The History of Quilting – The United Kingdom
Posted by teenhobbies on October 25, 2007
Clearly a colder climate than Hawaii, the traditions of ‘make do and mend’ were
such that for centuries, cloth was very valuable and not to be wasted. Long
before any mechanical cloth production, every piece of cloth was made by hand
or with simple weaving frames. Anything so time consuming to produce could
only be treated with care and considered to be of value.
Long before the first settlers arrived in America, British women, and men were
involved in patchwork and quilting, both for home and commercial benefit. So the
history of quilting in Britain goes way back.
There are records of padded clothing being made for soldiers to be worn
underneath their armor to protect them from the metal, and also to provide
warmth and comfort. And as far back as the fourteenth century, quilted fabrics
were used as bedcovers and clothes.
There are examples of eighteenth century pieces of clothing that remain from
noble and royal households. For example, an underskirt for a Scottish wedding is
now part of the Heritage Collection of the Quilters Guild, and dated at 1764.
Although in the households run by nobles and royals, there were wonderful
examples of luxurious and exquisite pieces of quilting, these were the minority.
The very wealthy would import cloth from abroad and use it to display their
wealth and social status.
Hence we see silks, satins, velvets, and printed Indian calico used in complex
quilting, often as backgrounds to embroidered hangings and bed drapes.
These pieces would generally be made by professional craftsmen who would
have been members of some of the early Guilds. Women would not generally
have been employed on a commercial basis in this way until much later.
In the homes of the less well off, the quilting and patchwork traditions would have
a much more utilitarian approach, and although some would be very cleverly
designed and executed, the main concern was to provide warmth without too
much expense.
The cottage industry was very much part of the northern England and Welsh
tradition, and as such, there would be quilters undertaking work on a commission
basis, and either selling directly to certain wealthier homes, or through an agent.
In Wales and some parts of England, there were also traveling workers. They
would take board and lodging in a household and be required to provide new
quilts for bedding, along with other stitch work in exchange for their keep.
In Victorian times, fashion dictated the use of lots of bright colors and contrasting
black. Fabrics were more readily available and there was greater wealth
available in the new middle classes. Drapery and bed coverings that had
previously been seen only in the houses of the nobility were now emulated by
the new professional and commercial classes.
Most girls of ‘good’ homes would be brought up to be competent, at the very
least, with their needle and thread. So the practice of embroidery, patchwork,
quilting, and appliqué was very much kept alive.
However, by the beginning of the twentieth century and the outbreak of war,
things were beginning to change.
When war broke out, women found they had to work to help the war effort. This
meant little time for hobbies, and rationing meant that everyone concentrated on
getting enough food to feed the family and getting the domestic necessities.
There was little time or energy for needlework as a hobby.
By the end of the 1940’s, things had begun to back to normal, the country was
becoming more and more reliant on manufactured clothes and bedding.
Factories had sprung up across the UK, and imports began subsequently to add
to the large amount of manufactured goods.
Really it was the resurgence of quilting arising from the United States that helped
Britain resurrects its quilting traditions. Now the Quilters Guild has a valuable
role in supporting quilting in the UK. The Guild set up a British Quilting Study
Group in 1998, and this provides invaluable support to the quilters of today with
research and information.
British quilting has, however, never managed to equal the art of the American
quilting traditions, and America has been entirely responsible for spreading the
word and the work of quilting across the world as far as Australia, Japan, South
Africa and Europe.
Were it not for America, the UK may have allowed its quilting history to fade
away. Thankfully, however, it has helped to revive quilting both as a hobby and
as an art form.
