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Object Story: Stitching Statements and Sentiments
Photography © 2020 Fredrik Nilsen
Quilting has been a primary way for many women (and men too) to express their creativity and skill, but also as a way to share their perspectives and views on the world. Quilts can express meaning through patterns, designs, and color choices. Quilts can serve as mementos for special occasions like a birth or a wedding, they can mark important life events, and they can make a statement on the social environment too. Women in the nineteenth century frequently made quilts to express their views on things like abolition, temperance, and war. Many made quilts to raise money for different causes.
Unrecorded artist (American), Red friendship quilt, 1855, cotton. Gift of Jonathan and Karin Fielding, 2016.25.54
Friendship quilts such as the red-and-white example shown here are sometimes referred to as single-pattern friendship quilts, indicating that all or most of the blocks are made of the same design. For example, this quilt features white crosses on red backgrounds. If you look closely, you’ll notice a signature in each cross that indicates either the maker of the square or the person who donated money to have it sewn. You can find a list of the names inscribed in the center of each white cross listed here. While many friendship quilts were made to record memories or celebrate a particular event, to honor a distinguished member of the community, or to give to a departing family member or friend moving westward, others were created simply as a way to connect with each other and as an expression of community.
Unrecorded artist (American), Drunkard’s path quilt, ca. 1880-1890, cotton. Gift of Jonathan and Karin Fielding, 2016.25.55
This quilt pattern is called the “Drunkard’s Path” and was commonly used as a way for women to make a statement on alcohol and the Temperance movement. The pattern might look a bit like a person’s staggered walk. By 1907 there were more than 350,000 women involved in various Temperance movements, and this quilt was one of their favorite statements to make.
Throughout history women have been making quilts for various causes, often during war times, but also in support of people who have lost their homes, those who are homeless, or those who are new immigrants. For more information about the importance of quilts in American culture, check out The American Story from the International Quilt Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The AIDS Quilt and Craftivism
In 1987 thousands of quilters joined forces to raise awareness of the AIDS pandemic by sewing together an unbelievable 46,000 panels of fabric, each with the name of a person who died of AIDS-related complications.
Photograph by Mark Thiessen c. 1992 The NAMES Project Foundation
Each 3’ x 6’ quilt was made the approximate size of a grave. The 52-ton quilt was displayed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and served as a concrete way for the nation to grieve the loss of loved ones who had died of AIDS and who had been ostracized and ignored. For these quilters, their craft was activism, an attempt to bring about change in the social environment.
Questions for Discussion
- If you were a quilter, why would you quilt? How would you quilt in a way that would tell the story of you? Or the things you think are important?
- What examples of quilts have you seen? What do you know about their stories?
- If you were to design a quilt with a sentiment or a statement for today, what would it look like? Where might you find an influence for your pattern? Who would you ask to work on it with you?
