Radnorshire Arts and Crafts Foundation                                             ts foundation

The Words Patchwork and Quilt have become inexorably intertwined, However here two examples show the differences in the two techniques.

Firstly a 19th century Patchwork Quilt made from a selection of cotton dress fabrics carefully pieced together to form a Quilt or Counterpayne. 

Underneath is the true Quilt, as the origin of the term Quilt refers to 

layers of cloth with an interlining of cotton or wool which had been stitched or 'Quilted' together to form a thick and warm covering.

In Wales the tradition of Quilting 

developed its own very distinct style

which shows best on the plainer Whole cloth quilts, where the stitching can be seen most clearly. 

the finer examples are stuffed with carded wool which gives not only lightness and warmth but also adds definition to the stitching,

The Golden piece is a full sized bed quilt of Cotton Satin much favored in the later part of the 19th C and on into the early 20th C, The pale blue is a silk Cot Quilt of the early 20th C.

Wool seams to have been the first choice for the filling in the Welsh Quilt as it could be found readily, bought or swapped, even gleaned from the hedgerows. The Top cloths used in the rural areas were often of wool flannel, which were often quilted in simple whole cloth fashion or with pieced tops made in the bold colours much loved by the Welsh. 

In more modest homes Quilts were often made of scraps of wool and quilted over an old blanket.