Is it a good idea????
 

Hello quilty friends... well, I'm an new member in a little study club and my program is coming up in March. After a conversation with another member, it appears that the members of this little group do not know the stories of the role quilts played in the "underground railroad." In addition, a few have old quilts and quilt tops, but few, if any, are quilters. SO... I'll be researching the "underground railroad". This particular member was telling me how her mother and grandmother quilted 12 stitches per inch and nothing less was acceptable. Of course, this sent a minor chill down my back because the best I've accomplished is 7-8 stitches per inch. My stitches are (fairly) consistent... but then, I'm very "global" in my outlook... Momma used to say, "no worry, a man goin' by on horseback won't notice that" referring to a smidge or a smudge... You get the picture... Well, I got to thinking, maybe she might be interested in trying a few stitches herself. She would definitely appreciate those quilts with 12 stitches to the inch!! And then, maybe they ALL would enjoy taking a few stitches...

So, my questions are: 1) do I try to get everyone to take a few stitches or is this too ambitious? there are less than 10 of us...
and 2) any recommendations on books/articles/etc. to do research on the quilts used on the "underground railroad?"

Thank you, quilty friends for any suggestions and for all your help here on the QB!! Love to all!

You might want to read this.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quil...round_Railroad

Try PleasantHillTexas.org and watch the video on the Pleasant Hill Quilters page. These ladies make a wonderful presentation about the Underground Railroad. You can search google for more info about them.

I wouldn't do this topic because it has been pretty thoroughly debunked. The Wikipedia article goes into how and why.

I agree with the others. It's something nice to think about, but the evidence that it actually existed just isn't there.

Most people that get 12 stitches or more to the inch hand quilting are using a very thin batting. Myself, I am happy with trying to be consistent to 7 or 8 or maybe 9 to the inch.

The number of stitches per inch that are reasonably achievable depends greatly on the batting used. Vintage batting was very different from most present dat battings as manufacturing processes have changed dramatically. Vintage battings had no scrim or bonding agents and were quite thin. The most vintage batting I can think of that is still available today is Mountain Mist blue ribbon cotton.

Does this mean the underground railway didn't exist. I've read about it and looked at blocks and their supposed meaning.

Is it all untrue?.

The undergroud railway certainly did exist, however any connection to quilts and/or blocks has been fairly well debunked.

Fthank you . I went to a talk about the underground railway based on the quilt blocks that the speaker had made.