Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Modern Quilting 1970s Style

I found this quilting book, the Mountain Artisans Quilting Book by Alfred Allan Lewis, from 1973 at the library book sale a few weeks ago and I'm totally obsessed with it!    

"The Mountain Artisans Quilting Book is the best book on the contemporary adaptation of the old craft of quilting.  It tells the story of the famous West Virginia cooperative started by a group of idealistic young women and how their efforts to market the products of a centuries-old craft overcame seeming insurmountable obstacles to achieve national recognition." 

THESE women were the original modern quilters!  In fact, the words modern and contemporary are used continuously throughout this book, almost as much as it is on the internet today.  It's like a little slice of the groovy 1970s right from their perspective. 

The clothes made from quilts are what really got me hooked though.





I noticed one thing that these models have in common is that they are all tall and rail thin, two qualities I have in the exact opposite. I would look more like a rumpled quilt someone discarded on a floor, but still ... the idea intrigues me. 
Clothing for a horse ? I think this is my favorite quilt project!

A lot of the book is kitschy and outdated but one quote still rings true today. 

What more can any hobbyist want?  Here is a craft that is at once inexpensive, productive of immediate results, self-contained, portable, solitary, and social. 

Well, the inexpensive part was obviously before they invented designer fabrics. 

Don't you just want to time travel back to the 1970s now?  I love these intrepid young quilters and their take on the revival of quilting.  

6 comments:

  1. Great post. Put a smile on my face.

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  2. Hahaha...the seventies is when I was in Junior/Senior High school so NO...I don't want to go back! But I do love that you found that book and shared!:)

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  3. I spluttered at the inexpensive part, too! Great wee slice of nostalgic history, though. I would love a wee flippy short skirt made from epp hexagons!

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  4. Oh yes I'd go back and snap up all the fabric and bedding I could find!

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  5. A pony quilt. Wheels turning....
    And a hexie skirt? Why have I never thought of this?! Great post, MB!

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