America's Quilting History

We've all signed autograph albums and their modern counterpart the school year book. But in the first half of the 1800s autograph albums reached a height of popularity unknown today. By 1820 many a parlor table was graced by an album where guests would sign their names along with inspirational phrases. By the 1830s magazines including the popular "Godey's Lady's Book" printed messages and poems to be written in autograph albums. If a person wasn't satisfied with their own handwriting they used a metal stencil or signature stamp.

By 1840 new indelible inks were available that did not damage cloth. It was only natural that women would then take the autograph album a step further and create autographed quilts. The inscriptions on the early quilts frequently included poetry and dedications while quilts made after the Civil War usually included only names and perhaps the city where the person lived. Embroidery was sometime used; early on tiny cross-stitching was in vogue but by the end of the nineteenth century the chain stitch was more common. Sometimes a single person with beautiful handwriting would inscribe all the signatures.

There are two distinct kinds of autograph quilts. Single pattern quilts are often referred to as "friendship quilts" while the more formal quilts made of different blocks are called "sampler album quilts". Although both carried on the same tradition of signed remembrances, they were quite different. Sampler album quilts were made up of several unique intricately pieced or appliquéd blocks. A friendship quilt usually consisted of a simple block that could be quickly made from fabric scraps.

Often signatures were written with indelible ink but they were sometimes embroidered. Occasionally a single person with beautiful handwriting would inscribe all the signatures.

Imagine living in a time when families were large and women worked hard all day. Much of what we buy without a thought today had to be produced at home. Social time with family and neighbors was a highlight in a woman's life. What could be more fun than gathering together to quilt? The top would already have been pieced and the layers put together on a frame. Everything would be ready for the women to add their fine stitching.

Occasionally the quilt would be a special one with signatures of friends and family. These friendship quilts served as a precious memory not only to women who stayed in one place all their life but also for those who moved on to hardships on westward lands. Frequently friends and relatives had only occasional letters to connect with each other. Many a lonely woman living out on an isolated homestead cherished her friendship quilt. It reminded her of the time when she lived among family and friends. In addition illness and war took a dear ones away forever. A name on a quilt became a precious remembrance of them.

We tend to visualize a woman making and signing her block to be later sewn together into a friendship quilt. Although this was a common practice there were other ways a friendship quilt could be created. Sometimes a single person collected bits of fabric from others making a block from each contribution then signing the block with that person's name. Many quilts included only names of women but others included the names of children and men as well.

These quilts were made with readily available fabrics or scraps of old clothing. The making of these quilts was in the reach of almost any women no matter her financial circumstances.

Friendship quilts took time collecting fabric or blocks from each person, piecing them and then quilting the layers. Individual blocks on a quilt may have been made over several years and sometimes they were not finished into a quilt until years later. No matter how they were made they all had the same purpose, to record memories of cherished friends and family members.

References:

"Clues in the Calico" by Barbara Brackman

"For Purpose and Pleasure: Quilting Together in Nineteenth-Century America", by Sandi Fox

"Quiltmaking in America: Beyond the Myths", Laurel Horton (Editor)

"Remember Me: Women and Their Friendship Quilts", by Linda Otto Lipsett