Quilting in America really began out of necessity. A frontier woman had to provide her family with clothing and bedding often made from fabric she wove herself with thread spun by her own hand. People were settling far from resources so if you needed something you made it yourself often piecing together scraps leftover from other projects. As our nation grew and industrialized materials became more easily available, quilting evolved into something done more for pleasure or tradition keeping.
Whether done for enjoyment or out of necessity quilting is an art form. Each piece totally unique to another. The Allen County - Fort Wayne Historical Society is lucky to have a large collection of quilts ranging from the mid-19th century up to the late-20th century. However, given the size of each quilt, finding space for display is difficult. Textiles are also extremely sensitive to light exposure and other environmental hazards traditional exhibition exposes them to so we have chosen to share a large portion of our quilt collection here online.
We'd also like to thank Sandi Brothers for volunteering her time and expertise to help identify quilt patterns and share her abundant knowledge of quilting with us as we put this virtual exhibit together.
