Keeping Warm on Cold Winter Nights

As chilly autumn days give way to cold winter nights, most modern people will reach for their down comforters or department store quilts.  However, a few lucky individuals will open old, battered blanket chests and pull out quilts that have been keeping family members warm for generations.  The exquisite needlework present in such treasures is a testament to the hours spent by talented women to insure the warmth and comfort of their families.

Elizabeth Foote surely had the warmth and comfort of her new family in mind when she made a bed rug for her wedding in 1778. Bed-rugs like hers employ homespun yarns on hand-woven grounds rather than the imported fancy goods typically used in other kinds of needlework.  Primarily originating in Connecticut between 1770 and 1810, bed rugs provided great warmth to those sleeping beneath them. 

Along with bed rugs, women in early Connecticut created beautifully intricate quilts.  In 1787, Asenath Rising created a whole-cloth quilt made of deep blue wool, carefully stitched in a design of exotic flowers and scrolling leaf-covered vines.  Quilts made from a single fabric continued to be made during the 1800s, even after some women had begun making pieced quilts like those which remain popular today. 

Today we view Elizabeth’s bed-rug and Asenath’s wholecloth quilt as things of beauty and works of art, but they were originally practical objects, intended to keep out winter’s chill.  So, as you cuddle up in your favorite quilt or blanket on cold winter nights, think about these women of the past and the endless hours that they labored to keep their loved ones warm.

Bed-rugs, and quilts are among the needlework on view at The Connecticut Historical Society through March 26, 2011.  For more information on the exhibition and the accompanying book, ConnecticutNeedlework: Women, Art, and Family, 1740-1830, go to our Exhibit page