QUILT LABEL CONTENT - IDEAS FOR YOU

QUILT LABEL CONTENT

There are thousands of web pages on how to create quilt labels but I want to discuss the content for a few minutes.

Way back in 1976, the American Bicentennial is really what regenerated our interest in quilting.  In fact, all traditional crafts and cooking methods got a boost.

At the time, every state put together a “quilt documentation project”.  Quilt historians and volunteers from all over each state got together and invited the public to bring antique or vintage quilts to be documented, photographed, and identified.  Most teams published books from their efforts.  The objective was to record the quilts typical of a state during the country’s history.  Patterns for the quilts could most often be recognized from published works.  Of course, there were a lot of variations. 

Most of the quilts had no real written record of who made them and where.  So the families owning the quilts did their best to bring anecdotal information about the quilt and the maker.  On the occasions where the quilt had been labeled, the documentation teams were THRILLED!  It was so much easier to identify a pattern, a trend, or a prolific quiltmaker with the label information.

From that documentation effort three basic needs emerged.  So these are the three MOST IMPORTANT things that you can put on a quilt label:

1.  Maker’s name.  Include the maiden name if necessary.  And in this modern time where we shop out many quilts to professional longarmers, add their name, too.

2.  Year the quilt was made.  By “made” we usually mean “finished”.  If the quilt took 10 years to make it is lovely to include that information. 

3.  The state in which the quilt was made. 

Any additional information on your label is delightful to have.  Who was the quilt made for?  Occasion?  What is the relationship between the giver and the receiver?  Pattern used?  City where the maker lived?  There are some real opportunities for you to give future quilt historians what they crave.

Finally, I like to add some “data” for myself.  Dimensions of the quilt, batting type, thread used, name of pattern, name of quilt, source of pattern, etc.  Mostly so I can remember but I think all information is welcome to a researcher somewhere in the future.

Quilt historians are as eager for hard, verifiable data as genealogists are!  So give them the best information about your quilt and feed their craving!  A quilt is, after all, a part of your personal legacy to the world.  Be as generous with your information as you are with your quilts.