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The Ties that Bind Friendship Quilt

May 1995
In honor of Tripod, 1982-1995
made for Megan Williams

Referred to as Tripod’s first “hard drive”, this quilt is inscribed on both the front and the back with the names of every child, staff member and director of the board from its inception to 1995. Made of Smithsonian reproductions of early American cotton fabrics, it was hand tied around the edge by each Tripod family - a beautiful, thoughtful and lovingly created piece that represents the Tripod approach to deaf children and their families.

This quilt is a unique example of a tradition that goes back almost two hundred years when friendship quilts were all the rage. The expansion westward brought on the need for signing quilts and autograph books. Early signature quilts were based on friendship and made as memorials for the leaving family. The 1840's and 50's was the era of sentimentality. Poetry verses, autograph books, music and illustrations reflect a leaning toward the romantic and nostalgic. A look to one's mortality led to the desire to capture through the written word the essence of a friendship. Journals, diaries, scrapbooks, autograph albums, photos, and signed quilts reflect this sentimental time. Signature quilts as a phenomenon were popularized as early as 1839 when the first indelible inks became available.

There were other purposes for these quilts as well. When money was needed to help soldiers in the Civil War, women developed the practice of raising funds with quilts. More often a quilt was signed with hundreds of signatures and then raffled off, bringing in as many funds as possible from a single quilt.

Women were also known to place their political and religious beliefs on quilts. The Baltimore album quilts have sayings, bible verses, and drawings inked on many of the blocks. They were made as a special gift for a particular individual in the community who was respected for his/her contribution to the community in some way.

Friendship quilts have had a large role to play ever since they were first made. In every phase of a woman’s life and for events that took place in our country’s history there are friendship quilts to commemorate those times, both happy and sad.

by
Shelly Zegart
President, The Kentucky Quilt Project, Inc.
Executive Producer and Host, "Why Quilts Matter: History, Art and Politics"
Email: zegartquilt@gmail.com