Monday, February 03, 2014

The Welsh wedding quilt

I took my beautiful quilt to work with me yesterday to show the teacher of the quilting group that meets there. She was suitably impressed and told me the story of the Welsh wedding quilt. I say Welsh but she said it was a tradition in quilt-making counties but she didn't know about further afield.

Apparently the bride would make a quilt, pink on one side and blue on the other. When the first baby was born the quilt would be brought out and put on the bed, appropriate colour up, when the new mother had visitors or the doctor called. Then it would be put away to be brought out for the next baby and so on until the husband or wife died when it would be used for the laying out.

So, because the quilts weren't used on a daily basis and were put away carefully between use, many of them have survived for a very long time. The quilting teacher said she had one, probably made in the 1930s, and which is faded slightly along the lines where it's been folded in drawers. 

Is that a tradition in America, Katney?

3 comments:

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

Did someone make you the quilt ?

Katney said...

I haven't heard of that tradition, Liz.

One tradition I do know of is of girls collecting charms (squares) for a quilt they would make for their marriage. A charm quilt is of just squares of many different fabrics. The last charm she would collect would be from the shirt of her intended.

There are a lot of traditions, some very local and some more broadly spread.

Liz Hinds said...

Yes, Anne, Katney did. Or did you mean a wedding quilt? In which case, no.

It must be quite localised to Wales and the English quilt-making counties then, Katney.