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Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper “Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show”
Quilting has a long and vibrant international history
By Katy Yoder
Correspondent
preserved quilt is a Sicilian
wall hanging made in the
14th century. It is estimated
to have been made about
1395. It portrays the leg-
end of Tristan. The piece of
art was made using quilting
with trapunto (stuffed quilt-
ing) on solid white fabric.
The piece is now dis-
played in the Victoria and
Albert Museum in London,
England.
Some researchers believe
that quilting, in the form of
quilted clothing, was brought
to Europe through the
Crusades. Muslim warriors
wore tightly quilted gar-
ments as part of their armor,
which was soon adopted by
medieval European soldiers.
Although fine quilt-
ing was a sign of affluence,
the sewing together of lay-
ers for warmth was done by
the poor as well. If makers
couldn’t afford carded wool
The technique we call
quilting crossed many bor-
ders and played a part in
ancient history. From the
beginning, quilts have told
human stories, reflected
religious and philosophical
beliefs, and revealed what
people wore, either out of
necessity or as adornment.
Stitched into layered
linen with cotton stuffing
inserted to raise sections of
the design, faces of those
who lived thousands of years
ago look beyond the edges
of quilts into a future they’d
find hard to believe.
or cotton to sew between
Researchers have uncov-
layers, then old blankets,
ered examples of quilting
clothing or even feathers,
around the world. In North
straw or leaves were used
America, quilting began
instead.
with immigrants bringing
The oldest discovery,
their sewing and handwork
from 5,500 years ago is of
traditions from Europe.
For hundreds of years,
African American slaves
made quilts for their owners
and for themselves. When
time allowed, women pieced
together beautiful quilts
with the scraps they gath-
ered and saved. The result
was a beauty that defied
circumstances of servitude
and focused on love stitched
together in terrible times.
That tradition has evolved
and thrived through the
skilled hands of people like
the women of Gee’s Bend,
Alabama. Sisters Outdoor
Quilt Show was honored to
have them as guests in years
past to pass along their wis-
dom — both with the needle
and in beautiful a capella
song.
The Smithsonian
National Museum of the
PHOTO COURTESY SISTERS OUTDOOR QUILT SHOW
American Indian has one The 2021 SOQS will feature Egyptian tentmakers who do hand-applique
of the largest collections of that originated in the Bedouin tribes.
Native American quilts from
the 1940s. The Northern
Plains tribes began quilting
out of necessity when buf-
falo herds were decimated
by Euro-American settlers
attempting to subdue the
Plains tribes in the 19th
century. The tribes had to
find alternate sources for
robes and ritual practices.
Missionary wives taught
quilting techniques to Indian
women, who soon found
imaginative ways to person-
alize what they created.
The origins of quilting
can be traced back to ancient
Egypt. Quilting commemo-
rated personal stories, histor-
ical events and was a reflec-
tion of the beauty surround-
ing its maker. There are rare
examples of old quilts. One
PHOTO COURTESY SISTERS OUTDOOR QUILT SHOW
an ivory carving, featur-
ing the king or Pharaoh of
the Egyptian First Dynasty
wearing a mantle or cloak
that appears to be quilted.
It was found in the Temple
of Osiris at Abydos in
1903 and is currently in the
British Museum collection.
The
Te x t i l e
Society of America at
DigitalCommons@
University of Nebraska –
Lincoln, offers interesting
and informative research
into the relationship between
See HISTORY on page 27
SOQS
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SOQS
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