Quilting:
The art of quilting can be traced to primitive Chinese culture. However, in the Holy land during the 12th Century, Crusaders used quilting for both warmth and padding under armor.
The quilting of bed covers appeared in the 14th Century during devastating winters in western Europe. At this time, frames were invented along with tools for combining layers of fabric. The first filling materials were lamb's wool, moss, feathers or grass to give added warmth. Later more elaborate techniques were used such as scrolling, motifs and applique for decorating quilts along with shoes, gloves and hats. After rising to higher levels of artistry, treasured pieces were handed down to relatives.
Up to this point, quilt tops were a solid piece of fabric. Arriving Europeans in 1700 and 1800 brought along quilted bed sets. In time, after many repairs, they resembled patch work tops. Today with inexpensive and easily obtained material, and the addition of sewing machines, quilting is once again reborn using new skills and techniques.
In our kit you will find pattern sheets for making templates and motifs, as well as step-by-step directions for making a completed quilt with edging. Instructions for applique and block composition diagrams are included. The supplies provided are a seam presser, a needle book, 2 sewing needles, 6 round-head straight pins and thread.
In our kit you will find pattern sheets for making templates and motifs, as well as step-by-step directions for making a completed quilt with edging. Instructions for applique and block composition diagrams are included. The supplies provided are a seam presser, a needle book, 2 sewing needles, 6 round-head straight pins and thread.
A Brief History of the Sewing Needle
By Lily Homer May, 2018
The needles we use here at SNAD are made of steel, copper, and a thin layer of gold or silver to avoid rust or corrosion. The modern embroidery needle, made of combinations of different metals, however, is just the most recent in a long (and we mean really long) history of needle development.
The oldest needle we know of dates back around 60,000 years ago: a human-constructed, animal (most likely bird) bone needle found in South Africa. Other needles made of bone and ivory have been discovered in Slovenia, Liaoning, China, and Russia, dating back to between 45,000 and 30,000 years ago. The first needle with an eyelet dates to around 25,000 years ago.
Although these artifacts originated in varying climates and cultures, they point to a time when modern humans were evolving away from their evolutionary ancestors. Armenian copper needles, for example, which date to around 7,000 BCE, mark the development of metal harnessing, a major development in human technology. Early sewing needles, on the other hand, were crucial in the survival of the human species, helping early humans construct more fitted clothing made of animal furs and skins to protect themselves from the elements during the most recent ice age.
The use of needles in the arts, which evolved from the more practical need to sew, has a more contested beginning. The earliest known example of embroidery was found in Russia, dating to around 30,000 years ago. However, it is widely accepted that embroidery first developed in South/Central Asia and the Middle East. Text documentation from China during the Warring States Period, around 220 BCE, describes the practice of ‘making decorations with a needle’, or iuhua/zhahu, as an ancient tradition. The earliest existing example of Chinese silk embroidery comes from a tomb in Mashan in Hubei Province, dating to around the 4th century BCE, though physical evidence of embroidery in China dates back centuries.
Nowadays, we can order needles online from companies all over the world, specializing in styles or particular needle content (our steel, copper, silver and gold needles are highly regulated in composition). Our access to the tools that fit our precise needs allows us to focus on our craft, and continue to improve the products we make.
The above image is of the earliest surviving quilt dating from the 1st century BC to the 2nd century AD. It was found in a Mongolian cave and is a quilted linen carpet. It is housed in (St. Petersburg) the Russian Academy of Sciences, Archeology section.
The Function of Quilted Armor in Medieval Europe
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
In medieval Europe, not all armor was made of metal plate. Mail armor, a mesh of interlinking metal rings sometimes erroneously referred to as "chain mail," probably originated over 3,000 years ago. It remained the dominant form of body armor from long before the Migration period (ca. 400*600) until well into the fourteenth century. In western Europe, the development of plate armor for the body began in the thirteenth century and progressed throughout the fourteenth century. Aside from steel, plate armor was also made of leather, some of which was hardened by boiling in wax or oil (cuir bouilli). In addition to mail and plate armor, some European knights and men-at-arms wore armor made of fabric, many-layered and heavily quilted body armor known as a gambeson (worn under mail and early plate armor), or a jupon (worn alone or over a mail shirt). During the fifteenth century, plate armor became the dominant form of protection, and by about 1500 had all but displaced mail and fabric armor or relegated them to secondary functions such as protecting the joints and easily exposed areas of the body. Nevertheless, in all times a complete armor invariably consisted of a mixture of different materials.
Source: The Function of Armor in Medieval and Renaissance Europe | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Jupon coat Armor of Charles VI of France, late 1300's .
These garments were worn under or over chain mail. Similarly, a gambeson was a garment also worn for protection during the Middle Ages that was stuffed and quilted.
Arming Cap worn under chainmail coif or helmet.
Trapunto:
In Italian means to embroider and is a whole cloth quilting technique. Traditional patterns consisted of feathers, leaves, flowers, vases and other motifs, and were outlined in stitching on a solid color.
The art of quilting can be traced to primitive Chinese culture. However, in the Holy Land during the 12th Century, Crusaders used quilting for both warmth and padding under armor. The quilting of bed covers appeared in the 14th Century during devastating winters in western Europe.
Trapunto originated around the 1400's in Sicily. At this time, frames were invented along with tools for combining layers of fabric. The first filling materials were lamb's wool, moss, feathers or grass to give added warmth.
Later in the century it was a popular method for decoration and clothing construction, especially in England. This sophisticated craft was brought over in the early 1700's by new immigrants, and thought to be refined and tasteful. Usually only women of wealth and leisure could afford to buy the materials needed and had the time to pursue such pleasures.
The effigy of Walter von Hohenklingen, an imperial knight killed at the battle of Sempach, depicts in minute detail the mixture of protective materials worn at the end of the fourteenth century. Note the mail shirt protruding from under the padded jupon, the mail neck protection (aventail) under a similarly padded cover, and the pieces of plate armor (breastplate, gauntlets, and strapped-on leg defenses), as well as the detached visor belonging to his helmet (bascinet) and the reinforcing plate strapped in front of his tournament helm (Stechhelm).
Another medieval garment of stuffed and quilted cloth or leather originally worn under the hauberk or chain mail for padding but later used alone as a defensive garment.
For information on popular historic quilt patterns you may like to visit Oldest.org :