, there wasn't a lot of good information about how to start. So I took a break from quilting to write the e-Book, The Essential Guide to Quilting, to help my readers avoid the ups and downs I went through when I almost gave up.
Learn the main quilting terms before you start. Here are just a few:
- Applique: Appliques are pieces of fabric that are glued or stitched onto other pieces of fabric. You can do the stitching by hand or with a machine. Most of the time, buttonhole, satin, or blind stitches are used.
- Basting: There are many ways to baste, such as spray basting, thread basting, and pin basting. In this step, the quilt top, the batting (the middle layer between quilts, which is usually cotton, wool, or polyester), and the backing are all held together so that they can be sewn together at the end.
- Bearding is the process of pulling the batting fibers through the top and bottom of the quilt through the holes made while sewing to make a whiskered effect.
- A "cheater's panel" or "cheater's cloth" is a piece of printed fabric that looks like a quilt block. They are made to look like a quilt top that has been pieced or appliqued.
Here, I've chosen some of the less obvious quilting terms and given a short explanation of each one to show how important it is to learn them if you want to get the most out of this fascinating craft. There are a lot of words to learn. I'm not trying to scare you away; I'm just trying to help you along.
