can you imagine?

Library of Congress has wonderful old picture archives.

Wow!!! That's very cool!

What a wonderful piece of history and a great way to get the quilt out of the way when not working on it. Guess with ceiling fans today that wouldn't work.

My cats would use that as a bed in seconds and stretch out the quilt!

This one startled me a moment. Seems like I've seen a picture my Grandma had that looked like that. You could pull ropes that dangled from a side wall and pull this up out of the way to the ceiling. You lowered it when all the work was done for the day, or else friends came to visit and you could sit and chat and sew at the same time. Also it was good for teaching younger women how to sew, especially if they were getting married. (Young women getting married who could not sew were looked down on!) women got together to make a wedding quilt, or simply a Hope Chest quilt for the oldest girl or for someone in need. .

I slept under a very, very heavy quilt made from my uncles' and Grandpa's old worn out coats and pants. It had a soft backing so it was probably flannel, also pieced, so was more than likely old worn out flannel work shirts.

Waste not, want not. Use it up , do it over, make it do or do without. The depression was a harsh teacher to those who lived through it.

Can't you just picture little ones playing under the quilt while their mommas quilted?

My MIL had one of these set up in her living room when I married her son. I now have it (in pieces) in my storage room - on the floor.

You know - that's really cool. The ladies of our past were very inventive!

Cool photo!

The first professional quilter that I ever visited...I went with my ex's mother to pick up a quilt that she had done...had a system like this, on a sliding rail of some sort...the frame moved instead of her long arm machine that stayed in one place...

Necessity is the mother of invention. My grandmother still has hers. I'm not sure where her mother's ended up, it may be in the attic of her old house.

What a coincidence! I have one of those. That is what Mama used all the time. It hung from the ceiling in her large living room. I haven't gotten it put up at my house yet, as I have to have the ceiling fan switched to another room first. After Daddy passed away she quilted sometimes day and night to have money to buy things with. She also had some longer wood strips or whatever you call them, to quilt king size quilts on.

This is what my mother used. Dad made it for her and I don't even know if he had a pattern. I remember it hanging from the ceiling in the front room (of course back in the day there were no ceiling fans). Quilters of years ago were very imaginative. I only remember my Mom doing paper piecing from old Sears and Wards catalogs!

This has been very educational!

Thats so neat!

My grandmother had on one of these when I was small. The other children that were there with their mothers and I would sneak under the middle and sit VERY quietly. We really learned a lot that we were too young to know. I don't think it ever occurred to the quilters what little ears heard.

Thank you for sharing this wonderful piece of history. It's so fun to see how it used to be done & compare it to the new modern ways. One thing in common, is that it all gets the job done!! Thank you so much for sharing.
:D :D :D :D

my husband bought this house we live in in 1958. said his wife and MIL used a quilt frame he made them that hung from the ceiling.
not me!

My husbands Aunt Nell still quilts this way. She has it fixed so that it hangs over the dining room table and can let it up and down as needed.

Actually I can imagine. My SIL lives in Washington State and right after they moved there, my BIL(her husband) made her a quilt frame exactly like that one. When she is not using it she pulls it up to the ceiling so it is out of the way. I was amazed the first time I saw it...She almost always has a quilt in it to work on...Simply amazing..Wonderful picture.

Thank you for sharing this with us :D:D:D

My grandmother passed away in 1971 and this is the type of quilting frame she used. I seldom went to her house that she didn't have a quilt up.

Looks like the frame my Grandma used to use! :-D

That is how my grandmother quilted her quilts. As a child, I couldn't figure out what the wooden poles were hanging next to her ceiling. I was never around when she was quilting so I didn't realize what they were until years later.

Thanks for sharing the picture! We have come a long ways since then!!

I have my grandmother's frame like this. She had it hanging in her bedroom. However, she just had eye hooks in the ceiling with rope running down to the corners of the frame. When she needed it out of the way, we would climb on chairs and just wind the rope around the boards until it was high enough. Her bed was to the side and her ceiling fan was over her bed. Her house was small, but her bedroom was the largest room in the house because is once had two full size beds in it. I often think about her quilting in there, often with a couple of her sisters. She had a small TV in the room so they could watch their soap operas while quilting.

Reading the title of this thread reminded of something she often said..."There was nothing good about the good ole days." In other words, she liked her modern conveniences.

My mama was a young teacher in a very country school (10 grades in 2 rooms) and my daddy worked as electrician at the lumber mill.
The old lady who kept me and my 2 brothers had that kind of a house, and that kind of a frame that hung from the ceiling, and looked like that lady.
Neighbors came over and they all stitched on whatever quilt was on the frame, and we kids hid under the frame and listened to all the gossip.

my mother had a frame like that. But I don't remember what happened to it.

Too cool!! I wonder how many kids would try to jump on it?

I alway wondered how they looked. Thanks for posting the picture. Years ago the woman had the frame in there kitchen and they would lower it to quilt and then use pullies to raise it to the ceiling to eat or use the table. Oh how I wish I lived back then.

My great-grandmother taught me to quilt on a frame just like that, when I was a very young girl! :mrgreen:

i learned on a hanging frame similar to this one, 50 some years ago. the ladies working on this helped me to make a baby quilt for my first babe, gifting me with the fabric and tools to make it.

The first one.
After that, no one wanted to invite those same consequences for themselves!
.

My MIL had one of those. She helped me quilt my very first quilt on it.

My mother and grandmother quilted on a frame just like that, except it hung from chains instead of ropes. It hung over our dining table and had to be rolled up to the ceiling when it was time to eat.

Several women in the neighborhood had one and they switched going from house to house and all worked on each others quilts, all together, laughing, talking and having fun. Thats how some of us girls learned to quilt. We would lay underneath, ( too young to have a needle) and watch.. Great memory... Thanks for Sharing...

I love that picture! I love the stories you have all shared

I used to attend Quilting Bee's atchurch with my Grandmother. The men had set up a frame like this one for the ladies in one of the rooms. They also had barrels of donated fabric and clothing to recycle into quilt blocks. They also had a couple of sewing machines and several tables. On the days that the gathered to quilt they would bring there best recipes for the potluck lunch. I can still hear those ladies sewing on their machines and laughing with each other.

Love this idea. Great for those of us with small spaces.

I wouldn't want to give up my washer/dryer, dishwasher, or other modern conveniences but I think it would be wonderful to be able to get together every week for a day of quilting, chatting, and fellowship.

I can remember as a child playing under the quilt that the neighborhood women were quilting. I had an aunt that did not quilt very well, so the others would let her fix lunch so she would not quilt. LOL