In 1960, many women who lived the 1960's Hippie Lifestyle would go to fabric stores and purchase baskets that were full of leftover and pieces of fabric. These pieces of fabric were not always compatible with one another. However, these women who made quilts using these fabric pieces just seemed to pick up one after another without paying attention to design or color or hue, etc. Does anyone happen to have such a quilt from the 1960's or know more about them? Tex

I went to a show that had a couple of old polyester quilts. They were very interesting. One was made simply of poly squares, but was visually striking because the fabric was striped and the maker used this to her advantage. We were allowed to touch it - I was surprised, it had a nice drape, soft hand, and was quite heavy.

I have a 1" trip around the world polyester quilt that my aunt made me. It is priceless to me.

I try to avoid anything related to the 60's.

HEY..I am from the 60's!!..ehehhe
couldn't resist that one...

lots of really GOOD things came from the 60's!

I did not have a quilt, but in the 80's I found a long skirt at the goodwill shop..all patched worked together,different fabrics, pieces on a plain black sheet type fabric, buttoned down the front..it was awesome...I wore it over my bathing suit for years!

Not much of my 60's creations have survived to 2011. Wish I still had my patch work "Gypsy" tops. They were soooooo comfortable. And the denim legs we cut off jeans and patched into jackets were the most comfy jackets I ever wore.

I have a crazy quilt pillow made by my great grandmother (definitely not a hippie) using those '60's polyesters. She pieced it on her treadle and then hand embroidered it. It's a pretty "groovy" pillow.

The quilts you describe are now called scrap quilts. They have always been, and will always be, made with the materials on hand at the time of their making. In the 60's and 70's, that material was primarily synthetic so that's what the quilts were. It has nothing to do with hippies or hippie culture. I don't know where you got your information, but it does not ring true at all in my experience.

As a card carrying Hippie (that'd be my AARP card), I can assure you that quilting during that period was the furthest thing from my mind. I made quilts both before and after the years I spent living what you call "the hippie lifestyle", but certainly not during and I'd be willing to bet those women you speak of who "just seemed to pick up one (piece of fabric) after another without paying attention to design or color or hue" were merely experiencing an alternative state of consciousness and had no intention of sewing them together.

In the early 70s my MIL made me a gorgeous crazy quilt type long skirt out of various silky fabrics also with hand embroidery that I wore for years.
In the 60's all my sewing attention was directed toward making clothes. I seemed to think I needed a new outfit every week or so! Funny thing how that changed once Daddy wasn't paying all the bills...
The old fellow that used to be the sewing machine fixit guy where I lived in the late 80s/early 90s very proudly showed me the heavy polyester twill quilt of large multicolored squares that his wife had made (probably in the 60s or 70s). Don't know what happened to it after he passed on.

That was my first thought. I didn't make quilts. I made granny skirts.