quiltersmuse.com Blog

In a blog post on June 5, 2009, titled “Lecture Leaves Questions,” I addressed some of the topics with which I took issue, in a presentation by Cheryl Savageau, who gave a talk about quilting sponsored by the New Hampshire Humanities Council.

One of the specific points I mentioned was the speaker’s allusion to the “first Amish quilt ever made.” She stated that she has a photo of it.

In part, I said the following:

The lecturer said that she has a photo of the first known Amish quilt in faded reds and purples, created sometime between 1865 and 1940.

Today, some new light was shed on this topic when I was contacted by Jonathan Holstein. He is a well-known quilt art scholar, and an Amish quilt collector. His pivotal display of quilts at the Whitney Quilt Museum in 1971 is credited with fueling the flame of the current quilt passion that has swept the country ever since.

He reveals this information in his note:

I enjoyed reading your posting about Amish quilts, and noted your questions about a lecturer claiming “that she has a photo of the first known Amish quilt in faded reds and purples,” I think what is going on is that the very first Amish quilt Gail and I found we included in the 1971 Whitney Museum exhibition, and it was a Bars quilt in somewhat faded reds and purples. This was, as far as we know, the first Amish quilt shown publicly and identified as such, and that has been printed in a number of places. So perhaps the lecturer mistakenly thought this was the “first” Amish in a literal sense, which of course it was not. The earliest dated Amish quilt of which I am aware is s a whole cloth quilt dated 1849.
Jonathan Holstein

At last, a definitive answer! Thanks, Jonathan!

P.S. There are additional files about Amish Quilts on our main website.

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

While we are on the subject of Amish Quilts, I’d like to call your attention to a file of quilts provided by Judy Morton, quilter extraordinaire of Indiana, and collector of Southern Indiana Amish Quilts. She graciously provided all of the photos shown on our website of this kind of quilt. These quilts are best viewed using Internet Explorer browser.

Anyone who knows Amish Quilts will tell you that they are made differently in Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania, the three major areas of the United States where the Amish live.

Of course, the most valuable Amish Quilts date from a time before they were “discovered” by the tourist trade. 1950 seems a good cut off date for that. Jonathan Holstein and his (late) wife, Gail van der Hoof collected many Pennsylvania Amish quilts and enjoyed the aesthetic result of hanging them vertically. Some reminded Holstein, who had an art background, of Mondrian paintings. Their landmark exhibit at the Whitney Museum was not the first show to hang quilts on a wall. However, it is the one most often noted as a change in perspective for more viewers: an utter transformation from bed quilt to wall art. Jonathan Holstein could be called the grandfather of the modern art quilts movement.

When we visited Pennsylvania in 1999, it was disappointing to see so many poorly-made quilts for sale. I am told that I did not know where “to go.” The tourist shops have quilts that are hastily-made for the trade and truly indicative of the fine stitches normally associated with fine Amish quilting. As noted at the end of my website article about the Hmong people, many refugees from southeast Asia were taught to do quilting by the Mennonites, and much of the work that is marketed neglects to mention that the quilts were not quilted totally by Amish or Mennonite women, but by Hmong women (who certainly have a cultural tradition of doing fine needlework!). For the purists, the resulting works are neither Amish nor Mennonite, but Hmong, a secret because Amish quilts are not labeled as to who made them (their cultural tradition).

At any rate, that is a small summary of Amish Quilts. The previous blog mentions a book by Darwin D. Bearley that will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about Ohio Amish Quilts.

A search on my website will bring up other Amish files, with photos. Use the word search function within the text of the front page.

Until Later,

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

Above is yet another example of a southern Indiana Amish quilt. Photo provided by the quilt’s owner, Judy Morton.

Regarding my recently-posted file of Amish and Mennonite quilts from southern Indiana, Betsy Golden of Bethlehem, PA writes:

Dear Pat,

Here in eastern PA, in PA Dutch country, these quilts look quite ordinary to me. The fabric store I visit most often is owned by a Mennonite family, on their dairy farm near Kutztown, PA. My impression is that for many, making quilts to sell is a way for the Mennonites, and possibly the Amish, as well, to cash in on the average American’s romanticized notion of a quilt “made by the Amish.” They are really producing quantities of quilts in the patterns and colors which seem to sell best. Certainly there is a tendency toward more traditional quilt patterns and designs, but otherwise these quilts are a lot like those being made by other experienced traditional quilters in the area.

MY RESPONSE:

Thanks for the letter, Betsy. It’s always great to hear another viewpoint. There’s no surprise that the Amish and/or Mennonites cater to the tastes of the marketplace, especially if they are dependent on the sale of quilts for their livelihood.

In today’s world, “change” is always the catch word, and “change” is mentioned as though it is inherently better than the status quo. Just listen to politicians. This is the way it has been, traditionally, in the quilt world. Whatever technique is newest is what is considered best.

Now, art quilts are on the “cutting edge” of change, and touted by some, as better. I guess it is all in how we define the word “better,” and specifically, which quilt to which we are referring.
Our aesthetic tastes may be dictated by others, if we allow that to happen, or we can stick to what we know we prefer, one way or another. In any event, no one is right or wrong. We each make our choices as to what we like and what we make, as quilters ourselves.

Thanks for your thought-provoking note, Betsy.

Patricia Cummings