| During the economic slump of the early twentieth | | | | designer or collection's name, and a chart of the |
| century, string style quilt making thrived. Rural | | | | colors used printed on it. Selvedge edges are cut |
| mid-century women, cut off from mainstream | | | | completely off and thrown away. Today, they are |
| society and markets, founded their own string quilt | | | | saved for a new purpose. |
| style. The twenty-first century version is known as | | | | Selvedge edges are about one-half inch in width and |
| selvedge edge quilts.* | | | | run the length of the bolt. The writing on the edge |
| The strings were narrow strips of scrap fabrics or | | | | varies in font style, color, and amount of coverage. |
| otherwise used pieces of fabric that would be | | | | This then becomes the decoration on this strip. The |
| thrown out. String quilts knew no bounds. Women | | | | selvedge edge's size and shape matches another |
| sewed their strips of fabric together until they | | | | material women used a century ago that was |
| covered a pattern in the shape of a diamond, square, | | | | definitely not intended for quilt makers, but instead |
| triangle or any shape cut from newspaper or used | | | | was a by-product of cigar companies. |
| fabric. | | | | A century ago, cigar companies tied a bright colored |
| Women made strings from used, old, and new | | | | silk ribbon around a bundle of cigars. Women stitched |
| fabrics. All fibers and thread counts were candidates | | | | them together with black or colored embroidery floss |
| for the string quilt including the thinnest dress fabrics. | | | | stitches onto a fabric foundation block. They were |
| Often, a flour sack served as the foundation fabric | | | | not cut or curved, but placed side by side. Cigar |
| for sewing string pieces onto, in the flip-and-sew | | | | company ribbons had fancy logos and used attractive |
| fashion, until the foundation was covered. They | | | | fonts in black ink on yellow or orange ribbons. The |
| snipped off fabric leftover around the pattern edges, | | | | various advertising on the ribbons added decoration |
| and the blocks were sewn together as any | | | | to the quilt block. Green, pink and purple ribbons were |
| patchwork block would be. As a result, some string | | | | occasionally used in the block designs, signifying a |
| quilts offer a cacophony of fabrics not often used in | | | | rare cigar. |
| quilts. | | | | Just as with many string and selvedge edge quilt |
| Some women used larger scraps, and often the | | | | blocks, women took the cigar ribbons and arranged |
| block's strips were a variety of widths. Scrappy strips | | | | them to form designs. The blocks were usually |
| were asymmetrical and uneven, or pointed, or on the | | | | square, with strips laid in log cabin designs, on the |
| bias. Whatever fabrics were available, they were | | | | diagonal, or in quartered designs. The color would add |
| used as is. There was no time to waste cutting them | | | | another dimension as the secondary pattern that |
| to size. Women used an old blanket or quilt as the | | | | formed when the blocks were sewn together. |
| filler and tied the layers together; winter was near -- | | | | Seldom were cigar ribbon tops made into quilts with |
| no time for quilting it. | | | | batting and back. Made with silk and unquilted, they |
| String quilts made by women in Gee's Bend, Alabama, | | | | were fragile, unlike the string and selvedge edge |
| and Mid-western Amish communities, have become | | | | quilts. Mostly they remained as tops to cover tables, |
| an art form. Their stringed blocks are often square in | | | | or they were made into pillows. |
| shape or close to it, with one above the other. | | | | The common thread in string, selvedge edge, and |
| Sometimes sashing strips divide the blocks. The | | | | cigar ribbon tops, is that their popularity came about |
| Amish string quilts can look like stacks of small | | | | at the time of an economic downturn or a War, or |
| squares. This pattern is named Coins. | | | | both. The materials used in each were throw-aways |
| When these noted groups of quilters combined their | | | | being put to use, as a quilt or decoration for |
| scraps into a string quilt, it may have been nothing | | | | women's homes, and they were there for the taking. |
| special to them. Yet, the quilts dazzle the eyes of | | | | Women did then as they do now -- they got |
| outsiders and art collectors who see them as wall art | | | | creative and sewed together the fabrics they had, |
| today. When the country was enduring the Great | | | | including scraps. New quilt styles emerged that we |
| Depression, women combined their scraps into string | | | | recognize today and hold dear in our homes, or see |
| quilts, which were seen as utilitarian and still are. | | | | exhibited in a gallery as art. |
| Now, women are making selvedge edge quilts, using | | | | *This term may have been coined by the Karen |
| strips cut from the sides or edges of cotton fabric. | | | | Griska who authored a how-to book, "Quilts From |
| The selvedge prevents unraveling and holds onto | | | | the Selvage Edge", AQS, 2008. Selvage or selvedge |
| hooks during the printing process. This edge is mostly | | | | is correctly spelled either way. |
| white with the manufacturer's name and logo, the | | | | |