Amish-family-ride
Amish Quilt Making
Traditions And Quilts
Hello Everyone and Welcome Back
I hope you enjoy this page on the Amish Quilts and some of their history. I came across this great article while surfing the net for information, and found I was drawn into the Amish heritage.
We hear so much about the Amish and their lifestyle. The Amish lived a simple and hard life in the Northern states, being so different in comparison to ours. They are religiously devout in their beliefs and live a lifestyle that has no frills and modern amenities within it.
Can you imagine that? It is worth a few minutes to read up on The Plain People to understand why they live the way they do, it is really intriguing!
If you want to read more on the Amish Order and the Mennonites, I found a great site that has lots of information on the Plain People, their quilts and their culture. Just click on this link to take you there!
If you like to read about quilting history, check out our pages on quilting history too for more interesting facts!
Well enough said! You’ll just have to read this article below for yourself to decide!
The History and Tradition of Amish Quilt Making
Author: tommy
When you think of Amish people, you think of horse-drawn buggies, plain clothes, barn raising, farms and quilts. However, the Amish came rather late to the quilt making. Long after their neighbors were piecing quilts the Amish still used the old German feather beds and coverlets. There was a good reason for this. Amish communities were formed so that the members could remain apart from the temptations of the modern world. At this time, quilts were considered something new and modern. But what is considered ‘modern’ changes over the years.
The Amish do gradually make changes as well, but often a few decades later. Amish quilt making is a good example of this. Very few quilts are known to have been made by the Amish before the 1870s. Then over 15 years quilting became quite common. It is now considered commonplace and expected in the Amish community.
As we follow the evolution of their quilt making we find that the Amish always used conservative styles compared to what was popular in quilting at any given time. The first Amish quilts were made in one solid color, of brown, blue, rust or black. Often worsted wools were used, and though the fabric was plain, the quilting done to hold the layers together was intricate and decorative. Swirling feathers, curves and grids were typical quilting patterns. So even though they had adopted the quilting process, they still did not do the modern art of colored swatches and patches.
Gradually some basic piecing and additional colors were added. For example a quilt may have had a large diamond in the middle of a dark fabric with only wide border around it. Fabric colors evolved to include pumpkin, olive green and an occasional dark red. These new colors were still deep and solid.
As the general population moved on to elaborate Crazy quilts the Amish adopted some of the more basic of the block patterns. Nine patch, Around the World, and Sunshine and Shadow were popular. Only solid colored fabric was used but with more varied colors. Amish quilts were made of wool or cotton, as popular silks were considered too worldly.
Most people assume that Amish quilts were done completely by hand but this was not the case. Many Amish quilts were pieced using a treadle sewing machine but the beautiful quilting was always done by hand.
Source: Free Articles