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Numerous quilt myths have arisen over the course of time. Some of them seem to be harmless stories that, repeated, have become legends of their own.

An example of a myth is the belief of the Hmong people that babies live in the clouds before they decide to descend to earth. Many cultures have their own creationism stories, and that is but one type of a story that explains how something came to be.

Other times, stories are simply not true, and don’t have a whit of truth about them, yet are repeated often enough so that everyone comes to believe them as fact. Let’s be more concise when it comes to quilt history!

Lately, I have come across some new fallacies that have been widely-distributed in print or on the Internet. They are presented in this “short list” here.

1) Quilts were used to help “conduct” slaves on the “Underground Railroad.” True or False?

Answer: False. There is no supporting evidence for the statement and the known facts are contrary to this claim.

2) The Amish called a certain hand quilting pattern a “squash seed” design. True or False?

Answer: False. The common terminology used exclusively for this type of quilting design is “pumpkin seed” quilting. Same church, wrong pew.

3) Dwight Eisenhower made a quilt when he was only three years old. True or False?

Answer: False. The former president would have been beyond precocious to have done so. The answer is False with a capital “F.” This statement was thoroughly researched.

4. New Hampshire’s early quilt historian’s first name was Emily. True or False?

Answer: False. Her first name was “Ellen,” and she was never called “Emily,” although two friends of hers who were sisters were named Ellen, and Emily, and had the same last name, as she did, of Webster. Her full name was Ellen Emeline Hardy Webster, and she was called “Elly,” by boys who teased her, but only for a short time at school.

5. Quilting in America has always been a scrap craft affair, with poor people cutting up their clothes to make warm bed covers. True or False?

Answer: False. The earliest quilt tradition in America came here with the immigrants and was that of wholecloth quilting. Quilting was the domain of the wealthy who had the time to quilt and the necessary materials and money. Wool blankets were in use by the Shakers who have only a slight history of quiltmaking for people outside their community. Sheep were plentiful in early New England and were distributed all the way to Virginia, thus yielding, presumably, many wool blankets to keep warm.

6. Colonial Women quilted a great deal. True or False?

Answer: False. While we do have written accounts of quilting bees and quilting in early New England, these instances appear to have been rare. Who would have had time, considering all that the women had to do? They were buy stoking the fire, cooking, birthing children, tending to the sick, making soap and candles, processing food, etc. It is no wonder at all that many women died at a much earlier age than women do today. They were simply worn out.

7. Women purposely put a mistake into every quilt they made, in deference to the fact that only God is perfect. True or False?

Answer: False. If you have ever made a quilt, you know that you do your best not to make mistakes, so if one happens to occur, this statement is as good a cop-out in any age, as you’ll find. No, most women would not purposely make a purposeful mistake because of a calling to “humility.”

8. Blackwork Embroidery is the same as Redwork, Bluework, Greenwork, Pinkwork, Orangework, etc. in technique. True of False?

Answer: False. Blackwork embroidery is a specialized, counted thread technique, most often associated with Catherine of Aragon (Spain) who went to England to marry King Henry VII, and later, his brother, King Henry VIII. The other types of embroidery mentioned refer to thread color and are all Surface Embroidery techniques, better known as “Outline Stitch Embroidery,” collectively.

9. Kate Greenaway, British children’s book author and illustrator, designed patterns in the 1930s. True or False?

Answer: False. Kate was a Victorian Age artist. By 1930, Kate had been dead for 29 years and was not composing anything.

10. All African-American made quilts have the same attributes. True or False?

Answer: Completely false. People are individuals and create their own quilt styles outside the realm of any prescribed or overlaid theoretical model. Quilting is about self-expression and being unique, not one of the crowd.

Now, it’s your turn. Can you think of any quilt myths you have heard? There are others! Be sure to write to us, if you’d like to chime into the discussion.

Don’t be fooled! Don’t believe everything you hear! To meet others who are interested in the facts about quilt history, consider joining the American Quilt Study Group.

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

This entry was posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 6:08 pm and is filed under Myths. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.