Why we reproduce antique quilts

Mar 30, 2007 5 Replies

I sometimes worry that by reproducing antique quilts I am not being creative. An essay by Janet J. Kamnikar in the March 2004 issue of "Quilters Newsletter" put my reproductions into prospective.



"Some of my firends are like classical musician, staying within the form but reveling in the opportunity to bring new interpretations to it. Others are clearly jazz quilters. They start with a theme, but go off on a riff that is theirs alone."



I like the bright quilts thrown together by fiber artists but need the settling qualities of a good traditional quilt to calm my nerves just like I need to listen to good classical music. Jazz is great but my nerves can only take so much.



Susan


Museums used to have art students in front of easels, copying great paintings as a way of understanding why the artists did it one way and not another. (Now they use photos.) Copying really old quilts is a way for quilters to get in touch with our predecessors.One can learn a lot this way! Roberta in D

"Susan Laity Price" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Great analogy, Susan. Thanks for passing it on. I can foresee my using it often!! . In message , Susan Laity Price writes

Completely agree with this. It's not about copying, it's about learning traditional techniques, patterns and colour schemes and then passing them on to subsequent generations. For some people it's a matter of taste as well, they don't like modern style fabrics and prefer the very traditional look. It's just as creative as designing something yourself (and often newbies don't have the confidence to do that anyway). morag

Howdy!

It's also more acceptable than stealing the older ones. If I like an older quilt and want one like it, making a near-copy will suffice; stealing the original is often frowned on, ya' know?

R/Sandy

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