Oral interviews* about American quilts and quiltmaking in the years between 1978 and 1996, were conducted with long-time quilting women living in the rural areas of North Carolina, Virginia and the Blue Ridge Mountain area. Pulling from transcripts taken in 1978 the following will illustrate some of the ways they used to mark quilting patterns in starting in the early 20^th century.

MARKING: Using a yardstick, she would lay it diagonally across the quilt starting at the corner and move all the way across. “About three, about three lines close together and then you skip over, about the width of those three lines, you skip over and start again with three more lines… And then, if you want to you can go on the other side and come back the other way. And that crosses, you know. I just thought that up.You know you use a lot of, you use a lot of imagination, you got to use your imagination in quilting.”

A glue made from water and flour was used to mark the quilting pattern when it was on the diagonal and had to be perfect;” We would dip the yarn string in, take a little flour, make a little paste and put that yarn string in it…reach from one corner of your quilt to the other, and one’d stand on one corner and one on the other, and hold it, and just reach out in it and just raise the string right quick and it’ll flip down and knock that on it, and it dries and shows that line.” They had to dip the string in the paste every time they marked a line. All the lines were marked before quilting began. It doesn’t say, but it’s likely most of these women quilted on large frames, where it laid flat until finished. When it was done, most of the paste washed off, but there were still some traces left, they said. Some of the ladies referred to this method as chalking the string.

Straight lines could usually be done without this elaborate marking, as long as the first one or two are right. They may use the flour paste method or use regular chalk. Chalk was the method of choice when marking the fan pattern;” …you had to use chalk, a stick of chalk, you know, and tie it, and then you held that and just went so far apart, all the time, till you drawed your fans.”

When asked if they “quilted by the piece”; Oh yes…The way it is pieced. Now Dutch Girls, that’s the way you do them. You quilt around’em, and a lot of different designs you quilt around’em, say birds, or Dutch Girls, or little squares, little blocks, patterns, you can quilt around all of them.”

TEMPLATES: Different materials the women had on hand were used for templates. Greeting cards, newspapers, and magazines were used as templates to be drawn around and also to be sewed upon. They would sew scraps on top of diamond or square shaped pieces using the flip and sew method, by machine or hand. Turning the piece over, they cut it to size following the paper template.

Sandpaper was also used as a template, recommended because it didn’t slip on the fabric as it was drawn around. A hard lead pencil was recommended, and soft lead was discouraged as it could smudge. They suggested making dots to follow, rather than lines, when possible, and quilt right on them.

When asked how a wreath or feather wreath was copied from the books and magazine patterns they said they used, this was the reply: “…some kind of plate, something that’s circular…and draw a circle on your quilt and then, cut your little disks {[for the feathers of the wreath?] out of cardboard and, it’s tedious but it’s worth it, I guess. Lightly, you don’t bear hard on your pencil when you get a pencil that won’t make a black mark. You don’t use a soft pencil, you use a no. 2 pencil…They’s other materials that you can stamp with, but I’ve never ordered any of it. I may sometime, but I just use pencil.”

Another lady, talking about using templates says: “So, I finally got enough money to buy a ten-cent book…You’ve got to have a true pattern [when piecing quilts] to start with. And after you use that pattern for a while and it gets a little worn, make you a new pattern and have it true. And then your pieces will fit together and it just goes much better. But if you let one side of your pattern be off just a, oh, just a tiny bit, by the time that you do, well, I’ll say three or four blocks, you have got a long end…keep your pattern true and keep it right what it’s suppose to be, when you get that quilt done it’ll come out perfect.”

It’s likely these women learned their ways and tools from their mothers or grandmothers. Quilting patterns and information could be found in magazines in the 19^th century, but the first quilt book is said to be that written by Marie Webster in 1915 “Quilts, Their Story and How to Make Them.” Marie is also credited with contributing to the early 20^th century revival in quilt making especially appliqué quilts. Her patterns, design ideas, colors and use of linen fabric was published in the magazine The Ladies Home Journal starting in 1911.

*The oral interview statements quoted above were all taken from the American Memories series ”Quilts and Quiltmaking in America” at The American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress, Washington D.C. They are also available on-line at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/qlthtml/qltbrov.html. I highly recommend this site for more reading enjoyment on this time period. They offer pictures and voice recordings.

Copyright 2002 Kimberly Wulfert, PhD. Please do not copy or use this material without permission from the author. Contact me through my website New Pathways into Quilt history www.antiquequiltdating.com. My 2004 Quilt History Tours are in June, Amish PA and NY state, and Aug. tour is 4 New England states and The Lowell Quilt Festival.