Paint a Quilt

In the pioneer days, women formed "Quilting Bees," social gatherings where they worked together finishing quilts and talking about family, friends and the community.

During the Civil War, women from both the North and the South made quilts for soldiers. In the North, women organized societies that held fairs where they sold quilts and other things to raise money for medical and other supplies for the soldiers.

The more artistic a woman was, the more intricate the patterns of the quilt. Some patterns told stories about a family or a community. Typical quilt motifs from the Civil War era included sunbursts, stars, leaves, medallions and flowers.

Slave women also made quilts. They used fine fabrics to make quilts for their master/mistress and cruder scraps of old clothes to make quilts for themselves. Their quilts became a way to record their history. This quilt with the orange peel pattern was made by a slave in Mississippi some time between 1855 and 1861 for the family who owned her.

Some researchers think that quilts were also used as markers in the underground railroad. Those with the color black, when hung on a clothesline, would designate a safe house. A drinking gourd was also used to symbolize the Big Dipper which points to the North Star. Runaway slaves followed the North star to find freedom. This quilt block with an oak leaf motif was made by a slave.

Quilting involves two kinds of needlework:
 

• Patchwork is the art of piecing together different kinds of fabrics;
• Quilting involves fastening together layers of cloth to hold the warm filling in place.

• A pieced quilt, which has patches pieced together;
• An appliquéd quilt, which involves taking a pieced design and sewing it on top of a single piece of fabric;
• A quilted counterpane—usually white, with decoration—is the result of padded or corded quilting in simple and complex designs.

Information taken from:
Teacher's stuff
http://www.sos.state.mi.us/history/museum/techstuf/civilwar/quilt.html
 

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