How To
Quilt String Quilts
Or
String Quilts Past and Present Matching
the Economic Times.
During the economic slump of the early
twentieth century, string style quilt making
thrived. Rural mid-century women, cut off from
mainstream society and markets, founded their
own string quilt style. The twenty-first
century version is known as selvedge edge
quilts.*
The strings were narrow
strips of scrap fabrics or otherwise used
pieces of fabric that would be thrown out.
String quilts knew no bounds. Women sewed their
strips of fabric together until they covered a
pattern in the shape of a diamond, square,
triangle or any shape cut from newspaper or
used fabric.
Women made strings from
used, old, and new fabrics. All fibers and
thread counts were candidates for the string
quilt including the thinnest dress fabrics.
Often, a flour sack served as the foundation
fabric for sewing string pieces onto, in the
flip-and-sew fashion, until the foundation was
covered. They snipped off fabric leftover
around the pattern edges, and the blocks were
sewn together as any patchwork block would be.
As a result, some string quilts offer a
cacophony of fabrics not often used in
quilts.
Some women used larger
scraps, and often the block's strips were a
variety of widths. Scrappy strips were
asymmetrical and uneven, or pointed, or on the
bias. Whatever fabrics were available, they
were used as is. There was no time to waste
cutting them to size. Women used an old blanket
or quilt as the filler and tied the layers
together; winter was near -- no time for
quilting it.
String quilts made by women
in Gee's Bend, Alabama, and Mid-western Amish
communities, have become an art form. Their
stringed blocks are often square in shape or
close to it, with one above the other.
Sometimes sashing strips divide the blocks. The
Amish string quilts can look like stacks of
small squares. This pattern is named Coins.
When these noted groups of
quilters combined their scraps into a string
quilt, it may have been nothing special to
them. Yet, the quilts dazzle the eyes of
outsiders and art collectors who see them as
wall art today. When the country was enduring
the Great Depression, women combined their
scraps into string quilts, which were seen as
utilitarian and still are.
Now, women are making
selvedge edge quilts, using strips cut from the
sides or edges of cotton fabric. The selvedge
prevents unraveling and holds onto hooks during
the printing process. This edge is mostly white
with the manufacturer's name and logo, the
designer or collection's name, and a chart of
the colors used printed on it. Selvedge edges
are cut completely off and thrown away. Today,
they are saved for a new purpose.
Selvedge edges are about
one-half inch in width and run the length of
the bolt. The writing on the edge varies in
font style, color, and amount of coverage. This
then becomes the decoration on this strip. The
selvedge edge's size and shape matches another
material women used a century ago that was
definitely not intended for quilt makers, but
instead was a by-product of cigar
companies.
A century ago, cigar
companies tied a bright colored silk ribbon
around a bundle of cigars. Women stitched them
together with black or colored embroidery floss
stitches onto a fabric foundation block. They
were not cut or curved, but placed side by
side. Cigar company ribbons had fancy logos and
used attractive fonts in black ink on yellow or
orange ribbons. The various advertising on the
ribbons added decoration to the quilt block.
Green, pink and purple ribbons were
occasionally used in the block designs,
signifying a rare cigar.
Just as with many string and
selvedge edge quilt blocks, women took the
cigar ribbons and arranged them to form
designs. The blocks were usually square, with
strips laid in log cabin designs, on the
diagonal, or in quartered designs. The color
would add another dimension as the secondary
pattern that formed when the blocks were sewn
together.
Seldom were cigar ribbon
tops made into quilts with batting and back.
Made with silk and unquilted, they were
fragile, unlike the string and selvedge edge
quilts. Mostly they remained as tops to cover
tables, or they were made into pillows.
The common thread in string,
selvedge edge, and cigar ribbon tops, is that
their popularity came about at the time of an
economic downturn or a War, or both. The
materials used in each were throw-aways being
put to use, as a quilt or decoration for
women's homes, and they were there for the
taking.
Women did then as they do now -- they got
creative and sewed together the fabrics they
had, including scraps. New quilt styles emerged
that we recognize today and hold dear in our
homes, or see exhibited in a gallery as
art.
*This term may have been
coined by the Karen Griska who authored a
how-to book, "Quilts From the Selvage Edge",
AQS, 2008. Selvage or selvedge is correctly
spelled either way.
For more articles on the
history of quilts, fabrics, women's lives and
quilt styles through time visit http://www.antiquequiltdating.com
and the newsletter at http://quiltersspirit.blogspot.com
Both are written by quilt historian Kimberly
Wulfert.
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