When I saw that Pickle Dish had just come out with a new book, A Bag of Scraps: Quilts and the Garment District by Edie McGinnis, I immediately wanted to see it. Long ago, my grandmother made a quilt from leftovers from woolen quilt bindings that came for the Faribault Woolen Mills and I was intrigued that others too had benefited from leftover scraps from manufacturing companies.
I loved reading the history portion of the evolution of the garment industry and how they distributed scraps. I loved reading about immigrant workers, the Triangle Shirt factory fire and the evolution of unions which completely changed the industry.
I also loved seeing the quilts. I love this block!!
There are eight quilts in the book and five projects. The quilt below is very unique.
This basket quilt is cute..but I am still afraid of applique..that doesn’t mean I don’t love looking at it!!
I liked this book best from the history aspect..and there is lots of that. The first 26 pages are history. I was so intrigued. In 1929 one factory had 1,000 workers and were producing 5,000 dresses a day!!
So would you like to win a copy?? Leave a comment telling if you like the history aspect of quilting or just like it as a hobby.
I like both the history and the hobby. I grew up sitting on the floor of my grandma’s and mother’s sewing rooms. I’d spend hours playing with a big box of buttons (some I still have)with the hum of the sewing machine in the background. I still find the sound of the sewing machine very soothing and I love every aspect about fabric, thread and sewing. Thanks for offering such an interesting giveaway, like a double bonus quilting book. ;-> Toni Anne
P.S. Please pet Ruby and Puppycat for me. ;->
We used upholstery scraps as a kid made great crazy quilts
Hi from France
I like all in making quits ( fabrics and their history, choice of colors, pleasure to touch fabrics…) I ‘d like to win such an interesting book but I don’t know wether your giveaway is open to international or not.
Have a nice sewing day
I love reading about the history of quilting. I have enjoyed different books on the civil war. I really just love reading historical novels all together.
I love history and would definitely enjoy knowing more about the history of quilts. My favorite part of a quilt show is the antique quilts because it makes me wonder about the person that made the quilt and what their life would have been like. I also like quilting as a hobby.
I have always loved history and added quilting to that interest. When I was on the library committee for our quilt guild I purchased a couple of books for our lending library that spoke of the history of quilts and I loved reading them.
Yes, I love reading about the history of quilts and quilters. I would love to read this book.
I am as passionate about the history of quilts as I am about making quilts.
I read all the quilt history I can! It gives me a deeper perspective and I discover that my hobby is more vast than I can imagine.
Love a chance to win this book. Love learning from the past. Scrap quilts are “a one of a kind.” I remember going downtown with my mother and smelling the fabric !!! Of course being small my nose was pitched at the right height….LOL
I love both. …..I love holding a old quilt and thinking about the women that made it and what she may of been like. And I love the hobby bc one day long down the road I hope my quilts will still live and my great great gandchildren will appreciate them
I’ve not really thought much about the history element of Patchwork just thought about it as being born from necessity. It would be really interesting to find out more about it as it’s another facet of the hobby I love :)
Love the look of that basket quilt, but agree about all that appliqué!
I enjoy history and antique quilts too. Thanks for all you do to keep us quilting!
I would definitely love to win this book. love the history of quilts and quilting. also love the peek at the quilts from the book. i like figuring out how new-to-me quilt blocks are made, and the top two quilts are definitly new ones to me. thanks for offering this interesting book to your readers, Jo.
I love the history and making of quilts. To me it is all part of the story of something I love. This book would be really interesting to read and have.
I love the history and also do enjoy quilting as a hobby. I have some antique quilts that my grandmother’s made. Thanks for the chance to win!
I belong to a “History of Quilting” club and have really enjoyed learning about the fabrics used in the past, how they were produced, the quilts that were made and about the women of the past. Reproduction fabrics are not my favorite, but I have developed an appreciation for them. I do love to quilt as well.
I have worked at two garment factory’s years ago. One made kids cloths and the other was for women. Love the history and also scrapy quilts.
Thanks the chance to win this book
I love hearing the history of quilts and the fabric industry. I always try to add those to my library. I think it makes you appreciate everything from the invention of the sewing machine to the rotary cutter. How did they do it, no modern conveniences and make a garment, by hand…..amazing. Thank you for sharing.
The quilts with a letter or history for each block seems to be what I have been working on these days….CW LL, Amish Circle, etc. and my finished DJ that Jane Sickle made during the CW. I would love to make that little appliqued basket quilt…I like to applique and like the little blocks. I so enjoy you testing out all these quilting finds for us to enjoy….Thank you!
I love the history aspect of the hobby as much as quilting itself. I’m just fascinated how women back in the day squeezed out the time in a hard, busy day to make beautiful quilts.
I love the history of quilts!!! I was intrigued by them even before I was a quilter.
I think for the most part I am a hobby quilter. You have peaked my interest with your description of this book though. Would love to know more about history and fabric since it plays such an important part in our lives. Thanks for the chance to win.
I love history of that kind! I have a feeling if I don’t win…that’s one book I’ll have to buy. (Your double wedding ring is looking great!)
I really like the books from this particular publisher — so many of them include lots of history. …and I love scrap quilts — I think they are my favorite. …so, of course, would love to win a copy of it. Thanks for the opportunity.
I like the history aspect as long as the reading doesn’t get too technical. I like learning about antique blocks, not necessarily the technical aspects of dyeing the fabric. I liked Orphan Train too, and the little quilting that showed up in the book. It seemed to fit into the story very well. I liked the way the author talked about the old frayed, well-loved quilt.
I enjoy both the history and quilting as a hobby. Learning more about how quilting was in the past is very interesting. Thank you for your review on this book. It sounds like one I would like to add to my collection.
I enjoy both aspects of quilting. I’d love to collect antique quilts. But sadly the budget doesn’t allow.
Thanks for a great blog!
I inherited my love of quilting from my grandmother, who died when I was 14. Unfortunately, dementia stole the opportunity for me to learn much about her way of quilting but I have a passel of unquilted tops, and an “armored” picnic quilt that she made from “off-cuts” from the military uniform factory where my Mama and Aunt Lora worked. It’s OD green, in a brick pattern – “batted” with TWO army blankets, and tied with crochet cotten. Much too heavy to sleep UNDER, it has served us well for all my life as a picnic pad, furniture cover when moving, and our boxer’s favorite thing to ride on in the backseat of our truck. I would love to see the history in this book – and that quilt you find fascinating has also caught my eye!
I LOVE reading history (and occasionally will dip into historical fiction- especially if it has to do with quilting) Next week I am leaving for a workshop in New Bedford to study the underground railroad. I’m hoping next summer to attend one in Lowell about the industrial revolution in New England. This book would be a great introduction for that one!!!
I assume you are familiar with Jennifer Chiaverini’s Elm Creek Quilts books. She is now writing historical fiction! Mrs Lincoln’s Dressmaker is about Elizabeth Keckley who was a slave who bought her freedom and eventually became the dressmaker for Mary Lincoln. Her latest book The Spymistress comes out in October and which is also set during the Civil War. Enjoy!!
The book sounds like a winner, and the projects look interesting.
I would love to win a copy of this book! I am a huge history buff and am quite interested in the history of textiles in America.
I love the history of textiles, and quilting. Feed sacks are fascinating, and it wasn’t until recently that I learned about women using garment factory remnants. Would love a copy!
I love the history and the feel of doing something today that has been done hundreds of years ago under all kinds of situations.
Love the history..
I am an archivist and love learning about the history of our craft. Edie spoke to our guild last year – what a great program. She shared some of her findings with us – such fun!
One of my college roommates worked in a women and children’s clothing factory. She brought home strips of lightweight cloth 2-3″ wide and and about 8 feet long that they didn’t have any use for. I used some of it a year ago to strip and post a scrappy squares quilt for my husband. He calls it his happy blanket. It’s been nearly 40 years since she gave me that fabric… I look forward to getting this book from the library! (I never win stuff)
I like quilting as a hobby and reading about the history of our country. Thanks for the offer to win a copy of this book.
oh i love reading about the history of quilting. would really like to win a copy of this book. i’m reading the mourning hours right now on my nook. i know that’s not quilty but it was one you had recommended. so far it’s a good read.
I do enjoy reading about the history of quilting. This looks like an awesome book!
I like both!
I have two tops from my Great Grandma made from drapery sample books. I have small quilted pieces from my husband’s Granny that she made from bags of scraps gifted to her from friends and family that worked in a clothing factory.
I have recently been finding used books online that tell the history behind quilt makers and their quilts.
Fingers are crossed!
I have always loved history associated with quilting. Most of my quilts are tradional with civil war fabric.
My grandmother made several quilts from fabric scraps leftover from dresses that my mother made my sisters and I. This past week I was looking at a quilt that my 92 old mother has that my grandmother made. I recognized a fabric that my mother used in a dress for my sister. My mother didn’t remember it, but my sister and I did. I love learning about the history of quilts and their makers. I brought this book for a friend and wished I had brought one for myself, too ….. maybe I will be lucky and win it!
I just love history…especially United States history. The history behind quilting is fun to learn about. I like to know about each block…for example the Log Cabin block. Quilting is a great hobby and when you put it together with history, it becomes amazing. I would enjoy reading this book and would love to win it. Thanks for the chance.
I love the history, it makes me feel connected to the women in the past when I quilt. My mom-in-law worked in a garment factory in the early 80’s. There are still quilts being used from the scraps she brought home.
I love the history. My mom taught me to sew garments and I knew that my grandmother made utilitarian quilts and clothing from her own brown paper bag patterns. Now that I quilt, and my grandmother has passed away, I long to know what influenced her in creating quilts for the family. In reading about the history of other quilts and quilters, I not only feel connected to my “Nana” but to other women as well.
I love the history of quilts – it is women’s history. I am a member of the American Quilt Study Group and can’t wait to go to the annual seminar in September. Also, i am a quilt maker. I wonder what the future will do with all our quilts?
Love love love the history of quilts! Today quilts can be thrown together in no time at all, but I have such an appreciation for our quilt foremothers who sewed by hand, used what they could find, and utilized difficult patterns with set-in pieces without taking shortcuts.
What a wonderful book. I love History! I am finding that my love of quilting is leaning more toward the 30’s. I love the idea of that during the depression that they used everything they had because they did not have much. How they would take their sacks clean them and use them for making all kinds. of things. I love the colors and prints of the feed sack fabric. Plus all the time they put into each quilt.
Hi Jo,
I love the history of quilting along with the process of quilting. I first began with history, as a girl I read all of Little House on the Prairre books and loved to watch The Walton’s. Later as an adult I added in the quilting but I learned to sew from my Grandmother and made all of my clothes when I was in High School. My son’s High School preformed a play based on the Triangle Factory Fire last year and of course I had to read up on it after seeing the play,
What a FAB book.wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
sorry that’s 6 week old kitty helping me type! I love the history of cloth and clothing production and there is plenty of it in the north of England not far from where I live. I ‘d love to read some history of the same things in American. And those quilts look as though they are saying “make me”.
LLAP
Regards from rainy England
I think that I like quilting more as a hobby but am interested in the history also. This sounds like a good book and if I am not the lucky winner I will look for it in the library berfore buying a copy. I grew up in NYC and worked on the fringes of the garment district in the 70″s so would especially enjoy reading the stories.
Thanks for the giveway – wheter or not I win!
I love quilting but I also love history so the combination sounds interesting to me. Thanks for the chance to enter.
Well I enjoy a book with some background and the star quilt is very interesting. The other quilts in the book look interesting too. Thanks for sharing the info.
I love quilting, and I love reading, so this sounds like a book that I’d like to read. Thanks for the opportunity to win.
I love knowing about the history of the stuff i like! Thanks for the chance to win!
i love learning about the history of quilting. Itis amazing what our foremothers accomplished. Thanks so much for sharing
I am interested in the history and the hobby. That looks like a very interesting book.
I truly don’t think that you can move forward in your quilting journey without at least some idea of the history
and I like the “old” quilt re-interpreted
I think both but the history is interesting and you can learn so much about how things were in our ancestors times. That looks like a really great book. Thanks for the chance to enter.
I learn a lot from your blog : your quilts, your life, children and husband, Kelli and the interesting books you read. As a quilting addict, I like to read all about it.
I don’t want to win the copy your speaking of, but I do thank you for the pleasure I find every day, reading your posts and I am sure that it will help improving my English.
I love all things historical, from quilting to historical novels. No one in our family quilted so I find the books about ancestors who were quilters and their stories my favorites. Most of the quilts I make use reproduction fabrics, somehow they speak to me. Thanks for the opportunity to win this latest treasure.
I love the quilt my Great Grandma made. I keep it put away but where I can see it when I get into that closet. It is fading with time. I guess I love the history of quilts as I love the traditional quilts more then the modern.
My favorite quilts are the old-timey ones made from scraps. I like to read about them, and I like to make them. I’ve used cotton shirts and wool skirts to make quilts. I’d love to win this book! Thank you!
I like the history of quilts, looking at old quilts and making new quilts. The book looks great! Thanks for the chance to win a copy!
I love both the history and the making of quilts. History in all categories interests me. In quilting I tend toward the traditional patterns and blocks. I would love to read this interesting book.
My Grandma used to get some of these scraps. It would be interesting to read the stories.
I love learning about the history of the textile industry. This looks like a great book!
I love the history of women and quilts. It is simply amazing through the years how a simple thread of stitching has bound us together. Wouldn’t our quilt sisters of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s be amazed on how quilting has evolved. I have the Civil War Diary Quilt book and hope to complete it some day. Its on my bucket list.
I like both the process of piecing quilts and the history of how quilts have been made. I remember when I was young that my mother and grandmother would chain piece on my grandmothers’ treadle sewing machine — which I now have!
I love the history of quilting. There have been efforts to create a textile museum not far from where I live in Georgia but it isn’t completed yet. The history of the Gee’s Bend quilts is really interesting. Thanks for the giveaway!
I am fascinated by the history of quilt making. I am in awe over the intricate piecing and quilting all done by hand. Thrift and necessity may have been our ancestors want, but you could see the art in their quilts as well. I hope some of my quilts will last for many years and that my prodgny witll love them, too.
Knowing the history of a quilt block, design or fabric adds so much to a quilt.
Hi, I love the history of quilts and quilting, i have a couple of quilt history books and have read and reread the stories told by early quilters, often being moved to tears by the tales of hardship and friendship.
I do like the history part of it as well as making quilts. I wish I knew some more about some of the family quilts that I have.
Ever ytime I work on a quilt, I find myself wondering what women long ago would have thought about all the tools we have now – especially rotary cutters! As much as I enjoy the history, I love working on a quilt. Thanks for the opportunity to win this fascinating book.
I love the history aspect, although our quilting background in England is very different to yours in the US!!
I love American history and quilting. I recently inherited 3 quilt tops made by my gr,gr grandmother and two of them are made from the clothing scraps of my mom and her two sisters. I’m going to hand quilt them myself. I would love to win this book.
Have you ever seen the musical “Quilters”? It’s BEAUTIFUL! It’s full of quilting history and THAT is what makes me love it as a hobby. That show is the reason I started quilting, and I feel this weird historical pull of “rightness” when I quilt– knowing that people haven been doing if for 100s of years out of necessity AND love. It’s just such a fulfilling hobby. Thanks for the great giveaway!
I am new to quilter though I am a long time sewer. I started to quilt just for a hobby, but the more I learn about it, the more I enjoy it.
I love the old photos and the history. The Triangle Shirt Factory Fire was a devastating point in US history that few know about or remember.
Like “Barb” above, I am a new quilter and a long-time sewer who began because of the beauty of quilts! But, The more I quilt, the more I become interested in the history of this craft! I would love to win a copy of that book! Thank you!
I love quilt history books, quiltmaking, and have made traditional quilts and church banners. I would love to use my scraps on some of these quilts. Thanks for the chance.
I actually was drawn to quilting because of the history.
I read all 20 of The Elm Creek Quilters books
And knew I wanted to Quilt and join a group and
Learn all that I could about quilting. I’ve only been quilting
For a few years but have made more than 20 large quilts many
miniature, tablerunners and now
Wool appliqué as well.