Even through they developed it, the Amish didn’t invent the quilt, which dates back to ancient India and Egypt. The crusaders discovered the art in Palestine, and brought it back to Italy and to the south of France. Later on, the quilt developed strongly in England and of course, in the USA, then a British colony. Times were hard, and nothing was wasted, last of all fabric cuttings.

Tumbling Blocks, 1940, Ohio, collection Jacques Legeret

Around the 19th century, Amish women, associating with "English" farmwives were taken by this art of recycling, which matched the austerity and simplicity of their group.

The word quilt derives from the Latin culcita, i.e. stuffed bag, mattress or cushion. Very soon however, the quilt was used as a bed cover : indeed, it would have been a shame to use it as a mattress, since women spent many hours topstitching it, therefore providing it with a character of beauty.

In American English, the verb to quilt gave its name to this fabric assemblage. To the patchwork, which is the fabric assemblage, quilting adds stitching, which makes it truly innovative. In addition to holding together two or three layers of fabric, the stitching, or topstitching adds a visual aspect that often leads to real art.

For Amish women, the quilt is just a bed cover made for a wedding, a birth, or to help someone pay his bills, the doctor’s in particular ( the group refuses healthcare and social security ). Very often, cuttings of home-made clothes are used to make a quilt ( Sunshine & shadow ), but large pieces of fabric are also bought for large "rich" topstitched surfaces ( Centre diamond ).

An Amish quilt is easy to recognise, since only plain colours are used, the colours of the clothes of the group, excluding printed fabrics regarded as "frivolous".
Very often, the Amish quilts are a collective work of the women in the group, specially the topstitching (quilting) whereas assembling the pieces of fabric (piecing) and choosing the colours is done by only one person. However, as we were explained by grand-ma Hanna Stolzfoos " stitching can be recognised like handwriting". Which means that the finest pieces are stitched by only one person, of which connoisseurs can recognise the "writing". This fact takes nothing away from collective stitching (quilting bee) done by women after the farm work. The idea is different, in line with the Amish mentality, emphasising the group rather the individual.

In 1990, American sociologists asked the following question to a group of Amish women : " what are the most beautiful things in the world". Unsurprisingly, answers were the same in each respondent congregation : 1) My family and my children ; 2) My garden ; 3) My quilts. All Amish women don’t do quilts, but for the beginner girl (around 14-15 year’s old), being accepted around the frame with a quilt in the making is kind of a social consecration.

Each future bride is expected to make at least one of her three quilts (two for boys), even if she is helped by her mother, her sisters and he cousins. Once married, the Amish women will no longer have any time to devote to quilts, since the average family is ten children. Around 40 - 45 year’s old, she will take up stitching again, and will often use any piece of fabric for this utilitarian art, which will sometimes, transcending the rules of modesty (Gelassenheit), become a true work of art.

Quilt de mariage : Prairie Stars, 1950, Indiana, collection Jacques Légeret

Amish quilts are based on the square and the lozenge, with the understanding that the group complies with the bible commandment requiring " do not make images for yourselves" (Exodus 20 :4). With very few exceptions, an Amish quilt is never figurative. The infinite combination of the square and the lozenge, the daring colour matches and the often very sophisticated stitching, are the three elements of the "recycling art" or "art of saving". Quilt amateurs use them as bed covers as well as wall pictures working wonders in decoration.

Only God creates beauty ; which is why the Amish have never regarded quilting as art (besides, the concept is foreign to them : in this respect, I devoted a long chapter to quilting in my essay " l’Enigme Amish "). Even though the call for beauty isn’t far, the purpose of a quilt is purely useful : serving as a bed cover and driving the life of the group.

An Amish quilt reflects both its author’s personality and the strict -sometimes rigid- aspect of the group who he belongs to. Some rules set in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines (Alsace), in 1693 during the Amish schism, are still applicable today in the United States, specially those rules describing clothing. An Amish is easily recognisable from far away, by his clothing, made of plain and bright colours for young men and women, getting darker and darker as the person grow older. In addition to the sophisticated topstitching, the originality of an Amish quilt lays in the way dark fabrics are assembled to create light.

Jacques Legeret