By: Virginia Gunn 

Quilting myths are realities of quilt history. Romantic myths have been combined with historical facts as people interpreted America’s quilting past. They continue to be accepted as true even when proven to be inaccurate. Myths survive and thrive because they reflect people’s dreams, ideals, and values. They provide images and stories that unite and inspire members of society. Signs of maturity in quilt study, as in other fields of research,

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From Myth to Maturity: The Evolution of Quilt Scholarship  »

By: Carolyn H. Krone and Thomas M. Horner 

Quiltmaking is a form of indigenous healing facilitating mourning. Through its fabrics and associated activities quilting provides a path toward coming to terms with loss. In the modern era, grief and mourning are often managed by professional grief counselors in packaged formats which emphasize verbalized and interpreted communications. In contrast, indigenous healing emphasizes atheoretical and non-prescriptive approaches to loss.

Drawing from the historical record as well as from contemporary examples arising in clinical practice,

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Her Grief in the Quilt  »

By: Nancy Cameron Armstrong 

Having familiarity with a number of quilts made during previous wars and sensing something different at work, I hypothesized that “the motivations and feelings of the makers of quilts made in reaction to the Gulf War differed from the motivations and feelings of the makers of quilts made during previous wars.” I developed a set of nineteen open-ended, primarily affective-domain questions. Participants responded to notices placed in quilting periodicals.

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Quilts of the Gulf War, Desert Storm¬ – Participation or Protest?  »

By: Margaret T. Ordonez 

Among the most historically significant quilts are those with signatures, but the signatures that make them so valuable also cause them to be more fragile than their contemporaries of other styles. This research investigated permanent nineteenth century inks and the effect that they had on cotton, signature quilts. Special needs related to handling, cleaning, exhibition, and storage were identified for both old and new signature quilts.

Although indelible carbon and silver nitrate inks were used in the last century,

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Ink Damage on Nineteenth Century Cotton Signature Quilts  »

By: Kristin M. Langellier 

Although the vitality and significance of Show and Tell is widely known and appreciated within contemporary quiltmaking culture, it has not received systematic scholarly attention. Data on Show and Tell were collected in two years of fieldwork in Maine, including participant ¬observation in three local quilting groups, interviews with quilters, and a survey of the Maine state quilters’ guild. Data were analyzed in a two-part analysis: first,

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Show and Tell in Contemporary Quiltmaking Culture  »

By: Kari Ronning 

This study examines the kind of quiltmaking activities taking place in a rural, Midwestern area in the period 1880-1920. Webster County, Nebraska, was chosen because it is one of the representative sites chosen by the Nebraska Quilt Project; extensive primary sources such as newspapers of the period are available; unique literary materials are available since the area is depicted in many of Willa Cather’s novels. The newspapers of the period record quilts,

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Quilting in Webster County, Nebraska, 1880-1920  »

By: Jane E. Hindman 

In order to offer an alternative to the material culture research model, this essay explores the social and oral context within which African-American women teach and perform quilting. The data were collected over a four-month period during which I was a participant/observer in a racially mixed sewing class sponsored by a neighborhood center in Tucson, Arizona, and predominantly attended and taught by African-American women. First classified according to type of performance and then considered holistically,

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Quilt Talk: Verbal Performance among A Group of African-American Quilters  »

By: Dorothy Cozart 

This article examines what the author believes to be typical roles of the women of a mid-nineteenth century Southern family in the production of clothing and decorative household articles. Using family letters written during the years 1846-1863, the author quotes excerpts which indicate such things as the kind of handwork being done, the women’s attitudes toward the handwork, and how those attitudes were being transmitted to their children.

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The Handwork of the Women of One Southern Family  »

By: Barbara Brackman 

Popular myth imagines quiltmaking to be one of the activities that occupied women and children traveling along the Oregon/California Trails between 1840 and 1870. To examine the myth I read seventy-nine firsthand accounts of life en route. While reading these published diaries, letters, and memoirs, I noted any mention of fabric, quilts, sewing, or other handwork. I found few references to sewing of any kind, and none to patchwork or quilting.

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Quiltmaking on the Overland Trails  »