Minneapolis Institute of Art

Sunshine and Shadow Quilt

United States (Pennsylvania), Amish

Date

c. 1920

Medium

Cotton, wool, synthetic materials, pieced and quilted

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Traces of wear and tear tell us this quilt functioned as a bedcover. To create it, an Amish woman gathered and stitched together a variety of fabric pieces—cottons, satins, fine dress woolens, and even synthetics. Strict codes governed Amish everyday life in the 1800s and early 1900s such that Amish women used mainly homespun fabrics in somber colors produced by natural dyes. Though they adopted the sewing machine when it was invented in the mid-1800s, they continue to use only treadle models, powered by foot. That the maker of this quilt incorporated purchased fabrics dyed with synthetic colors reflects the changing times in which she lived. United States, Americas

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