Egyptians, Chinese, Indians – all the ancient civilizations of the world can claim a piece of the history of quilting. People were making quilts as far back as 3400 BC or even beyond. Being this old does not mean it has lost a smidgen of its appeal among enthusiasts today. In fact, quilting is a passion for a lot of people. Millions, if you count it.
The creativity needed to come up with beautiful designs and the fun of finding the suitable color combinations, and the precision needed to match the blocks, all make quilting a beautiful and functional hobby worth being passionate about.
If you are a beginner to the world of quilting, you may want to know what you want to create, before anything else. Here are the different types of quilts. I wish at least some of them were on my bed
Names of different quilts
Album Quilt
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An Album quilt is made for special occasions and consists of special designs on each block that are important/significant to the maker of the quilt or for whom the quilt is being made.
The designs on each block are intricate and they are usually appliqued or beautifully pieced. These quilts are made for significant occasions like weddings, anniversaries, or birthdays or the memory of a particular person.
Amish Quilt
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An Amish quilt is a functional quilt made with recycled clothes, shirts, dresses. The name comes from the eastern region of Pennsylvania Amish. These quilts usually have a wide plain border and dark even black colors and geometric patterns.
Applique Quilt
A quilt with applique designs, of course.
Art Quilt
A quilt with artistic aspirations.
Bargello Quilt
This is a quilt with Bargello designs – strips of square fabrics are joined to create undulating wave-like patterns- it will look like the flame stitch popular in needlepoint embroidery.
Centennial Quilt
This is a quilt made to commemorate a one hundred years celebration.
Charm quilts (Odd Feller quilt or Beggar quilt)
A quilt made of different fabric pieces – usually you will not find any two identical pieces of fabric in a charm quilt.
Crazy Patch Quilt
Crazy patch quilts are quilts made by joining several irregular scrap fabric pieces – there will not be a particular design to the way the fabric pieces are laid out. In this type of quilt, you can join your scrap pieces the way you want to, to make the quilt top.
Traditionally the scrap fabric pieces are stitched to a foundation fabric. The seams lines and the whole quilt are decorated with embroidery stitches, bead work, trims etc.
Denim Quilt
A quilt made from scrap pieces from old denim jeans and other denim clothes. Also called Jeans Quilt, Denim Scarp quilt
Friendship quilt
This is the name given to the type of quilt given as a gift to relatives / friends, made to commemorate special occasions or a move to another place.
It is usually made as a gift to a loved one, constructed out of blocks lovingly made by many different people and then joined together as a tribute to their love for a special person. The quilt may be signed, dated, or contain verses and messages.
Lap quilt
This is the name of a small quilt (usually much smaller than regular bed quilts) meant to be put on the lap or over your leg for extra warmth while you are sitting. It usually is a 36 inch by 48 inch rectangle or a 36 inch square
Lattice Quilts
These quilts will have small strips of fabrics between the blocks creating a border for each block – This creates a vertical, horizontal, or diagonal lines throughout the quilt top when the blocks are joined together creating a beautiful lattice pattern .
Medallion Quilt
This quilt type has a large central block/area / motif which will be defined/framed by clever stitching of a border or some other way. The central motif is usually appliqued but it could also be a dominant textile pattern or piece. The rest of the quilt top is planned to enhance the effect of the center motif.
Memory quilt
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This is a quilt made of the clothes worn by a loved one. Usually, memory quilts are made out of scraps cut out from kids’ outgrown clothes. A unique way to make a memory quilt is to print photographs of loved ones on fabric and use it to make the blocks of the quilt.
Mini Quilts
These are a mini version of the full-size quilt. They need not be a scaled-down version of the quilt pattern. Usually, they are made as wall quilts or as placemats.
One-patch block Quilt
This is a type of quilt made entirely with a single and simple type of block/patch – the single repeating shapes that could be a triangle, square, hexagons a diamond, a clam shape, etc are sewn together to make the pieced quilt top.
Patchwork Quilt
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This is a quilt made of different fabric pieces sewn together to form a block – it could be a collection of different patches, shapes, strips, or blocks of material and they are all sewn together to form a design for the quilt top. The patchwork quilts are made of scrap fabric pieces which are taken from used clothing, or any other leftover fabric.
Patriotic quilt
This is a quilt made to celebrate patriotism. This quilt is made to commemorate special national occasions like the Independence day, Memorial Day etc. It can depict the flag of a country and can be called a flag quilt.
Photo Quilt
This type of quilt uses photographs. Photos are transferred on to fabric and then these are used as blocks for the quilts. Also called Photo memory quilt.
Presentation Quilt
This is a quilt with elaborately appliqued designs which is made to mark a special event or as a gift to someone who is moving away. The foundation fabric of the quilt was usually white in color. Another name Baltimore Album Quilt.
Quilt of Valour
This is a quilt made as a gift to the soldiers/military personnel in recognition of their services and sacrifices for a country. The quilt is usually given to injured or ill soldiers.
Sampler quilt
A sampler quilt is a quilt made of different types of quilt blocks . This is in contrast to the regular quilts with repeated block designs.
Scrap quilt
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This quilt is made from fabrics scraps you have saved from other projects or cut out from old clothes. It uses fabric pieces in different colors and patterns – as the blocks are made of the fabric scraps the colors are randomly placed and not planned like it is usually for quilt blocks. Quilts can be made of regular fabric pieces can still be called a scrap quilt if they have blocks made of many different fabrics of different colors and patterns.
Signature Quilt
This is a quilt made of blocks signed by friends and family members of the maker or the person receiving the quilt. Other than signature, the blocks may also be written with messages or embroidered.
Sesqui-centennial quilt
Quilts commemorating One hundred and fiftieth celebration.
String Quilt
This quilt is made out of long strips of fabric, lace, ties, ribbon etc. They were originally made out of small thin bits of scraps left over from other sewing projects.
Throw quilt
This type of quilt is made as a decoration and thrown over the back of a couch or chair; It will be smaller than a bed quilt but bigger than a lap quilt.
Trapunto Quilt
These types of quilts will have yarn or batting as an inner layer which will create a dimensional look when quilting stitches are made. Usually parallel lines are stitched as quilt stitches.
Wall quilt
This type of quilt is not meant for the bed- they are used as a decoration and hung on the wall. They are small in size. You can also call it a quilted wall hanging.
Watercolor quilt
This is a beautiful quilt made of small square blocks ( usually 2-inch squares) of printed fabrics resulting in a quilt that looks like an impressionist watercolor painting. Another name for this quilt is the color wash quilt.
Whole cloth quilt
This quilt has a quilt top which is made from one single large piece of fabric. This quilt has no patchwork blocks or applique designs on it. It is also called white-on-white quilting.
Puff Quilts
I do not know whether Puff quilts can be called quilts as there is no quilting involved in making these quilts. The individual puffed blocks are made with stuffing inside and then attached to each other. It is also called Biscuit quilts.
Related post : Make a pieced and quilted blanket; Baby quilt sizes ; Quilting Vocabulary – Reference guide ; 12 different quilting stitches; Famous Quilt blocks.
My grandmother was a quilter. This is really interesting to me.
Hi Sarina, I am thankful I came across your webiste. Keep up the good work! If you need any help editing/proof-reading, please contact me (I would love to assist).
wonderful artwork!
Hello…..I really enjoyed your recent blog (sorry you were bumped by a bus).
It was the info on quilts I found fascinating.
I am President of DELECTABLE MOUNTAINS QUILT GUILD in Berkeley Springs West Virginia. delectablemountainsquiltguild.com and yardsquarequilts.com
That’s my credentials, and not much.
But basically I am a researcher – I was an editor/writer at a national newspaper for 16 years. I am preparing a presentation on the history of quilts.
So could you give me “footnotes” and bibliographic notes on your work.?Mostly I am interested in earliest examples: Egyptian, Ethnic,as Armor, etc.
Can you direct/help me?
Hi Abby
I am so happy that you commented here. And asking me for reference! 🙂 – this page here has many articles you may find interesting
Very nice,amazing