Quilting facts for kids
Quilting is a fun and creative way to join at least three layers of fabric together. You can do this by hand with a needle and thread, or with a sewing machine. The stitches go through all the layers, making a soft, padded surface. These layers are usually a top fabric (the pretty design), a middle layer called batting (for warmth and puffiness), and a backing fabric.
Quilting can be very practical, like making a warm blanket. It can also be a fancy art form with detailed designs. Many things are made with quilting, such as bedspreads, home decorations, clothes, and even wall art.
Quilters use many tricks to make their projects special. They choose different types and thicknesses of fabric, stitch lengths, and patterns. They can create cool optical illusions with colors, textures, and prints. Quilts can also be decorated with things like appliqué (sewing fabric shapes onto a background), embroidery, beads, buttons, and sequins. Some artists even dye their own fabrics or use unusual materials like plastics or plants!
Quilting is also a great example of upcycling. Historically, quilters often used leftover fabric scraps and old clothes to create new, useful items. This is a smart way to reuse materials and reduce waste.
Contents
Discovering Quilting: A Creative Fabric Art
The Ancient Roots of Quilting
The word 'quilt' comes from the Latin word culcita, which means a cushion or stuffed sack. It arrived in English from the French word cuilte. People in England started using the term around the 13th century.
The techniques of sewing pieces together, adding fabric shapes (appliqué), and quilting have been used for thousands of years. They created clothing and home items all over the world. Many unique quilting styles have developed globally.
The oldest known quilted clothing is shown on an ivory carving of an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh. This carving dates back to Egypt's First Dynasty. In 1924, archaeologists found a quilted floor covering in Mongolia. Experts believe it was made between 100 BC and 200 AD.
Quilting's Journey to Europe
In Europe, quilting has been a part of needlework since about the fifth century. Early quilted items contained Egyptian cotton. This suggests that trade routes helped spread the technique. However, quilted items were quite rare in Europe until around the 12th century. More quilted bedding and other goods appeared after the Crusaders returned from the Middle East.
Medieval knights wore quilted garments like the gambeson under their armor. These later became the quilted doublet, a type of jacket worn by European men from the 14th to 17th centuries. The oldest surviving European bed quilt is the Tristan Quilt. It was made in Italy in the late 14th century from linen padded with wool. Its center blocks show scenes from the legend of Tristan. This amazing quilt is 320 by 287 centimeters and is kept at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
American Quilts: Stories in Fabric
In early American Colonial times, most quilts were "whole-cloth" quilts. These used one large piece of fabric for the top, layered with batting and backing. Fine hand-stitching held them together. Quilts with fabric cutouts sewn on (broderie perse) were also popular. From 1770 to 1800, many quilts were "medallion-style." These had a central design panel surrounded by borders.
Patchwork quilting, where small pieces of fabric are sewn together, started in America around the 1770s. These early patchwork quilts often mixed different materials like wool, silk, linen, and cotton. They also combined large and small patterns. In North America, people sometimes used old blankets or worn-out clothes for the batting layer.
During the American pioneer days, "foundation piecing" became popular. People cut paper into shapes to use as patterns. Each fabric piece was sewn around a paper pattern. Paper was hard to find, so women saved letters, postcards, and newspapers for this purpose. The paper not only served as a pattern but also added extra insulation. Old papers found inside these quilts now give us clues about pioneer life.
Some quilts were made without any batting. These were called "summer quilts." They weren't for warmth, but to keep a slight chill away on cooler summer nights.
African-American Quilting Traditions
African-Americans have a long history of quilting. Enslaved people made quilts for themselves and for those who enslaved them. The style of these early quilts often matched the region and time period. After 1865, when slavery ended in the United States, African-Americans began to create their own unique quilting styles.
Harriet Powers, an African-American woman born into slavery, made two famous "story quilts." She was one of many who helped shape quilting in the United States. African-American quilts often featured bright colors, strip arrangements, and unique, asymmetrical patterns.
The Gee's Bend Quilters Collective from Alabama gained national attention in 2002. Their quilts were shown in museums, including the Smithsonian. Gee's Bend is a small, isolated community with a quilting tradition passed down through generations. Their quilts are known for creative patterns, bright colors, and a sense of movement. The US Postal Service even honored the quilters of Gee's Bend with a series of stamps. Many of these quilters also helped create the Freedom Quilting Bee, a co-op for African-American women in Alabama.
A popular story, especially from the children's book Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt (1989), suggests that enslaved people used quilts to share secret messages for escaping through the Underground Railroad. While this is a powerful idea, historians have not found evidence in historical records or slave stories to support that quilts were used in this way.
Today, quilters like Faith Ringgold use quilts to tell stories and share important messages about the African-American experience. Ringgold, who started as a painter, began quilting to explore new art forms. Her "story quilts" combine painting and quilting. Her famous quilt, Tar Beach 2 (1990), shows a young African-American girl flying over Harlem, New York City.
Bisa Butler, another modern African-American quilter, creates stunning quilted portraits. Her art celebrates Black life, showing both everyday people and famous historical figures. Her quilts are now displayed in major museums like the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Amish Quilts: Simple Beauty
The Amish are another American group known for their special quilting style. Amish quilts typically use only solid-colored fabrics. They are made from geometric shapes, without appliqué. The construction is simple and done entirely by hand. Amish quilters often use straightforward patterns. For example, those in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, are famous for their Diamond-in-a-Square and Bars patterns. Other communities use patterns like Brick or Log Cabins. Borders and color choices also differ by community. Lancaster quilts, for instance, have wide borders with fancy stitching.
Native American Star Quilts
Some Native Americans in the United States learned quilting from white settlers or missionaries. These missionaries taught quilting along with other homemaking skills. Native American women quickly developed their own unique style: the Lone Star design. This was a variation of older Morning Star designs found on their traditional clothing. These quilts often had floral appliqué around the star. Star quilts became very important in many Plains Indians ceremonies. They replaced traditional buffalo robes given at births, marriages, and other events. Pictorial quilts, made with appliqué, were also common.
Another special Native American style is Seminole piecing. This developed among the Seminoles living in the Everglades in Florida. It started because fabric was hard to get. Women would sew strips of fabric scraps together, then join these into larger pieces for clothing. Eventually, this style was used for quilts too. After 1900, with sewing machines and more fabric available, the patterns became much more detailed. This style is still used today by Seminole women and others who admire their designs.
Hawaiian Quilting: Bold Designs
Hawaiian quilting was well-known by the early 1900s. Hawaiian women learned to quilt from the wives of missionaries from New England in the 1820s. They learned both patchwork and appliqué. By the 1870s, they had adapted appliqué to create a unique Hawaiian art form. The classic Hawaiian quilt has a large, bold, curvy appliqué pattern. This symmetrical design covers most of the quilt's surface and is cut from a single piece of fabric.
Quilting Around the World
South Asian Quilting Styles
_LACMA_AC1994.131.1.jpg)
Two main types of quilting come from South Asia: Nakshi Kantha and Ralli. Nakshi Kantha quilts started in India. They are usually made from fabric scraps and old clothes. These are stitched together with old sari threads using kantha embroidery stitches. The fabric layers were spread out, held down, and sewn with large basting stitches. The oldest recorded kantha quilts are over 500 years old.
Ralli quilts are traditionally made in Pakistan, western India, and nearby areas. Women from all parts of society make them. The colors and designs change depending on the group. The name Ralli means "to mix or connect." One woman designs and pieces the quilt top using scraps of hand-dyed cotton, often from old clothes. Then, family and community members help sew the layers together with thick, colored thread in straight lines.
Japanese Sashiko Stitching
,_late_19th_century_(CH_1108827543).jpg)
In Japan, before the 20th century, quilting often involved covering local plant fibers with more valuable cotton cloth. Japanese cloth was usually rectangular, which led to rectangle-based patterns. Sashiko stitching, a type of running stitch, has now developed into purely decorative forms. It was originally used by working-class people to stitch layers together for warmth.
Swedish Quilting: From Luxury to Everyday
Quilting began in Sweden in the 15th century. Heavily stitched and appliquéd quilts were made for very wealthy people. These quilts, made from silk, wool, and felt, were both decorative and useful. They were found in churches and noble homes. Imported cotton arrived in Sweden in 1870 and soon appeared in Swedish quilts. Scraps of wool, silk, and linen were also used. As cotton became cheaper and more available, quilting became popular among all Swedish people. Wealthier quilters used wool batting, while others used linen scraps, rags, or paper mixed with animal hair. These quilts were generally simple and narrow, made by both men and women. American influence is thought to have greatly shaped Swedish quilting during this time. This happened as Swedish immigrants returned home when conditions improved.
Quilting as Modern Art
In the late 20th century, art quilts became popular. These quilts are valued for their beauty and artistic qualities, rather than just for being useful. They might be displayed on a wall or table instead of being used on a bed. Some believe decorative quilting came to Europe and Asia during the Crusades (1100–1300 AD). This is likely because textile arts were more advanced in China and India than in the West.
American artist Judy Chicago once said that if not for unfairness in the art world, quilting would be seen as a higher form of art. She pointed out that abstract patterns by men are called "art," but similar patterns by women in fabric are often called "decorative." This shows how women's artistic experiences can sometimes be overlooked.
The Rise of Modern Quilting
In the early 21st century, modern quilting became a big trend. Modern quilting has a unique look inspired by modern architecture, art, and design. It uses traditional quilt-making techniques. Unlike art quilts, modern quilts are usually made to be used. They are also influenced by the Quilts of Gee's Bend, Amish quilts, and famous quilters like Nancy Crow and Denyse Schmidt.
The Modern Quilt Guild has tried to define what makes a quilt "modern." These quilts often use bold colors and prints, strong contrasts, and large areas of solid color. They might feature improvisational piecing, minimalism, lots of empty space, and unusual grid patterns.
The Modern Quilt Guild is a non-profit group with over 14,000 members in more than 200 guilds across 39 countries. It supports modern quilting through local groups, workshops, and an annual conference called QuiltCon. The first Modern Quilt Guild started in Los Angeles in October 2009.
QuiltCon includes a quilt show with over 400 quilts, vendors, lectures, and classes. The first QuiltCon took place from February 21–24, 2013, in Austin, Texas. QuiltCon 2020 was also held in Austin, Texas, from February 20–23, 2020. It showcased 400 modern quilts from quilters worldwide.
Understanding Quilt Blocks
A quilt block is a smaller section made from several pieces of fabric sewn together. These blocks are repeated, or sometimes mixed with plain blocks, to create the overall design of a quilt. Barbara Brackman has documented over 4,000 different quilt block patterns. These patterns date from the early 1830s to the 1970s in her Encyclopedia Of Pieced Quilt Patterns. Some simpler quilt block designs include the Nine-Patch, Shoo Fly, Churn Dash, and Prairie Queen.
Most geometric quilt block designs fit into a "grid." This grid is the number of squares a pattern block is divided into. The five main categories for square patterns are Four Patch, Nine Patch, Five-Patch, Seven-Patch, and Eight-Pointed Star. Each block can be further divided. For example, a Four-Patch can be made of 16 or 64 smaller squares.
A simple Nine Patch is made by sewing five patterned or dark fabric pieces to four light square pieces in an alternating order. These nine sewn squares form one block.
The Shoo Fly block is a variation of the Nine Patch. It divides each of the four corner pieces into a light and dark triangle.
Another variation happens when one square piece in the basic Nine Patch is divided into two equal rectangles. The Churn Dash block combines triangles and rectangles to expand the Nine Patch design.
The Prairie Queen block uses two large triangles in the corner sections. The middle section uses four squares, and the center piece is one full-size square. All nine sections have the same overall measurement and fit together.
The number of possible patterns is almost endless. You can subdivide Four-, Five-, Seven-, Nine-Patches, and Eight-Pointed Stars, and use triangles instead of squares in the smaller sections.
How Quilting is Done: Techniques and Tools
Many types of quilting exist today. The two most common are hand-quilting and machine quilting.
Hand quilting uses a needle and thread to sew a running stitch by hand across the entire quilt. This holds the layers together. A quilting frame or hoop often helps hold the fabric steady. A quilter can make one stitch at a time, pushing the needle through from the top, then back up from the bottom; this is called a stab stitch. Another method is the rocking stitch, where one hand (with a thimble) is on top, and the other hand underneath pushes the needle back up. A third way is "loading the needle," where you make several stitches before pulling the needle all the way through. Hand quilting is still practiced by the Amish and Mennonites. It is also becoming popular again worldwide.
Machine quilting uses a home sewing machine or a special longarm quilting machine to sew the layers together. With a home sewing machine, the layers are first tacked together. This means laying out the top, batting, and backing on a flat surface and pinning them with large safety pins or using temporary stitches. Longarm quilting uses a special frame. The layers are rolled onto bars on this frame, holding them together without needing pins or tacks. A professional sewing machine is mounted on a platform that moves across the fabric layers on the frame. With a longarm machine, the machine moves over the fabric. With a home sewing machine, you move the fabric through the machine.
Tying is another way to fasten the three layers together. This is mainly done for quilts that are needed quickly and will be used often. To tie a quilt, you use yarn or several strands of thread. Square knots are used to finish the ties. This ensures the quilt can be washed and used without the knots coming undone. This technique is often called "tacking." In the Midwest, tacked bed covers are known as comforters.
Quilting is now taught in some American schools. It is also taught at senior centers across the U.S., and quilters of all ages attend classes. These workshops and classes are also available in other countries through guilds and community colleges.
Essential Quilting Tools
Today's quilters use many different designs and styles. These range from ancient and ethnic patterns to modern and futuristic ones. No single style dominates the quilting world.
Sewing machines help piece together the quilt top. Some quilters also use a home sewing machine to quilt the layers together and bind the finished product. Most home sewing machines can quilt, but a wide "throat" (the space to the right of the needle) is helpful for moving a bulky quilt.
Fabric markers help mark where cuts should be made. Marks from special fabric markers wash out of fabrics.
Quilting rulers are usually square or rectangular. They have length measurements and angle markings on multiple edges.
Longarm quilting machines are used for larger quilts. These bigger machines mean the quilter doesn't have to hold the heavy fabric. Some special quilt shops offer longarm services.
Machine quilting needles are very sharp. They easily pierce through multiple layers of fabric to sew the quilt top, batting, and backing together.
Hand quilting needles are traditionally called betweens. They are generally smaller and stronger than regular sewing needles. They have a very small eye, which helps the thread pull through smoothly.
Pins come in many types and can be used in different ways to hold fabric layers.
Thimbles protect your fingertips while you sew.
Specialist quilting threads come in many types, weights, and materials. Cotton, polyester, and nylon threads are used for different quilting projects.
Rotary cutters changed quilt-making when they appeared in the late 1970s. They make it easy to cut even strips of fabric.
Basting spray is a temporary aerosol glue. It can be used to spray the quilt layers together, holding them in place while you sew. It's a special glue that won't clog a sewing machine and is much faster than hand basting.
Quilting templates/patterns come in many varieties. They are like a blueprint for a house, guiding the structure of the quilt.
Bias binding or bias tape can be made from strips of quilt fabric or bought ready-made. It's used at the end of making a quilt to cover and finish the edges.
Unique Quilting Styles to Explore
- Foundation piecing – Also known as paper-piecing, this involves sewing fabric pieces onto a temporary or permanent paper base.
- Shadow or echo quilting – A Hawaiian quilting technique where stitching is done around an appliquéd design, then repeated in echoing lines around the previous stitches.
- Ralli quilting – A style from Pakistan and India, often found in the Sindh and Gujarat regions.
- Sashiko stitching – A basic running stitch using heavy, white cotton thread, usually on dark indigo fabric. It was originally used to stitch layers for warmth.
- Trapunto quilting – A stuffed quilting technique, often linked to Italy, where parts of the design are padded to stand out.
- Machine trapunto quilting – A method using water-soluble thread and an extra layer of batting to create a raised design. The quilt is then layered and re-sewn with regular thread.
- Shadow trapunto – This involves quilting a design on fine lawn fabric and filling some areas with small pieces of colored wool.
- Tivaevae or tifaifai – A distinct art form from the Cook Islands.
- Watercolor quilting – A clever way of using uniform sizes of various printed fabrics. These are arranged and sewn to create a picture or design. See also Colorwash.
- Thread art – A custom sewing style where layers of thread create a picture on the quilt.
- Traditional embroidery techniques can also be used to create block designs or decorate pieced or appliquéd blocks.
See also
- Broderie perse
- Godadi
- Kantha
- Quilt art
- Razai
- Ralli quilt
- Sashiko
