Norma Kuzemka, age 15, of E1 Paso, Texas, for her question:
WHEN WAS QUILTING FIRST USED?
Quilting is the process of stitching together two layers of fabric filled with some soft substance, usually cotton, to form a find of textile sandwich. Quilting originated in ancient times in China, Russia and with the Indians in Central
America. The people wore quilted garments for warmth and protection.
Crusaders from Western Europe encountered quilting when they met Saracens in the Holy Land. Saracen foot soldiers wore straw filled, quilted canvas shirts in lieu of armor and horsemen used quilted silk undershirts to keep their armor from chafing. The Crusaders took the idea back to Europe and adapted it for sleepwear and undergarments.
Quilted material may be used for clothing or, more characteristically, for a bed covering called a quilt. Written records of quilts date from the 12th century. Being made of perishable materials, few early quilts have survived.
The earliest quilt in existence is made of embroidered coarse linen and is from the 15th century. The earliest surviving patchwork quilt is from England, the. 17th century Levens Hall quilt, made of imported Indian chintzes. The high quality of the design indicates that it was not the first of its type.
The first quilts in America were Dutch and English appliqued ones brought over by colonists. It was the patchwork quilt, however, that reached its highest artistic development in the United States.
Because of a scarcity of sewing materials and the lack of other means of artistic expression, pioneer women lavished great attention on ingenious and inventive geometrical designs. Quilts were regularly exhibited in fairs and international expositions. Prizes were awarded for innovations in design and color as well as for craft. As late as 1883, three quarters of all the beds in the country were covered with handmade quilts. With the advent of inexpensive machine made bedcoverings, quiltmaking declined in the early years of the 20th century, except in rural areas.
Recently, however, interest in quiltmaking both as an art form and as a handicraft revived. Traditional quiltmakers, especially in the southern part of the United States, were encouraged and others learned quilting as a hobby.
Various items of commercially quilted clothing also became popular during recent years. The term "patchwork" in quilting refers to the final stage of assembly, when the quilt's three layers, stretched on a frame, are sewn together with short running stitches, called quilting stitches. This final step is more than mechanical. The design of the top is artfully thrown into relief, allowing the play of light and shadow on the surface.