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The traditional Amish Quilt is a pieced quilt using only solid dark
colors, the same color used by the Amish in their clothing. Since
a market grown outside the Amish community for quilts, the Amish
have also begun to make the "fancy" quilt styles featuring
appliquéing and/or printed fabrics. We carry both the traditional
and the contemporary styles.
There are a number of things that affect the price of a quilt. Size
is obviously one aspect. A king size quilt will cost more than a
comparable queen-sized quilt. Appliquéd quilts are usually
more expansive than pieced quilts. A pieced quilt with smaller and
more pieces will cost more than the same quilt with larger and fewer
pieces.
The amount of
quilting will also greatly affect prices since it is usually the
most time consuming part of quilt making. Not only does the amount
of area covered by stitching affect cost, the tightness of those
stitches can also have a big impact. A quilt that features eight
stitches to the inch will have significantly more work in it than
one with six stiches to the inch in it.
Here are the standard mattress sizes for most beds:
Twin - 39 x 74
Full - 54 x 74
Queen - 60 x 80
King - 76 x 80
California King - 72 x 84
Please
note that these measurements are for the mattress top only -
to buy a quilt that would look good on your bed, you will need
to add more length so that the quilt hangs as far down the side
of the bed as you desire. For example, if you owned
a queen size bed and wanted your quilt to hang at least 15 inches
down each side, you would need to buy a quilt that is at least
90 inches wide (60 in. mattress width + 15 in. drop on one side
+ 15 in. drop on other side = 90 in. total).
To make it easier
for you, we group our quilts by size so all the quilts that should
fit your bed will be in the same area. We also have bed displays
so you can see how a particular quilt will look on a bed of your
dimensions before you buy it.
Most of the quilts that the Amish make (and we sell) are made of
cotton polyester, the same fabric they use in their clothing. Most
of these quilts can be machine washed with cool water on the gentle
cycle. When drying either air-dry or set the dryer on low setting
with little or no heat. NOTE: Some dark fabrics (especially dark
blue and burgundy) may bleed in water, so we recommend dry-cleaning
quilts that have these colors. Wool quilts should always be dry-cleaned.
In a unique coup, we are privileged to acquire an exclusive report
on the making of one of our quilts as told by the quilt. So without
further ado, we're proud to present:
My Life and
Quilted Times
As told by Dahlia A. Quilt
Hi, my
name is Dahila. I'm one of the most popular quilts you'll see in
Lancaster County. People all over the country enjoy my puffy petals
and they really like the cones that form my border. I'm the only
pattern that has cones, so I'm very unique. This is my story.
One morning
not real long ago Mary, an Amish woman living just south of Strasburg,
spent a lot of time selecting and matching the beautiful fabrics
that I'm made from. She then cut the right amount of each and put
all the pieces in a box and sent them to Katie, another Old Order
Amish lady who lives in Leola. Katie's assignment was to put me
together. She has a lot of children and as always, they need new
shoes for school,
so she put the money Mary paid her for piecing quilts to good use.
Katie took the
fabric Mary sent her and cut it into the various shapes that form
my pattern. Then she got out her treadle sewing machine and sewed
all of my pieces together, taking special care to make sure all
my seams were even and my pattern was symmetrical. When she was
done, Katie put me into a box and gave me to a friend of hers who
returned me to Mary's when she visited her later that week.
After Mary got
me back, she took me next door to her daughter in-law Mary Ellen
who marked the quilting pattern on me and then gave me back to Mary.
Then Mary cut a large piece of fabric to make my back and a large
piece of batting which went between my top and my back and made
me nice and puffy. She then put me back into a box and shipped me
to Anna, another Amish lady who lives near New Holland.
Anna took me
out of my box and carried me into her large kitchen where she has
a quilting frame set up at one end, She put me (along with the batting
and backing) in the frame. She inserted some pins and then started
to stretch me. She put more pins in me and stretched me some more.
This went on and on and on until I was stretched out as far as I
could go. Finally she stopped, but just when I thought I could relax
she took out a needle and thread and begun to stitch along the lines
Mary Ellen had drawn.
I spent weeks stuck in that rack being stitched by Anna. Finally
she finished the last section and took me out of the frame. I was
now covered from top to bottom with quilting. All of Anna's work
(and my suffering) was worth it. I was becoming one good-looking
quilt. I have to admit though that despite my great beauty, I still
felt a little rough around the edges.
Mary must have
felt the same way, because as soon as she got me back from Anna's
she sent me on a carriage ride to Sarah's. Sarah is a widowed Amish
lady who supports herself by binding quilts for Mary. Binding was
the last major step in my creation and involved sewing an edging
all around me. Because of all my curved edges, this wasn't easy
to do, but Sarah specializes in this kind of work, so she didn't
have any trouble finishing me.
After Sarah
was done with me, it was one more carriage ride back to Mary's.
Mary did one last inspection and determined that I was finally finished.
It had taken four months and five Amish ladies to turn me from a
pile of fabric to a completed quilt!
For most of the Amish women who make the quilts we sell, quilting
is much more than a hobby. It is an opportunity to financially support
their families without leaving home. For most of our quilters, our
shows are one of their primary income sources. Our February/March
shows are particularly important since they provide revenues when
there is no money coming in from crops and very little sales activity
for quilts in Lancaster County.
If you look
at the price tag on the quilts at our show, you will see we have
listed the name of the person who provided the quilt. We have also
included some brief biographical information on the supplier. The
price tag is designed so you can cut the price off and still leave
the rest of this information on it, a useful feature if you were
planning on giving the quilt as a gift.
For those who have a deeper interest in our quilters, here's some
biographical information on several of our major quilt suppliers.
Mary is a long time friend and neighbor. Her family and ours have
attended each other's weddings, celebrated holidays together and
helped each other in difficult times. Mary is the mother of six
and the grandmother of an ever-growing number of grandchildren.
It was Mary's desire to find a new outlet for her quilts that ultimately
led to the creation of Amish Country Traditions.
Mary is an Amish woman from southern Lancaster County. She has ten
children - six boys and four girls. Mary's grandmother was a highly
skilled quilter, who was well known for the meticulous detailing
in the quilts she made. Mary has continued that heritage of quality,
and today makes some of the finest traditional quilts found anywhere.
Fannie is an Amish woman from southern Lancaster County. She was
one of our very first suppliers of quilts. She lives very close
to the farm where the movie "Witness" was filmed. If the
Amish characters in the movie were real, they would probably have
been members of the same church as the Fishers.
Mary is an old order Mennonite woman from northeastern Lancaster
County. Old order Mennonites are the most conservative of the Mennonites.
Like the Amish, they travel by horse and buggy, however they use
an all black buggy rather then the gray and black buggy used by
the Lancaster Amish. Like the Amish, they also dress very plainly,
although the Mennonites usually use printed rather than solid fabrics
in their clothing.
Emma is an Old Order Mennonite woman from eastern Lancaster County.
She specializes in unique patterns and is one of the few suppliers
of king size quilts.
In Emma's own
words: "I started sewing doll clothes at 3 or 4 years old.
My grandmother made her 27 grandchildren each a full size quilt
from start to finish, mostly all different too. Granddaughters all
got appliqués, Grandsons got some patchwork and appliqués
too."
"My mother
was one of the first ladies in Lancaster County to put signs out,
"Quilts for Sale!" And she was in business 26 years till
Alzheimer's and old age forced her to quit. I love putting different
colors together and only twin sizes are ever matching, all others
are different somewhere!"
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