Tied
 

This morning on a Facebook post , someone commented that a tied quilt was a comforter. Took me back a minute. My grandmother pieced her quilts and tied them as did her mother.
I had ever heard this.

I was always told the difference between a quilt and a comforter was the closeness of the stitching/tying. Quilts were closer stitched/tied. Comforters were stitched/tied much further apart. If you look some comforters are as far apart in stitching as a foot. Some are only stitched/tied around the edges and very little in the center. I just call them as the words roll of my tongue. I have no problem with standing and being corrected. All opinions and corrections are welcomed. Just be nice, please!:)

I was always told a comforter is tied, a quilt, stitched. To me they are both quilts but in my mind I think"comforter" when I tie a "quilt"

I too grew up with the understanding that a tied quilt was a comforter - also, it was much fluffier, the extra high loft batting or double batting. Does it really matter? After all a rose by any other name is still a rose, is it not?

This is how we call things where I come from -

I think a comforter is stuffed all plump with some really fluffy batting or down or 'feather-alternative'. It has wide-spaced channel quilting and cross-sewing to hold the stuffing in place. It is often so decorative no bedspread is necessary.

I think a quilt is fairly flat, usually cotton, with a backing fabric and usually with a flat batting in the middle, densely sewn in some pattern or other or just hatching, and not thick and puffy at all. It doesn't need to be covered by a bedspread and it is very often made of lots of little pieces of fabric (in my case perfectly good fabric cut into hundreds of little pieces!), or possibly scraps of old clothing, joined in a decorative pattern.

Bedspreads can be a any fabric, even brocade, can be rectangularr or tailored to bed size, and some have a quilted silky-feeling backing to them, but they are still designed to COVER UP the bedclothes, not to keep you warm.

A duvet is one of those plain white comforters stuffed with goose down or 'alternative' and it has a duvet cover. I call it a comforter with airs!

JMHO!

Comforters were tied because of the thick batting and were made from whole Home Dec fabrics. That is what my understanding is.

I don't know. A cover, bedspread, comforter, blanket, throw, quiver, or quilt. They all serve the same purpose.

Maybe this will help eliminate the "argument".

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines quilt as: QUILT. : a bed coverlet of two layers of cloth filled with padding (as down or batting) held in place by ties or stitched designs.

Jan in VA

This is how I looked at it.... silly old me.... if they were store bought they were comforters. If they were made by yourself or someone else (other than the Walmart or JC Penney factory) then the were quilts

Comforters are found in hotels, quilts are found in homes:D. I have always called them quilts, tied or stitched.

Also a comforter, in my humble, modern opinion, has a very high loft. Right or wrong, that is how I distinguish them.
peace

Yep. Me too.

The Facebook poster was probably apply for a police job.

in my experience a comforter is not pieced.

Yup, I agree.

I've read several debates on this subject, some of them rather heated. I appreciate the tenor of this one. My grandmother and my mother have tied many wonderful quilts that are being passed down and loved into rags. I'm in agreement with the thought that comforters are store bought, and I also agree that a comforter is not pieced. I think, for my self, that I lose a blessing by being ultra defensive about if they are quilts, blankets, comforters, etc.

I think a lot of it depends upon what country our ancesters came from as to what they called a "Quilt"

When I was growing up quilts didn't always have batting in them. Old worn out blankets were used for the middle layer and then the Quilt was tied to keep the blankets from shifting.

In the south, anything that had a couple of layers, with our without an "innards" (flannel, blankets, batting), whether tied or sewed was called a quilt. The term "comforter" wasn't seen in our area until sometime around 1970 or 1980. Before that you either had a bedspread, blanket, or a quilt. The quilt was normally the only pieced item. I had never seen a whole cloth quilt until about 15 years ago. I know, they have been in existence for many years, but not down here for the average person.

And....I am always learning new things. I decided to look up when comforters came into existence and instead found a really good article about our craft. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_quilting

And now, I know I really didn't know anything about the history of quilt making. I wonder how often we use our knowledge and come to conclusions based on our own individual lives. Ironically, all my observations were only true for me. lol

I have a dispute with the statement in this article that Canton Historical Society has the oldest whole cloth quilt made in America in their collection, 1786.

Many of you know that my family has donated a pieced, Broderie Perse with applique quilt to to Colonial Williamsburg's Textile Museum. It was made in Virginia by Martha Frances Collier. OUR quilt was dated by that Museum as being from 1780 OR EARLIER.

Mrs. Collier also made a whole cloth quilt that, along with our pieced one, received a Premium award in a fair in Waco, TX in 1874 as being "the oldest quilt in the state at the time and for its many fine stitching designs." Quotes are from a written provenance that accompanied the pieced quilt when my immediate family received it into our care in the mid 1950s. It was written by one of Mrs. Collier's granddaughters who was in her 90s when the quilt passed to us. Both the whole cloth and the pieced quilts were passed through the line to granddaughters who moved to Texas following the Civil War for a period. There may have even been other quilts by this remarkable lady, but we have lost all contact with any but our pieced quilt. As best we can tell I am the fifth generation of 'daughters' to have cared for this pieced quilt.

Just as an interesting side note: Mrs. Collier was married to Capt. Thomas Collier of Portobello Plantation, Yorktown, VA. That homestead was land that is now the secretive government-owned Camp Peary off I-64 at the Colonial Williamsburg exit. I lived just a couple miles from it during my brief time in Williamsburg 2000-2003; felt like hallowed ground through the whole area while I was there.:o

Jan in VA

Wow Jan, what a great family history you have; quilting is in your blood.

Jan, I wonder how you would get Wikipedia updated to show your information? It sure would be nice to have factual information online.

I thought comforters were smaller quilts, only covering the top of the bed and a few inches draping down each side. Diane C

Wow, Jan, what a fascinating post. Such history. As to the original topic, I always thought like Ube. I based the difference between quilt and comforter on loft, not mode of completion. High loft = comforter in my mind. I suspect I came to that reasoning because of down comforters. They are always lofty (which is why they are so wonderfully warm!) and I have never heard a down filled bed covering referred to as anything but a comforter. Also in the 70's when "comforters" were all the rage in bedding, they were always very poofy and lofty. So that is probably how I came to that way of thinking. But that is JMHO.

I was always told it isn't a quilt unless its "quilted." So since I wanted to be a quilter I've always quilted mine. But Jan in Va has now solved the problem. I guess if we call it a quilt it's a quilt.

[/QUOTE] ......I decided to look up when comforters came into existence and instead found a really good article about our craft. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_quilting [/QUOTE]

With so much on the internet, not everything is as it seems. Wikipedia is made up of ordinary people posting as experts. I could go there pick a subject I think I am expert in and post. Regardless of if I know anything or not. Wikipedia can have excellent info and can have crap. Just be aware. Kinda like Snopes. Snopes started as a couple searching the internet, sometimes their answers are not so true, more opinion. Be aware!

Believe it or not you can go to Wikipedia and just change it yourself. Seriously, try it.

ube quilting, I am of the same thought. To me, comforters are filled with a lot of "fluff" and not much stitching holding them together. In my day, I'd bought several of the Walmart-KMart-Penney's-Sears comforters. One washing and the fluff would bunch up and leave a knobby mess. More than once I found myself ripping the stitching and removing the filling and closing in up to use as a bedspread.

I agree to all of this except for the duvet, I've only heard and seen duvet covers that are to put a comforter inside of, rather to protect to just get a different design/color that before. My grandmothers tied all of thier quilts and they never called them comforters.

Jan, as always you are a fountain of knowledge. I so greatly value all of your input. All of us quilters (from novice to accomplished) should feel privileged and humbled to be part of such great history. Thanks to all for your comments.

My DM and DGM used to make whole cloth very heavy tied what they called comforters. Anything pieced and tied they called quilts. Some of the comforters were stuffed with feathers or cotton right out of the fields.

I think this is a fun thread to read; seeing everyone's ideas of what constitutes what.
For my nickle, I will say that I think of a quilt as being pieced then sewn or tied together; whole cloth quilts being the exception that makes this rule. I see a comforter as whole or large pieces of fabric, sewn together in very large pieces or one piece each for front and back, with just enough stitching to hold the very puffy padding together.
I also never think of a comforter having binding, only a quilt, but not all quilts. LOL

Comforters may be tied, but quilts can also be tied. My Mother and your Grandmother as well as her Mother made QUILTS, it doesn't matter if they were stitched or tied.

To go along with Jan a tied quilt is called tufted since you must have enough ties for your batting. My grand mother tied her quilts every 1" so the ties add another dimension as well to the quilt as does quilting.

I have always thought of a comfort as having more batting in it, bigger pieces and made out of heavier fabrics ( mom used men's wool suits. I grew up in the '50's and we didn't have modern heating, we would have one comfort on our bed and one quilt. Really cold night we could always have another quilt, but many more than that they would get too heavy.

This is funny Tess, when DH points out my (gasp) wrong doing or saying I always say "I stand corrected" LOL to which he says "no no Momma your right I was just suggesting something different" yep I'm the meany around here lol.
Jeri

I sew agree with you meyert!! If it's bought from a retail store it's a comforter because it gives comfort to someone who really wants a quilt LOL
Jeri
Jeri

Funny, and I was told in a class not too long ago that a tied quilt is not a quilt, it's a "coverlet".

The definition Jan posted seems to sort of back that up, in that it appears a quilt is a type of coverlet?

I consider tied quilts to still be quilts. In my mind, a comforter is not pieced, nor is it bound, and it has high loft and large spaces between quilting lines. I don't think I've ever seen anything with ties that I'd consider to be a "comforter".

Funny how complex it gets, and almost arbitrary in some ways.

I wonder how much of our take on this is regional? A down comforter to one may be a feather tick to someone else. just a thought.

My quilt may be your comforter,
It's not for me to say.
Coverlet or feather tick;
Is it tied or sewn this way?
I don't care who is wrong or right,
As long as it keeps me warm at night!!!

Love it! You hit the nail on the head!