History of the Quilting Bee

During early American history, quilting was as much a necessity as it was a hobby. During the cold, harsh winters up north and out west, quilts were important to the very survival of the family. Quilting clothing was also very common, because no one could stay in the house under the covers all day, as much as they might have wanted to. Work had to be done, chores had to be tended to, animals had to be taken care of…no matter what temperature it was outside. For the women of the time, quilting was just one more way of taking care of their family; but that did not mean it could not also be a real source of pride.
When a group of women decided to get together and share the work of making a quilt, as well as the joy of each other’s company, the quilting bee was born. All of the women in the family who were of quilting age, be they mothers, sisters, married daughters, aunts, or cousins, could join together at one house and make short work of a quilt that could take one person over a week to make. Even close friends were welcome to join in. Once the quilt was completed for one woman, they moved on to the next one. This allowed the hard working women to continue getting their work done, but also to have a little fun and gossip while they did it. The life of the early American woman was often a fairly solitary one, because there was always too much work to do to just go visiting. Combining the work with the visiting was just a stroke of genius.
Often, quilting bees were planned for special occasions. Young girls recently engaged could have their mothers host a quilting bee so that all of her friends and family could help her make quilts for the new home she was to have with her husband. One the young girl was married, she would inevitably discover that she was going to have a child. What better reason for the women to get together? Making quilts and quilting clothes for the brand new baby to use throughout his or her life brought joy to the hearts of all the women.
Because times were hard back then, women would often save scraps of old clothing, quilts, and even flour sacks to make their quilts with. If one family in particular was having an especially hard time of it, women would often bring a piece or two of their saved cloth to add to the fabric for the quilt. This is a beautiful sentiment and probably helped many a quilt to be finished without running out of fabric.
Quilting bees are still popular today with women who quilt. Although they generally congregate in a much larger location than someone’s home, they still get together to do the same thing the women of the past did. They still quilt, they still share, and they definitely still gossip!