There have been several quilt historians who have endeavored to index the thousands of known quilt patterns and they have done an exceptional job of it. This can be frustrating to a quilt owner who wants a proper name for her quilt. While we would like to think that every pattern has a name, there are still patterns that have no proper name, and amusingly, many patterns have more than one name. Other mid century periodicals published patterns occasionally, and references to quilts and patterns appeared with increased frequency as the number of magazines increased in number.
#KALEIDOSCOPE QUILT PATTERN SERIES#
In the 1850’s Godey’s continued to publish quilt patterns for American quilt makers with a series of numbered but unnamed quilt patterns. When they were named however, the names were usually descriptive, like the previously mentioned honeycomb (hexagons) pattern, and very often they were simply named “Patchwork”. While we know that some early periodicals like Godey’s, featured patterns for quilt making they seldom gave names to these patterns, when describing a quilt or giving directions for making them. The first known quilt pattern published in an American periodical was the honeycomb or hexagon pattern published by the Godey’s Lady’s Book in 1835.
However, the few diaries that do mention a quilt by name, usually fail to describe the quilt or give any hint to what the pattern looked like (much less any type of drawing), leaving us to guess the pattern that the quilter is writing about. There are quilt names mentioned in old diaries or journals kept by the women who made quilts. Research done on the earliest quilt pattern names and where they originated, has not been overly successful. The quilt names used in this article are names that are known, or are familiar to me, and probably not the only names for the patterns as most patterns have many names. Patterns can be found with names commemorating national and political events, religious beliefs, and even war heroes were not excluded from having a quilt pattern named after them. There are names signifying home and family life as well as names for the environment that the quilt maker lived in. It seems that every aspect of a woman’s life was honored with a quilt pattern name at one time or another. We see the connection quite clearly by the names that quilt makers have given their quilt patterns. One of the most fascinating aspects about quilt collecting, study and history is discovering the association between quilts and the lives of the women who made them. If these sound like terms from Scripture, you are correct, however they are also names for quilt patterns. Garden of Eden, Jacobs Ladder, Josephs Coat.
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