The Rise of the Summer Patchwork Quilt

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For nine months of the year, the ideal bed to sleep in is made up of layers. Whether you opt for a top sheet or not, you have the silky soft fitted sheet, your comforter or duvet of choice, and a coverlet or throw. But as the weather gets warmer, all of those layers can feel stifling and lead you to wake up in a non-nightmare-induced sweat. Talk about unpleasant. But what if we told you there’s an alternative: a quilt.

Here at House Beautiful, we’re passionate about bedding, and quilts are one of those bedding elements that you either love or don’t. But like fashion, interior design is subject to the ever-changing rise and fall of trends, and as cottagecore has shifted Western, quilts are invading our lives, from our closets to our interior decor.

“We live in a time where we are now more than ever being sold things that are being made faster and therefore cheaper than ever. Stores are filled with plastic and man-made materials,” Leney Breeden of the Gordonsville, Virginia, homewares store Folkling explains. “Antique quilts are unlike anything you can find in a department store. They are each handmade works of art. It is amazing to get to own something so special and made with so much intention, precision, and care. Quilts are the heritage and history of the women who came before us.”

The History of Quilting in America

Whether it’s because of Cowboy Carter, the Western fashion trends, or the rise of homesteading, traditional Americana style is sneaking its way back into interiors, but it was once a necessity for many American women in the South. “The tradition of quilts being handed down through generations is something I respond to,” Kiva Motnyk, founder of the New York City textile makers Thompson Street Studio, says. “When they are made by hand, there is a lot of meaning in the pieces. Quilts have always been useful as well as being beautiful.” While it’s nearly impossible to digest the entire history of quilts—they date back to Egypt and the Middle Ages—in American culture, the craft can be traced back to the colonies.

In the South, enslaved women would take scraps of fabric, clothes that were past mending, and even grain bags to piece together bed-size blankets to keep them warm at night. Stuffed with literal cotton, not the modern batting we know today, older quilts were typically much heavier and much warmer than their modern counterparts. The quilts made by the women of Boykin, Alabama—better known as Gee’s Bend—are prime examples. According to Smithsonian, “the quilting tradition in Gee’s Bend may go back as far as the early 1800s when the community was the site of a cotton plantation owned by Joseph Gee. Influenced, perhaps, by the patterned textiles of Africa, the women slaves began piecing strips of cloth together to make bed covers…Along the way, they developed a distinctive style, noted for its lively improvisations and geometric simplicity.”

These days, quilting offers a place of community. Quilting is a way to express your creativity and a form of catharsis for the women who make them. Each quilt, no matter how simple, has a story behind it, which makes each unique work so special. Despite this varied history, quilts get a bad rep for being synonymous with antique interiors, beloved grandmothers, and prairie living. However, we’re here, along with a slew of top tastemakers, to tell you that quilts are here to stay in the modern age. “It’s a way of life, not just a craft,” Kim V. Kelly of the Freedom Quilting Bee Legacy in Alberta, Alabama, says.

How to Bring Quilts Into Your Home

Hang Them on the Wall

“Quilts are not just for beds! A lot of our customers purchase quilts to hang them on walls in their homes as works of art, and I love doing this in our home as well. I have seen some amazing modern and streamlined spaces enhanced by the amazing textile pop of a quilt on the wall.” —Leney Breeden of Folkling

Think Beyond Traditional Patchwork

"The common thread for us is designs that use a block print technique to create the fabric that gets assembled into a quilt. These quilts have a global and more eclectic feel to them, like ones made by Lisa Corti and Serendipity Delhi. Both designers are creating quilts in fresh, vibrant colors and bold prints and incorporating floral and geometric patterns. Guest rooms and kids rooms are ideal to incorporate this style." —Mauri Weakley, founder and creative director of the Brooklyn homewares shop Collyer’s Mansion

Spice Up a Plain Bed

“Quilts and patchwork textures add depth and dimension to rooms that could otherwise feel flat. We’re fans of antique patchwork quilts because they can marry classic geometric motifs with a mix of different prints and fabric scraps. There’s so much care put into these functional works of art." —Marie Joh, head of merchandising at the Brooklyn homewares shop The Six Bells

Shop Our Favorite Quilts

When shopping for quilts, whether antique or new, following these shopping tips from Joh. “As with any antique textile, look for any deal-breaking stains, rips, or smells,” she says. “Many of these quilts are also not standard sizes for modern queen and king beds, so take careful measurements of your space before starting your hunt, and take a tape measure with you! We generally avoid any materials that aren’t 100 percent natural, like polyester, as they age and tend to show wear differently.”

Remnant Patchwork Sherpa Quilt

Blue Stars Quilt

1900s Sixteen Patch Mosaic Quilt

Gee's Bend My Way Baby Quilt

Tile Quilt in Wheat

Stillwater Floral Quilt

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