Thursday, February 28, 2013

New England...A Rich History of Textiles

Last week the kids had off from school for Winter Break here in New England. Since having kids cooped up for a week out of their routine would make us moms all nutty, we try to find fun things to do to keep them busy. Since I've lived here for almost 10 years and have never been to Old Sturbridge Village, I thought it would be a fun adventure. The village is a working museum displaying life here in the 1830's. I took my son and my parents, and what a great time we had! 

One thing I've always taken for granted is the rich history we have here on the east coast. I love history, and that's probably one reason I love the thought and idea of quilting. It's rooted in American history, yet I had never thought much about the reality of textile history. Between Massachusetts and Rhode Island, there is no better place to experience the history of fabrics and quilting in America. While there's so much more, I thought I'd share a few shapshots of our day.

Diaper cloth weaving demonstration
I was amazed at how big this loom was! The work involved in just preparing the loom with threads would have been enough to send me over the edge. I kept thinking how much fun it would have been to get to try it out. It was interesting to find out though that the "diaper" cloth that was made was not for baby diapers, which would have been completely different. This diaper cloth would have been used for towels and bed linens.

Two beautiful quilts on display
I know the picture doesn't show it well, but the handquilting on these quilts was amazing!


Women were freed to focus on other activities
It's so easy to forget the amount of work our pioneer mamas had to do just for simple things like food and fabrics. They had to card, spin, and weave fabrics, then sew everything they needed from clothes to diapers. Can you imagine if we had to "make" our own diapers today? As we walked around the village, I got to thinking...everything there that we look at today as a hobby or "fun stuff" was hard, necessary work back then. Even things like pottery were performed out of necessity rather than enjoyment. With automation came freedom for women to explore other important endeavors.

The one most relevant facts I took away from the day was the price of fabrics back then in comparison to our prices today. In the general store, they had beautiful fabrics from the period that had been both imported and then later produced here is the USA. Imported fabrics back then cost $3-$5 per yard. Say what? Yep...I said that right. Domestic mass production brought prices down for most fabrics to 25 cents - $1 per yard, but I was shocked at the fact that the prices on our website today are the same or just a little more than what they had to pay in the 1830's for high quality fabric. We often cringe when we see $10-$11/yard, but in reality we are very fortunate. I guess at Quilt Fabric Closeouts we could technically claim "1830's pricing" on our Specials LOL.

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