Pieces of quilt trivia

Some interesting trivia that Michelle McLaughlin shares about quilts are:

*Years ago, it was a practice for the mistress of a Pennsylvania Dutch home to put out her best quilts on Sundays because she knew company was coming.

*If a woman could not read or write, she could at least sew and quilt. Women used quilts as a way to express themselves, historically, and giving her point of view.

*Quilts express a woman's voice of her time, her political views and national beliefs. There was a rose pattern that was known as a Democrat rose and one as the Whig rose.

*After England's Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert died, she wore black the rest of her life in various mourning calico black prints. Those prints were incorporated in quilts of the Civil War era in America.

*Patriotic quilts were made during World War II of red, white and blue with a V for victory.

*Baltimore Album Quilts were made to honor people in their lives.

*Dr. Dunn, the Father of Occupational Therapy (1868-1966) quilt making as a form of therapy. He was said to have taken up quilt-making in 1915. He felt that the bright colors were pleasing to patients, and that the cutting and sewing helped to take their minds off their inner problems.

*The Ladies Aid Societies made quilts for soldiers. Not many quilts survived from the Civil War, as they were used to cover wounded soldiers.

*The color of green dyes were very bright but once it was exposed to sunlight, it faded to a dull green.

*Never put quilts or fabric in plastic or wooden containers.

*If a hole is put in an antique fabric, it's called shattering.

*You can date a quilt from the latest fabric you can identify.

*When you acquire any antique fabrics or quilts, put in a freezer for about a week to kill bugs, parasites and eggs.