Quilting and Patchwork in the British Isles

Ursula McKean
Dundee Scotland, UK

There is some evidence of patchwork and quilting in medieval Europe. Clothes worn under armour or as armour seem to have been made of quilted leather or linen padded with rags or straw or sheeps' wool, and perhaps reinforced with metal. Very little is documented and only the occasional item has survived.

During the Renaissance (15th-16th centuries), there is evidence of more decorative padded and quilted clothing, and also top covers of beds, as luxury items. As time went on, the surviving records show that the fashion became popular lower down the social scale and materials included cheaper ones.

From the 17th century on, we know more, and more original items survive. Quilted bedcovers are documented in a wider range of homes (through wills etc.) and quilted women's petticoats, babies' caps and men's waistcoats survive if only in fragments. There are some nice items in the Museum of Costume in Bath, England. The earliest surviving dated patchwork bedcover is the 1718 silk coverlet discovered in 2000 and purchased by the Quilters' Guild of the British Isles  The coverlet is pieced over papers, even the curved bits. 

Within the British Isles, some regional variations show up from the 18th century on. Wales and Northern England ('Durham' quilts to dealers, but 'North Country' to quilters) have surviving and identifiable traditions which just made it into the mid 20th century, and other parts of the British Isles (Ireland and the southwest of England) may well have had their own styles too. These are mostly styles of quilting design, not patchwork. There are several notable collections of quilts in museums; the Beamish Museum near Newcastle; the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, both in England; the Museum of Welsh Life at St. Fagans, Cardiff, in Wales; and the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra, Northern Ireland.

As far as influence on US traditions goes, apart from the fact that nearly all (white) early US immigrants were British, it's known that particular American styles developing from British traditions are: the appliqued style that developed into the Baltimore style; pieced patchwork worked in borders around a central medallion; perhaps an influence from Welsh wool quilts is seen in Amish patchwork (but not necessarily Amish quilting).

From the mid 19th century on, the surviving quilts show that influences go both ways across the Atlantic.

It’s important to remember that before the Industrial Revolution, all fabric was time-consuming to produce and expensive to buy, so that the added contribution of patchwork and quilting to any piece of textile either made that textile a strictly luxury item, or was done because the investment of time and effort was felt to be essential (as in armour or fashion wear). Never was it cheap until after textiles became machine-made.

There is a useful booklist on the website of the British Quilt Study Group.

Some museums:

Beamish Museum

Bowes Museum

Museum of Welsh Life at St. Fagans

Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra