narrative quilting

The tradition & historical record

Narrative quilting describes the use of blanket weaving and quilting to portray a message or tell a story. It was a means of sending messages and recording history for women that were unable to participate in politics throughout time. ¹

Quilting came to America from Europe with the colonists, where there was a long-standing history of quilting. Quilting did not gain great momentum until after the Revolutionary War when women with lots of time and money began to use quilting as an art form. These quilts were not meant for typical use but instead were status symbols. Class differences contribute to much of the diversity in quilting styles. Quilts were meant to be sentimental and symbolic. From 1920-1930 there was a new-found desire to make quilts, generating the boom in narrative quilts found in exhibitions today. ¹

Abolitionist quilting was a way that women, particularly those within the Quaker church, were able to express political views without having the right to vote or a means to be politically involved. These women were opposed to slavery, and began to get more involved in the 1830s. Organized fundraising fairs and selling abolitionist quilts was one popular way for women to support the anti-slavery cause. Lydia Maria Child created one notable quilt called the eight-pointed star crib quilt. This quilt had a poem written by Elizabeth Margaret Chandler in the center as a reminder to think of the child of a slave mother who was "torn from her." Abolitionist quilts are rare but some are preserved in museums today. ¹

A legend describes quilts being hung on clotheslines outside of safe houses along the Underground Railroad in the 1830s. Embedded within the quilts was a code describing where to go next. The myth explains the symbols used, such as the Bow Tie, the Bear Paw, or the Log Cabin designs. The bow-tie design was meant to say that those passing should dress in a disguise to appear higher status. The bear paw symbolized following the animal trails up to the mountains for food and water. And the log cabin meant to seek shelter here this is a safe place to stay. The Drunkard's Path was meant to say zig-zag as you come along this path, in case you are being stalked by hounds. And the Double Wedding Ring pattern is suggested to mean it is now safe to remove your chains and shackles. Although this concept is debated among historians, many people associate this quilting myth with narrative quilting due to the theorized content and story these quilts held. ¹

Harriet Powers, an African-American farm woman of Clarke County, Georgia, is well-known for her quilts of the 1880s best exemplified by a quilt known as the Bible Quilt. Created around 1885–1886, the quilt features 11 panels stitched by both hand and machine in a previously unseen pattern, with a border and intersecting lines framing each scene. Every panel depicts a biblical narrative — the first six drawn from the Old Testament, beginning with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and moving through Eve and her son in Paradise, Satan and the seven stars, the death of Abel at Cain's hand, Cain's journey to the land of Nod, and Jacob's dream. The final five panels turn to the New Testament, tracing the life of Jesus Christ through his baptism, the Last Supper, the crucifixion, the Holy Family, and Judas Iscariot's betrayal for thirty pieces of silver. ¹

In the 1970s as quilting began to a popular resurgence quilt-making served as public acknowledgement of rites of passage. Presentation quilts were meant to celebrate a given event such as an engagement, or a family moving away. Album quilts similarly were meant to remember an event. Album quilts received their name because the quilting blocks looked like pages combined into a quilt. Each block designed by friends and family and sewn together to make one quilt. Friendship and gratitude could also be expressed through such album quilts. Freedom quilts were a colonial artifact given to young men on their 21st birthday to celebrate coming of age. These quilts were designed with bright patriotic colors and were often stored in their hope chest until the day of marriage. Tradition also showed women typically were to make 12 quilts prior to engagement and the 13th would be made by friends and family as a sign that the wedding was soon to occur. The 13th quilt was called the bride quilt and often had whimsical designs and well wishes from friends. Each of these quilts designated for a certain time in a person's life shared a message and held specific memories. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Narrative quilting”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

narrative quilting is textile-art storytelling, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²