Many were made from leftovers and got hard use from the little girls who owned them. The ones made by young girls were likely to reflect the immature stitches of the maker as she learned and practiced her new and developing skill.

Girls in the early nineteenth century were trained from the time they were very young in what was thought to be their life's work. Since a young girl would likely be stitching all of the clothing, linens and bedding for her home, before sewing machines, hand sewing was an important skill to learn.

It seemed natural, then, that doll quilts would be the perfect practice piece. Not only were they small, but a girl could start with something simple, like strips, and then work up to making a nine patch, and even sewing curves.

Beyond that, if she chose, a young girl could piece a more complex design, using triangles as well as squares in her doll quilt.

Both girls and boys were taught to sew by their mothers, often before they learned how to read. A very small child might begin sewing using an unknotted thread, and then gain even more practice by counting threads on a scrap of fabric.

It was not uncommon for girls to be expected to complete a nine-patch by the time she was nine years old. Amazingly, some mid-nineteenth century diaries record quilt tops being finished by girls as young as five.

One quilter, Edith Bell Sims, says she began a quilt at age three, with her mother cutting the fabric, marked the sewing lines, and pinning the pieces together. Edith then stitched the patches - initially by hand and later on her new treadle sewing machine. Edith finished her quilt top by the time she was six.

Sewing was (and probably still should be) believed to inspire virtues deemed necessary for every child: neatness, attentiveness, patience, perseverance, and acceptance of routine and repetition.

Girls in upper class families also learned to do needlework, although they used finer materials and more intricate designs. It's not unusual to find crazy quilts using velvets, wools and silks that were made by children in upper class families.

Unlike children today, children in the 1800s had little other than their imagination to play with. Only the upper class could afford to purchase dolls imported from Europe, so children created dolls from sticks, hankies, corncobs, or whatever else they could find.

It seemed natural, then, that girls would want to make something just like they had for their precious doll friends. Often, the girls would take pieces left from worn out quilts and make them into quilts for their dolls.

Sometimes, they would replicate a bed size quilt using smaller pieces, to be sure to re-create the pattern of the bed size quilt top. Other times, they would use patches left over from bed size quilts to make their doll quilts, even though the quilt top design would be lost.

Most of these quilts are pieced, not appliqué, and some have been made from children's handkerchiefs printed with holiday or religious themes.

Due to labor saving devices, and smaller families, twentieth century mothers had more time to include creative components in their doll quilts - nursery rhymes, animals, and even pastel colors.

Quilts today are made in all different sizes, each for a different purpose. Some large quilts have never seen the top of a bed, even though they are the size of a king size bed quilt.

It's not unusual for a small quilt to be made to be a wall hanging, with no intention for it to be used as a doll quilt. I wonder if maybe some of those tiny quilts from the nineteenth century hung on a wall, and were never placed on a doll bed.

Copyright (c) 2008 Penny Halgren