Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Quilts evoke the past - they stimulate our earliest memories of security and comfort and resonate with historical and cultural references challenging the assumption that stitching is simply 'women's work'. Using stunning new photography, this book explores the personal and social histories which reveal the maker's complex engagement with the wider world. The myths and narratives handed down with each intricately pieced patchwork and stitched whole cloth are as much a part of our heritage as the silks, velvets and cottons which document our textile history. Primary sources, such as inventories, diaries and letters add context to the personal narratives documented by the quilts, exploring responses to marriage, childbirth, love and loss.
The book includes contemporary material to show how artists such as Grayson Perry and Tracey Emin respond to the tradition of quilt making.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Quilts, 1700-2010 offers a well-crafted, beautifully illustrated historical overview of British quilting practices. Conceived as the companion volume for a major exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, this book is organized around four chronologically ordered chapters that trace the development of the art form from its earliest patchwork and whole-cloth origins to contemporary artists' interventions. Shorter essays link the longer pieces, providing brief, in-depth, and insightful discussions on a variety of topics including quilt case studies, conservation practices, and institutional contexts. A glossary of terms and a catalogue of the exhibition, incorporating full-color plates and curatorial commentaries, conclude the text. Readers versed in American quilt history will learn much from the well-researched, tightly written essays skillfully edited and introduced by Prichard. Dorothy Osler's chapter, exploring quilt making and its relationship to craft economies in the first half of the 20th century, is especially notable. Significantly, Quilts, 1700-2010 is defined by a strong emphasis on social history. Greater engagement with the complementary narratives on design traditions and artistic practice will have to await another volume. This book will find an eager readership. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers. B. L. Herman University of North Carolina