Memorials, Quilts

Quilts have for centuries been one of the most consistent forms of textiles used in the home. Through the centuries, quilts have also served multiple purposes—as bedcovers, of course, but also as shrouds or coffin liners or covers; sleep has always been closely associated with death. Historically, the making of quilts was often a shared activity, providing women in a community with sociability and the opportunity for creative expression, a welcome—and productive—diversion from the more isolating and physically demanding tasks of housekeeping. A new availability of endlessly patterned and colorful commercial fabrics for use in dressmaking and upholstery helped to spur a lively flourishing of creative expression in 19th-century America well beyond utilitarian purposes. Quilts became a way to celebrate or commemorate significant events in one's personal life or in the community or nation. A particular type of commemorative quilt that can take many different forms is the memorial, or mourning quilt, which memorializes the deceased, whether an individual or a community of individuals. [Page 722]Memorial quilts largely fall into two categories: those honoring an individual and those commemorating a community of individuals.

Mourning Quilts in America

With the elaboration of mourning practices and a new emphasis on memorialization in America in the 19th century, quilts became one of the most intensely personal ways to express grief, loss, and memory. Mourning customs, directed particularly toward women, dictated everything from the color of a widow's clothes and jewelry and the specific length of time she was expected to mourn, to the size of the black border around her stationery. As part of their education, young women created embroideries and samplers that memorialized a deceased family member or friend, following accepted conventions of needlework.

The most personal expressions of loss are usually found in memorial quilts for individuals. In the 19th century, with high rates of infant and child mortality and frequent widowhood, mothers and wives often found solace in creating quilts to honor their loved ones. Designs typically used the colors of mourning—black, white, and shades of gray, possibly with shades of purple as well—with black borders, similar to the stationery and handkerchiefs widows used. Some designs used symbols and motifs found on gravestones—for example, the lyre with a broken string or the funerary urn. These quilts could replace the more brightly colored bedcovers in the bedroom, at least for a while.

Another personal expression of mourning was the “memory quilt,” in which a quilt was pieced together from the deceased's clothing. Based on documentary sources, it appears this particular type of quilt was often made by women mourning other women—pieces of the deceased's dresses, which themselves had typically been made from brightly colored calicoes and cottons, were joined together, with religious sayings or sentimental verse memorializing the deceased embroidered in the middle white square. Occasionally these quilts also acted as albums for friends and family, who included poems, sayings, and signatures, attesting to their grief and love for the departed. Memorial ribbon quilts incorporated pieces of ribbons from the deceased's funeral services. The making of the quilt provided a therapeutic and comforting way to work through grief, while the finished quilt acted as a “memory” of, and connection to, the deceased. The tradition of incorporating pieces connected to the deceased's life or pictorial symbols relating to mourning and loss seems to have been practiced in most communities, regardless of ethnicity, race, or socioeconomic class during the 19th century.

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