Quilting During Financial Hard Times: Then and Now

Things seem a bit gloomy today with the current financial crisis. Some folks are losing jobs or even their homes. For many of us it's just a worrisome thing. With groceries costing more and more we are wondering if it will all get worse or better.

Have you ever noticed when you have everything you don't really notice it all, but when things are kind of tough you appreciate the little things more? For many women during the Great Depression that little point of joy was found in making a quilt.

Though quilters during the depression may have been using feedsacks or scraps, the colors and patterns on fabric brought quilters cheer. Here was a chance to be creative with material at hand. That's why women cared which sacks of feed their husbands bought. The had a plan for their quilt and knew just which colors and prints they needed for it.

Times had been good during the 1920s. It was a time of technical advances and families were able to listen to the radio, travel in cars, talk on the telephone and go to the movies. What a difference it was just a decade later. For many, when the depression hit it really meant cutting back. We too have gone through a period of affluence. Hopefully our economy will never fall to depression level but it looks as though it will be limping along for a while.

We can turn to quilting too. I know, you are thinking about how some quilting fabric has gone up to over $10 dollars a yard! No doubt most of us won't be buying much at that price. We will need to find other sources, just as our great grandmothers did.

That is the reason I decided to start "Frugal Quilting Fun". Here you will find free patterns and ideas for quilt making on a budget.

^* p xi Soft Covers for Hard Times: Quiltmaking & the Great Depression,
by Merikay Waldvogel

The picture of the women and her quilt are from
the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum.