Quilting Essay

History Transformed Into Art

Vibrant. An array of colors woven onto a blank canvas as a fine needle pierces in and out of the sheet. Bringing to life the impressions of the creator; leaving its imprint with every stitch. The outcome, a labyrinthine pattern used to form the overall design, capturing the essence of the weaver. The beginning of quilting has dated back to hundreds of years ago. It’s unique designs and patterns have evolved throughout the years to encompass one’s cultural views, beliefs, and even their lifestyles. Many trends have also gone through this process of evolvement which took an immense toll on how one would create their own individualized quilt. Not only has this practical skill benefited people around the world for

This was the start of the Quilting Bee. The beginning of this gala was inaugurated due to their settlement in the Great Plains, which had made this activity a lot more practical considering the separation from the world and wide open spaces they were living in. The settlement for their social gatherings was established and the aforementioned activity would take up large portions of their day. Sometimes they would even spend an entire day working on quilting their thick blankets. One of the many matters of the Quilting Bee was to aide other women by donating quilts for others’ hope chests (Johnson). The event often includes a dance towards the evening and was also combined with a dinner served for all the families to participate in. Quilts are comprised of smaller blocks that are stitched together to eventually form larger blocks. The various amounts of blocks include the nine patch, the shoo fly, the churn dash the prairie queen, the hourglass, the contrary wife the letter X and lastly, the variable star (Johnson). Each design is repeated or alternated with just a simple block which eventually creates the overall

Multiple quilters have incorporated lynching as well as chains in their quilts to depict the brutal incidents taken place during this time. The Underground Railroad had also moved many quilters into comprising their works of art with maps from when these slaves would travel from the Southern to the Northern states. They would then make their way into Canada in hopes of achieving true freedom, clutching on to nothing but their faith. Furthermore, the commemoration of their “culture and legacy” was also incorporated in the assembling of these quilts (Clark). David B. Dahlquist has created many quilts dedicated to slavery and the heartache thereof. He eventually had a rest stop built in Clinton,Iowa where a surplus of quilts is encompassed around the train station-like building. There were guides hung up that elaborated on the meaning of, specifically, each individual block that the quilt was composed