How to Date an Amish Quilt
The Amish are known for their spectacular quilts with their rich solid colors set on a dark background forming bold graphic designs. The Amish came to the craft late and didn't begin making quilts until the mid-1800s when they were taught by German Quakers in the United States. The uniquely Amish look for quilts began to develop between 1850 and 1870. Today, there are new quilts that try to emulate the old Amish look, but there are some clues to help you know if you're holding an authentic or a reproduction quilt.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Check the size of the quilt. Quilts larger than 82 inches in length were not common until after 1920, when the box spring was invented. Traditional Amish quilts are square, not rectangular, like most quilts.
-
2
Look at the fabric and colors used, and the way the top is assembled. Amish quilts use solid colors in bold yet simple designs, contrasting bright against dark. Predominant colors were blue, purple, green and red with a black background. Occasionally, a printed fabric was used on the back, but never allowed on the front. Amish quilts were sewn by hand for both the piecing and the quilting, so spread the seams to see if the stitches are done by hand or machine.
-
-
3
Check the pattern. Traditional Amish quilts have a center square the size of the top of the mattress, a diamond in a square or rectangular bars. There is usually a wide border where lots of quilting is shown. A keynote of an old Lancaster County quilt is when the corners of the border are made from two triangles of the same color. While the corner border will not help date the quilt, it will give an indication of where the quilt was made or where the quilter is from. Although these traditional patterns are still in use today, they were used almost exclusively from the 1850s to the 1870s.
-
4
Look at the batting, the quilt filling, if possible. Until the 1940s, Amish quilt batting was made from wool batiste or wool cashmere rather than cotton or synthetics, which are common today.
-
5
Inspect the quilting stitch that holds the three layers of the quilt together. The most popular quilting patterns during the mid to late 1800s were taken from nature -- tulips, feathers and grapevines. The best quilters were able to hand stitch twelve stitches to an inch of fabric. Quilting was done by hand, never by machine, and the more quilting on the quilt top, the older it is. Amish quilts were always pieced together by hand stitching, and then hand-quilted. The binding, the edge of the quilt that conceals the rough edges of the three layers, was also sewn on by hand.
-
1
