Quilts allowed women to express themselves artistically, and studying quilts allows scholars to trace changes in technology, aesthetics, and cultural values over time. Quilts can also provide greater understanding about important events in women’s lives, such as births, marriages, deaths and travels.. Montana historian Mary Murphy states that quilts are fragments, clues, tiny jeweled windows onto the experiences of women in our past. They hint at networks of kinship and friendship, to the disruption and promise of migration of the love of things warm and beautiful.

Pieced and appliqued block quilts were the norm around the time of the Civil War, but in the 1870’s American quilters suddenly broke away from the dictates of block symmetry. So-called crazy quilts became ubiquitous of the Victorian era. These quilts were usually made of silks, satins, and velvets and characterized by elaborate embroider and adornment.

As American cities boomed around the turn of the twentieth century, the popularity of quilting varied drastically according to geography. The practice fell out of favor for an ran population presented with more and more activities to occupy their leisure hours. At the same time, quilting thrived and remained extraordinarily vibrant in rural communities; quilters there were still taking the time to use needle and thread to make quilts.

The rural quilting community was so vibrant, in fact, that by the beginning of the twentieth century an entire industry had grown up to support it. Quilt kits became common; blocks and designs that had once been design innovations were draw up and turned into printed patterns. Some of the most iconic American quilt patterns – including the double wedding ring, the Dresden plate, and sunbonnet Sue, emerged during this period.

Though quilt patterns began as a means to sell other products – most significantly magazines and batting – by the 1930s, stand-alone patterns and pattern books were widely available.

It is remarkable that a quilting industry would take hold in the 1930s, during the height of the Depression. Even as patterns and kits became more readily available, those who could no longer afford to purchase cloth specifically for quilts used any scraps they could find. Aware of this, companies began to make feed sacks of patterned muslin to be used in garments and quilts alike. Indeed, the need to make do with what was available fostered an intuitive creativity in quilters, who produced an impressive array of original scrap quilts.