Floral Basket Quilt

Typically used as bedcovers and produced in a wide variety of patterns and designs, handstitched quilts added vivid color to American households in the late 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. They also offered women a rare opportunity for creative expression, demonstrating the quilter’s skills, imagination, and inventiveness. Quilts usually comprise three layers joined together by intricately patterned needlework. The complex stitches seen in early American quilts create subtle linear patterns that often form a dynamic contrast to the quilt’s bold overall design. The middle layer of the quilt, called the “batting” or “wadding,” lends bulk and, more practically, insulation. This selection of quilts made between 1840 and 1920 includes a wide variety of styles and patterns. Notable among them are the Floral Basket quilt, which combines squares of appliquéd printed chintz with applied patchwork designs, and the boldly patterned quilt in the design known as Sawtooth Diamond in a Square.