Quilting article from 1886
 

I got this from a friend, and thought I'd share here. It's an article from Good Housekeeping originally printed April 17, 1886. One of the funny comments in the article is: "... the old custom of piecing quilts is becoming somewhat obsolete, and with the decline of the quilt piecing comes, of course, the decline of quilting parties. But there are still, in rural districts, some thrifty and very economical old and middle aged ladies who are zealous in the patchwork cause.".

Keep in mind the year this was written. By the way, the article was written by a man, of course. A clueless one. :o

The Happy Treadler
(who is not old and middle-aged, but would agree is thrifty)

Too funny - thanks for sharing. :)

Personally, i love the description of a rigid heddle loom that they are touting as a 'new' type of weaving machine... of course, the nomads on several continents had been using rigid heddle looms for centuries by then... this one appears to be in a table frame...but you can tell it is a modified backstrap, rigid heddle... fun, fun, fun...

Love it! Thanks for sharing. I have my grandmother's diaries, filled with details of sewing parties where ladies got together and sewed aprons for "the guild" to sell to help our little church. They were never "cheerless" according to her descriptions.

Thanks for sharing this. Written by an old party pooper, wouldn't you say?

Thank you so much for sharing the article and the story of those wonderful ladies who managed to keep the skill of quiltmaking alive when everyone else wanted "store bought" and machine made goods.
I love the story of her pride and joy quilt that she created in her own mind!

Thank you so much for sharing that with us. I just love reading those old articles from long ago. I was raised in the time that I remember the older people talking like that. I remember the women gathering to have a quilting bee, brings back a lot of memories of my early childhood.

i was one of the little girls playing under the quilt frame and then I graduated to going around the frame, threading the needles onto their spools of thread, mostly from one relative to another, but there were some neighbors in there, too... ...

What's really scary is that, back in those days, "middle-aged" probably meant 30!

If he were alive today, he would probably 'have a cow' if he found out what Aunties old quilt was worth today. I hope he did get other quilts, put them up so his children and grandchildren could enjoy them.