Quilting

Quilting varies from a purely functional fabric joinery technique to highly elaborate, decorative three dimensional surface treatments.

A wide variety of textile products are traditionally associated with quilting, including bed coverings, home furnishings, garments and costumes, wall hangings, artistic objects, and cultural artifacts.

A quilter can employ a wide range of effects that contribute to the quality and utility of the final quilted material.

To create these effects, the quilter manipulates elements such as material type and thickness, stitch length and style, pattern design, piecing, and cutting.

Three-dimensional and sculptural components of quilted material can be manipulated and enhanced further by embellishment, which may include appliqué, embroidery techniques such as shisha mirror work, and the inclusion of other objects or elements such as pearls, beads, buttons, and sequins.

Quilting can be considered one of the first examples of upcycling, as quilters have historically made extensive use of remnants and offcuts for the creation of new products.

The earliest known quilted garment is depicted on the carved ivory figure of a Pharaoh dating from the ancient Egyptian First Dynasty.

In 1924 archaeologists discovered a quilted floor covering in Mongolia, estimated to date between 100 BC and 200 AD.

The medieval quilted gambeson, aketon and arming doublet[3] were garments worn under or instead of chain mail or plate armor.

Paper was a scarce commodity in the early American west so women would save letters from home, postcards, newspaper clippings, and catalogs to use as patterns.

This style of African-American quilts was categorized by its bright colors, organization in a strip arrangement, and asymmetrical patterns.

The first nationwide recognition of African-American quilt-making came when the Gee's Bend quilting community of Alabama was celebrated in an exhibition that opened in 2002 and traveled to many museums, including the Smithsonian.

[12] The contributions made by Harriet Powers and other quilters of Gee's Bend, Alabama have been recognized by the US Postal Service with a series of stamps.

A quilting co-op created by some of the African American women of Wilcox County, Alabama.Some of the founding and influential members include Estelle Witherspoon, Willie Abrams, Lucy Mingo, Minder Pettway Coleman, and Aolar Mosely.

[14] The communal nature of the quilting process (and how it can bring together women of varied races and backgrounds) was honored in the series of stamps.

Consensus among historians is that there is no sound basis for this belief, and no documented mention among the thousands of slave narratives or other contemporary records.

One of her most famous quilts, Tar Beach 2 (1990), depicts the story of a young African-American girl flying around Harlem in New York City.

[18] Bisa Butler, another modern African-American quilter, celebrates Black life with her vibrant, quilted portraits of both everyday people and notable historical figures.

Typically, these quilts use only solid fabrics, are pieced from geometric shapes, do not contain appliqué, and construction is simple (corners are butted, rather than mitered, for instance) and done entirely by hand.

"The layers of cloth were spread on the ground, held in place with weights at the edges, and sewn together with rows of large basting stitches.

Once pieced, the quilt top is placed on a reed mat with the other layers and sewn together using thick, colored thread in straight parallel lines by members of the designer's family and community.

[11] Quilting in Japan, until the 20th century, generally covered local bast fibers with more valuable cotton cloth.

These quilts, created from silk, wool, and felt, were intended to be both decorative and functional and were found in churches and in the homes of nobility.

Wealthier quilters used wool batting while others used linen scraps, rags, or paper mixed with animal hair.

"It is believed that decorative quilting came to Europe and Asia during the Crusades (A.D. 1100–1300), a likely idea because textile arts were more developed in China and India than in the West.

As industrial sewing technology has become more precise and flexible, quilting using exotic fabrics and embroidery began to appear in home furnishings in the early 21st century.

[33] Some of the simpler designs for quilt blocks include the Nine-Patch, Shoo Fly, Churn Dash, and the Prairie Queen.

[5] The number of patterns possible by subdividing Four-, Five-, Seven-, Nine-Patches and Eight-Pointed Stars and using triangles instead of squares in the small subdivisions is almost endless.

Hand quilting is still practiced by the Amish and Mennonites within the United States and Canada, and is enjoying a resurgence worldwide.

Contemporary quilters use a wide range of quilting designs and styles, from ancient and ethnic to post-modern futuristic patterns.