Looking for information on my favourite quilt pattern, the hexagon-pieced “Grandmother’s Flower Garden,” I stumbled across a terrific article by quilter and quilt historian Laurette Carroll about the names of quilt patterns.
Laurette says that “the first known quilt pattern published in an American periodical was the honeycomb or hexagon pattern published by the Godey’s Lady’s Book in 1835.” (That’s the one I love!)
Quilt pattern names reflect all aspects of life. Biblical names reflect the belief and conviction of the importance of a spiritual life, while more down to earth names like Hole in the Barn Door, reflect the environment that the quilt maker lived in. Quilt pattern names that reflect political issues are proof that women were interested in these issues, and that they were knowledgeable of current social events. While their voices may not have been heard at the time, their voices speak out from their work and remain for us to see today.
This goes a long way to explaining the renewed fascination with quilts and quilting, I think.
It seems that every aspect of a woman’s life was honored with a quilt pattern name at one time or another. There are names signifying home and family life as well as names for the environment that the quilt maker lived in. Patterns can be found with names commemorating national and political events, religious beliefs, and even war heroes were not excluded from having a quilt pattern named after them.
As we come more and more to recognize and honour the small domestic contributions of women to the development of our society, we feel a kinship with these earlier women… they who forged homes out of wilderness, brought comfort in hard times and wartime, imprinted the small vital details of family life on the great pages of history…
