Quilting history in the last 40 years
02-07-2020, 06:10 AM
#23
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2018
Location: South Dakota
Posts: 331
I got married in 1979. My mother in law asked me what I would like for a birthday gift. I told her I would love a book on quilting. She looked everywhere and found one book. I still have it - The Quilt Engagement Calendar Treasury. I made my first quilt for my daughter in 1991 and still had a hard time finding a pattern. A few years later, I made a quilt for my son. I used a pattern that I had purchased when I was about 12 from a newspaper ad. Things have certainly changed - all for the better.
02-07-2020, 07:14 AM
#24
Power Poster
Join Date: May 2009
Location: NY
Posts: 10,590
The first major one that offered a cash prize for best of show was AQS Paducah in 1985. I think the success of the AQS shows added to the popularity of quilting and specifically competition quilting. This went a long ways to making it the multi billion dollar industry it is today.
http://www.americanquilter.com/about_aqs/history.php
http://www.americanquilter.com/about_aqs/history.php
02-07-2020, 07:23 AM
#25
Power Poster
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 26,124
I'm so glad you mentioned Eleanor Burns! She self published her first book, Make a Quilt in a Day, in 1978. I went to the Paducah Show last year and she was celebrating her 40th year in the quilting business (40 Fabulous Years!) . I think one of her greatest contributions to modern quilting is her chain piecing method. It made construction so much faster.
02-08-2020, 06:51 AM
#27
Power Poster
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: Central Ohio
Posts: 15,222
I'm so glad you mentioned Eleanor Burns! She self published her first book, Make a Quilt in a Day, in 1978. I went to the Paducah Show last year and she was celebrating her 40th year in the quilting business (40 Fabulous Years!) . I think one of her greatest contributions to modern quilting is her chain piecing method. It made construction so much faster.
02-08-2020, 07:37 AM
#28
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Michigan
Posts: 1,664
I am gathering information for a presentation for my quilt guild. I thought it would be interesting to look at how quilting has changed in recent years. I chose to focus on the last 40 years as the Rotary Cutter was invented in 1979 and I think that invention really changed the way that we quilt. Can you imagine having to trace shapes onto fabric and cut with scissors.
I looked for recent history on the internet and to my surprise was not able to find much information. Here is what I have gathered so far.
I thought you might be interested and perhaps could add dates or items that you think have changed quilting over the last 40 years.
1979- rotary cutter
1980s fabric....Laura Ashley florals, dusty rose and dusty blue. Pre-printed panels, cheater quilts
1980- long arm quilting machines
1980s- Quilting TV shows- Eleanor Burns, Georgia Bonisteel, Kaye Woods, Sewing with Nancy
1985- machine quilting
1985-singer computerized machines
1991- internet starts
1994-Amazon starts
1994- First digital camera
Mid 90's smart phones ( used for taking pictures, calculating yardage , pricing etc)
90s fabrics- civil war, Kim Diehl, JoMorton, Robert Kaufman
Early 2000s- modern quilting
2002- disappearing nine patch
2005-Youtube starts
2008- Missouri Star/Jenny Doan
2008-JellyRolls
2009- Pinterest starts
2011-Craftsy
2012-505 spray baste
2019- Bluprint
I looked for recent history on the internet and to my surprise was not able to find much information. Here is what I have gathered so far.
I thought you might be interested and perhaps could add dates or items that you think have changed quilting over the last 40 years.
1979- rotary cutter
1980s fabric....Laura Ashley florals, dusty rose and dusty blue. Pre-printed panels, cheater quilts
1980- long arm quilting machines
1980s- Quilting TV shows- Eleanor Burns, Georgia Bonisteel, Kaye Woods, Sewing with Nancy
1985- machine quilting
1985-singer computerized machines
1991- internet starts
1994-Amazon starts
1994- First digital camera
Mid 90's smart phones ( used for taking pictures, calculating yardage , pricing etc)
90s fabrics- civil war, Kim Diehl, JoMorton, Robert Kaufman
Early 2000s- modern quilting
2002- disappearing nine patch
2005-Youtube starts
2008- Missouri Star/Jenny Doan
2008-JellyRolls
2009- Pinterest starts
2011-Craftsy
2012-505 spray baste
2019- Bluprint
02-08-2020, 08:23 AM
#29
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Fort Smith, Arkansas
Posts: 583
Wow! This is a very interesting topic. I haven’t been quilting for long, but I do have a quilt I made sometime in the 70’s. I knew absolutely nothing about quilting, but decided to try my hand. I traced my pattern pieces on a piece of paper and then pinned to my fabric. Cut out with a pair of scissors and sewed them together on an old sewing machine that didn’t work very well. Hand quilted that thing. Every now and then I will take it out of storage and think “I can’t believe what a good job I done having absolutely no knowledge what I was doing. The only thing I wish I would have done differently is tagged the quilt with the year I made it and chose different color of fabric (used red and green). It was a bow tie pattern.
02-08-2020, 09:17 AM
#30
Power Poster
Join Date: May 2009
Location: NY
Posts: 10,590
I just thought of another "trailblazer" in quilting history, Harriet Hargrave who did more to get machine quilting (as opposed to hand quilting) mainstreamed than just about anyone. http://www.harriethargrave.com/about-harriet.html
