Quilts are fascinating to me partially because I am looking for clues about the women’s lives who made them - what kind of a person she might have been, and what was happening in her life at the time. I find this interesting about craft in general. With women’s stories and lives being largely untold, especially before a certain period, often the only history we have is in the remains of what they have made, along with stories passed down though families. I can only imagine the secrets they carried, and the details of quiet hidden lives and observations.
What I love about craft is the individual expression of her creativity, and being made in the home it seems to be about personal taste, expression of creativity, and usefulness - without being sanctioned by someone else or a criticism to push the work to be no longer personal. Mostly created for the self and imbued with great personal meaning.
Some details from a couple of embroidered quilts. The first was covered in a fantastical assortment of bearded men, dour ladies, exotic birds, butterflies, flowers and unidentifiable mammals. The second was a field of disembodied children’s hand prints with names and ages embroidered inside, none older than about 3, and some as small as 3 months.
The American Folk Museum has an exhibition coming up of centuries of quilts.
c/o and reblogged from: even*cleveland
