| Frequently Asked Questions At The National Quilt Museum |
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| Why is The National Quilt Museum a Museum? |
The National Quilt Museum is a non-profit organization that educates the public. The museum works with objects it owns or borrows and has a trained staff that cares for these objects and exhibits them for the public. Museums hope to keep their objects in good condition so they can share them with the future generations. The objects a museum owns are called its collection.
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| Why is this quilt museum in Kentucky? |
This museum was founded in 1991 by Bill and Meredith Schroeder of Paducah, Kentucky. In 1985 they became interested in quilt making and started the American Quilter's Society (AQS) and its international quilt show held each year in April. In 1991 they built this museum so that quilts could be exhibited all year long. They wanted this museum to be in the city of Paducah.
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| Will the museum's quilts look like the ones your family has? |
You may see some quilts in the museum that look like ones that have been passed down in your family or been made by people you know, but you will also see some quilts that don't look like any quilt you have ever seen before. You will probably be surprised by how many different ways a quilt can look and how many different stories quilts can tell. There are as many different kinds of quilts as there are different people!
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| What is a quilt? |
A quilt is a fabric sandwich made of three layers, a top, a filling and a backing. These layers are held together by what is called quilting, stitching that goes through all layers. Quilts can be tied, too. To do this, single stitches are taken through all the layers, knots are tied using the loose thread ends and ends are trimmed so only short tails are left. Sometimes pieces that have only two layers or have no quilting are also called quilts.
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| Are all quilts made for beds? |
Traditionally most quilts were made to be bedcovers. Today, many quilts are still made for beds or cribs, but quilts are also made as art for walls. Sometimes these are called wall hangings or wall quilts. Sometimes these wall hangings are small like baby quilts. Other times they are as large as bed quilts, but they are made to be seen hanging on a wall instead of covering a bed. When a quilt doesn't have to fit a bed, the quilt maker has more freedom to make the quilt any size or shape and to use fabrics that cannot be washed.
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| Where does the quilt museum get its quilts? |
Many of the museum's quilts were donated by the founders, Bill and Meredith Schroeder. They bought quilts to donate to the museum. Quilts in the museum's collection also come from the American Quilter’s Society Quilt Shows in Paducah. The following show prizes are purchase awards: Best of Show, Best Wall Quilt, Best Hand Workmanship, Best Machine Workmanship, Best Miniature Quilt and Gammill Long Arm Machine Quilting Award. If the winners of these accept their cash awards, they agree to donate their quilts to the museum. Some other quilts in the museum's collection were donated by their makers for exhibit at the museum. The museum may also add quilts by buying them. |
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| Does The National Quilt Museum own all the quilts on exhibits? |
The quilts exhibited in the museum's center gallery are quilts owned by the museum. The museum has two other exhibit galleries, one on each side of the center gallery. These show quilts the museum has rented from individuals and other museums. After these quilts are exhibited at the museum, they are returned to their owners.
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| Why can't you photograph quilts in The National Quilt Museum? |
There are two reasons visitors cannot take photographs or videotape in the museum's exhibit galleries: (1) the use of lights or a flash for photography can affect the quilts by causing fading and other fabric damage, and (2) designs used in many of these quilts are copyrighted by their makers.
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| Why can't you touch quilts in a museum? |
A museum wants to keep its objects in as perfect condition as possible. When quilts are touched, even by clean hands, dirt and fingerprints are left behind because of the amino acids and oils released by human skin. These can cause a quilt to look dirty and begin to decay, so museums allow only staff wearing gloves to touch and handle quilts. Since just turning over the corner of a quilt can break its fibers or threads, museum staff handles the quilts only when it's necessary for changing exhibits.
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| Who makes quilts? |
Men, women, boys and girls of all ages and all backgrounds make quilts. Many quiltmakers are adult women, but there have also always been men as well as boys and girls making quilts. Most of the quilts the museum owns were made by women, but several quilts in the collection were made by men.
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| Where do the ideas for quilts come from? |
Quilters get ideas from block designs handed down through the years, with names like Log Cabin, Star of Bethlehem, Bear's Paw, Hole in the Barn Door, Jacob's Ladder and Double Wedding Ring. These patterns were handed down through families and shared within communities. In the late 1800's and early 1900's quilt patterns began to be printed in books, magazines, and newspapers. Quilters also get ideas from people, places, events and objects in their own lives. They are inspired to make a quilt that tells about or describes something they care about. They are also inspired by fabrics, colors and design ideas.
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| How do quilters make their patterns? |
Quilters may make a full-size pattern using someone else's quilt or trace a pattern from a book. Some quilters draw their own quilt designs on plain or graph paper. Later they copy the pieces of these designs on a stiffer material to make templates. Templates are the patterns quilters trace around to mark fabrics for cutting. Templates can be made out of cardboard, heavy paper like file folders, or thin plastic.
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| What is a quilt block? |
Often quilts are made using a unit called a block. This is usually a square that contains a design created by different fabric pieces; a quilt block can also be a rectangle or other shape. A quilt is created by repeating this block and its design until the quilt top is big enough. Sometimes this block is composed of separate geometric shapes like squares and triangles stitched together along their edges. A quilt made with this kind of block is called a pieced quilt. Sometimes the block is composed of curved or more natural shapes stitched on top of a background square. A quilt made from this kind of block is called an appliquéd quilt. Blocks can be put together right next to each other, or strips of fabric can be put between them to frame them. These fabric strips are called sashing.
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| Where does the fabric from quilts come from? |
Many quilters use scraps from sewing projects, but they also buy fabrics at quilt shops, at general fabric stores and at quilt shows from artists who create unique fabrics. Some quiltmakers dye or color their own fabrics. They dye them solid colors, or use methods to create patterns the way that you may have created patterns when dyeing Easter eggs by using special crayons or pieces of adhesive tape. Some quilt makers paint or draw on fabrics as well. |
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| Are all quilts made by hand? |
Some quilts are made all by hand, some quilts are stitched entirely by sewing machine and some are made using both hand and machine stitching. Sewing machines have been used for quilt making since the 1840's. The museum's collection includes both quilts made by hand and quilts made by machine. |
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| Can The National Quilt Museum appraise my quilts? |
Museum staff do not appraise quilts. Twice a year the museum holds an Appraisal Day. To find out when the next Appraisal Day will be held, please contact the museum by phone 270.442.8856 or by email. You can find a list of certified quilt appraisers at this link to the American Quilter’s Society website. |
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