Customer Reviews

Quilts : Their Story and How to Make Them

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is a really interesting book, if quilt history is your thing. It's the first quilt book ever published in America, in 1915. The language is elegant and quaint, and the section of color photos of the author's own designs is superb. It's not a how-to book for hobbyists, nor is its history highly accurate if you want the "real" scoop on quilting. But for serious students, specialists, and layreaders interested not only in quilting, but also in women's history, this book is invaluable.

The kindle sample is totally useless. Based on other reviews I wanted to find out if there were any color plates in the kindle edition. All you get is one page, the table of contents, with links that ALL go to the same message offering to sell the book.

I agree with the other one star review. Sadly I did not take note of it before I ordered. This is a $9.99 disappointment. Not having illustrations makes this book useless.

Filiquarian Publishing is deceptively marketing a $9.99 reprint of Webster's classic quilt history book. It is a cheesy print-on-demand text-only version, with none of the original color and black-and-white illustrations. It is certainly not a "high quality" paperback. How can a quilt book be "high quality" without a single illustration!

I should have read the reviews before orderin this book. Yes, the history
was interesting and I learned alot. The problem was that the list of colour
plates were missing, the list of black and white illustrations were missing,
the illustrations in text (quilting designs) were missing. The reason I
ordered this book was to learn how to make the quilting designs. If I had
known these were missing I would have gone to a regular bookstore to order it.

Written in 1915, this little book is a treasure trove of information on the history of quilting. The author begins with the earliest origins of piecing bits of cloth together from the Bible to ancient Egypt and provides fascinating information on how the Egyptian revolutionized dyeing of fabrics. This e-book version does not contain the color plates that were part of the original publication but it is still an amazing resource for those interested in the evolution of quilt-making.

Marie Webster must have spent countless hours doing research in order to record the wealth of information contained in this volume. She discusses quilting in Persia and Turkey then moves through Europe and then into the British Isles providing endless anecdotes and comments on the stories recorded throughout history of gods and goddesses, royals and clergy, saints and artists who used needles, thread and fabric to create everything from home decor to the vestments worn by Popes.

Immigrants brought the art of quilting to America and some of her most interesting chapters recount stories of quilting int his country. She tells one story I particularly loved about a quilting bee held in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania during the time of the Civil War. Since I grew up not all that far from there and remember "quiltings" at my grandmother's house, I certainly loved this and was surprised that there was little difference in the quiltings despite the difference of a century. She even gave the rather amazing menu for the lunch served at that event. She concludes her history of quilting parties in America with the re-telling of a lovely little story about a quilting bee written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. She also discusses the origin of names of patterns that have long, long traditions.

If you love reading about the history of handcrafts, this is just a delicious little book.

This book is more history than instruction. If you are an experienced quilter or crafter you will enjoy this book. If you are looking for detailed instructions you will be disappointed.

I am an experienced quilter, who enjoys creating quilts and is interested in the history of quilt making. This book contains no illustrations or instructions on making quilts. However, it contains a very detailed and interesting history of quilts and quilt making. I learned a lot of small new details that I did not know before and enjoyed reading this book very much.

The book was written n 1915 and starts with a brief explanation of quilt making. Then it starts its journey into the history of quilt making. The roots of quilting and weaving are dated back by their appearance in ancient art work. For example, the images of a loom appear in 2650 B.C. The old piece of patchwork can be found in a Museum of cairo and dates to 960 B.C.

The book traces the appearance of patchwork during Trojan War, Middle Ages, Renaissance. Appliqué makes it appearance in Florence (described as cut work). There a very lengthy chapter on history of quilts in America, which I found very interesting. There is an interesting chapter on quilt block names. I never gave the block names much thought but the author organized them by themes such as political, religion, sky. and it gave me a fresh new way to think about the blocks I know and love.

I found the book educational and enjoyable. Great trip in history!