A patchwork quilt is a quilt in which the top layer may consist of pieces of fabric sewn together to form a design.
Originally, this was to make full use of leftover scraps of fabric, but now fabric is often bought specially for a specific design. Fabrics are now often sold in quarter meters. A "fat quarter" is one square meter folded into four and cut along the folds, thus giving a relatively square piece of fabric 50 cm on a side, as opposed to buying a quarter of a meter off the roll, resulting in a long thin piece that is only 25 cm wide.
Mrs. Bill Stagg of Pie Town, New Mexico, with her embroidered patchwork quilt that displays all 48 (at the time) United States state flowers and birds, October 1940
Patchwork quilt: 1992 Kentucky State Winner
Little Amsterdam
A quilt is a multi-layered textile, traditionally composed of two or more layers of fabric or fiber. Commonly three layers are used with a filler material. These layers traditionally include a woven cloth top, a layer of batting or wadding, and a woven back combined using the techniques of quilting. This is the process of sewing on the face of the fabric, and not just the edges, to combine the three layers together to reinforce the material. Stitching patterns can be a decorative element. A single piece of fabric can be used for the top of a quilt, but in many cases the top is created from smaller fabric pieces joined, or patchwork. The pattern and color of these pieces creates the design. Quilts may contain valuable historical information about their creators, "visualizing particular segments of history in tangible, textured ways".
1940 photograph by Russell Lee of Mrs. Bill Stagg of Pie Town, New Mexico with state quilt
Little Amsterdam
Pieced quilt, cottons, c. 1865, unknown maker, Kentucky, dimensions: 80×85 inches. The design had numerous names such as Rocky Road and Crown of Thorns until it was renamed and marketed as "New York Beauty" in the 1930s by the Mountain Mist company. Included in the book "New York Beauty, Quilts from the Volckening Collection" (Quiltmania, France). Collection of Bill Volckening, Portland, Oregon.
Quilting bee in Central Park, 1973