Quilt on...

Did you know quilting once referred to he technique rather than the blanket? A few years ago I was asked by a woman were all the quilts were. I informed her that “my husband had quilted canvas armor but if it wasn’t with him he kept in a chest or in the loft.” She responded, “No, the quilts on your beds?” I looked at her silently thinking ‘Mam, you are about 200 years ahead of when that starts happening’ and said to her because I couldn’t say that without breaking character “You don’t quilt your bedding. That would be too difficult to re-stuff.” Referring to the mattresses. She looked frustrated at me and said “No, the blanket they should be quilted?” Frustrated myself that I couldn’t give her the answer she was looking for responded that “You don’t quilt your blankets, and they don’t sell blankets like that either, no need the wool is good enough.” She looked at me and with a straight face and told me I needed to do my research.

14+h Century doublet of Charles de Blois from Les Arts Decoratifs

Well I had and have. Quilt first appears in the 14^th century according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, and despite the definition that the app gives it was just referring to two materials stitched together and basseted together with thread. Beautiful quilts (the blanket) don’t start happening until the 1800s and don’t really take off until the 1860s. Petticoats (underdresses) in the 1700s and 1800s could be quilted for added warmth. (This is also the time in history, especially in the United States when women were wearing more cotton then wool, which is not only cooler but is also more flammable.)  Quilts are new, in relation to the word quilt but still very pretty.

A quilted petticoat 1840-1850 at the Metropolitan museum of Art.