Hi All,

Just wanted to share an experience that I had on Saturday. I went to London to the V&A where they are showig a quilt exhibition. It was amazing..... I couldn't believe it... there were quilts there that had been made in the 1600's.... (I didn't think that quilting was in the UK at that time - but what do I know)..... the quilts from these times were beautifully hand cut and stitched. It amazed me that they managed to cut so accurately without all the gadgets that we have today. The stitching was exceptionally beautiful and I spent my time looking on in amazement. There were many quilts made by women to earn a few shillings, especially those from poorer backgrounds and some made from Armed forces uniforms.... oh every type of quilt you can imagine. But the quilt that I am sure that pulled at everybodys heart strings was the one made by girl guides in a Japanese POW camp in Singapore for their Guide Leader... the girls were aged from 8 - 16.

On a happier note I managed to buy some limited edition Libertys fabric (made especially to celebrate the exhibition) to add to my stash.

If any of you are going to be in London over the next few months - I would strongly recommend the exhibition.

Hugs

Caroline

Sounds like you had a wonderful visit. I imagine those quilts were made by hand and young girls were taught to sew from a young age back then,

It sounds like a wonderful show, thank you for telling us about it :D:D:D

my mother in law is going to England next month

had the husband drop hints about what she can buy me for my birthday

Caroline, it is great that you had the opportunity to visit the exhibition in the V&A. They have one of the biggest collection of quilts in Europe. One of the "Tristan Quilts" is preserved in the V&A and it's one of my biggest wishes to see it one day. The quilt is probably made around 1392 and is one of the oldest "living" quilts preserved from the past.
The quilting history in Europe is very, very interesting and I have read several books about this topic. Fortunately you can find lots of information in the internet, too.

you can buy the fabric on line - will post link soon

Sounds wonderful.

I am glad you were able to go. Thank-you for sharing with us.
Borntohandquilt:
I can't imagine what a quilt that old would look like. It would be a treasure to see.

I was there too but the weekend before you, I think 18th April! It was beautiful, I loved the recordings of ppl talking about their quilting histories too. Shame we weren't allowed to take pics but here's a link to the V&A website if anyone is interested http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/tex...lts-1700-2010/ :-D

If you are interested: here are some detail pictures of the quilt.


http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O9...tristan-quilt/