In my first Caroline mystery, Traitor in the Shipyard, Caroline and her friend Rhonda decide to make a quilt as a gift for Lydia, Caroline’s cousin. Their first task was to choose a design for their quilt.
Many quilt tops were pieced together. Girls and women cut pieces of cloth and stitched them together to create colorful designs.
This sweet doll quilt is made of Nine Patch blocks. After the maker created nine blocks, she sewed the blocks together. (Wisconsin Historical Society 1951.2359)
Other quilt makers used a technique called appliqué to create pictures from fabric.
This design was one of many appliquéd pictures made on an album quilt in 1847. Wouldn’t Caroline love the ship design? (Grand Rapids Public Museum Collection, 2006.8.1)
Some quilts from Caroline’s time include both pieced blocks and a central picture. Caroline and Rhonda decided to use this approach.
This quilt, made in 1811, includes pieced blocks and a floral design in the center. (Cincinnati Art Museum Collection)
Caroline and Rhonda also wanted their quilt to show their patriotic spirit. If you made a quilt to show your patriotic spirit, what would it look like?
Brown-Francis Family’s Patriotic Quilt, believed to have been made some time between 1800 and 1820. (Smithsonian Collection, NMAH-78-9642)
Two hundred years ago, girls like Caroline made quilts to learn sewing skills and to create beautiful bed coverings. Piecing quilts also let women and girls use tiny scraps of fabric that might otherwise have been wasted. For someone like Lydia, living in a simple log cabin with no other decorations, a pretty quilt would have been a welcome gift!
Sites and Stories 
March 17, 2015 at 8:46 am |
Thanks, Kathleen. I’ve always loved the stories told through quilts.