Quilters--The Original Repurposers

Clip from Betz White´s Sewing Green, p 36

"Today green-minded sewers often reuse fabrics for clothing and quilts because it helps keep textiles out of our landfills. But throughout history--especially from the post-Civil War era to the Great Depression--materials were scarce and many quilts had to be made from leftover fabric scraps and from what we might call "trash" today. When clothing was no longer wearable, it was deconstructed,and the usable fabric was stitched together to make quilt tops. If batting was not available, blankets, worn out quilts, and in especialy dire times, even newpapers were inserted between the quilt front and back to add warmth. Since new fabrics were often hard to come by, on-hand materials, such as feedsacks, made their way into pieced quilt tops. On occasion even the silk cigar ribbons and colorful textile inserts from tobacco packaging were stitched into unique and complex quilt designs, further demonstrating the quiltmaker's imagination and resourcefulness."