Sewing Machine Quilting in the 19th Century
I'll bet most of you consider quilting the layers of a quilt together by machine as a modern innovation. You may even think fondly of the "good old days" when women took the time to do their quilting by hand. If so you will be surprised to learn that women have been quilting by machine since sewing machines have been widely available. Books and sewing machine manuals described how to quilt by machine as early as the mid 19th century. I don't mean just doing straight line quilting but information on how to do stippling and fancy feathers! In spite of this handquilting continued to be more common perhaps because of tradition or because it can be done in a social setting.
By the 1920' and 30s the Colonial Revival influenced women to place a high value on hand sewing so machine quilting was not considered as desirable as hand quilting. This attitude still exists in the minds of many even today. A hand quilted quilt is a lovely thing but women have always been busy with so many responsibilities. It only makes sense that many embrace the machine as a tool for quilting so long ago.