In rural areas, by contracts, quilting would have been a real cottage industry, generally practiced for more utilitarian reasons, to make warm and serviceable bed-coverings for cold winters. Strong and more artistic traditions of quilting developed notably in Wales and the North East. Women and men who earned a living as quilters were to be found in both rural and more populated areas. There were also professional quilt markers who, for a fee, would mark the pattern on a quilt top with a blue pencil ready for the owner to quilt over the lines. They used templates and free-hand drawings to mark the patterns and certain patterns became typical of different areas of the British Isles.

Patchwork as a distinct but complementary craft has had its own history. Since economy has always been one of the obvious motives behind making patchwork, it has at times been denigrated for its associations with poverty. The fact that patchwork would have been made from re-cycled fabrics which had already seen hard wear no doubt accounts for the fact that so few examples of early patchwork survive. Although there are some examples of English patchwork that show skillful technique and aesthetic awareness, it see,s fair to say that it was the Americans who first raised patchwork to the status of 'textile art'.

Despite its associations with the 'make do and mend' philosophy of the less affluent, patchwork wasn't only made in that context. One of the earliest surviving example of patchwork in England is at Levens Hall in Cumbria and is dated circa 1708. The work comprises a set of bed-hangings and a quilt, all made from imported chintzes and featuring patchwork, applique and quilting. The use of even tiny pieces of the printed calico, often pieced to make larger patches, probably reflects the value put on these imported Indian fabrics before the development of a calico printing industry in Europe. None of it was to be wasted, even in the relatively affluent home where this quilt was made.

The technique most often seen in early pieced quilts in Britain is what has come to be called "English patchwork'. The shape used most often was the hexagon and pieces were assembled by tacking patches over paper templated, then over-sewing the edges together. In this way, very small, intricate shapes can be joined in tessellating patterns, which is why it is also known as 'mosaic' patchwork.

By early Victorian times, this style of working had become popular as a hobby even among women who had no need at all to economise in this way and there are plenty of surviving examples from the period. The method of sewing together random-shaped pieces of fabric, known as Crazy Patchwork, enjoyed tremendous popularity as part of the nineteenth century Victorian needlework craze for heavy ornamentation. The colours and fabrics used were those in fashion for dresses and other garments: silks, satins and velvets in bright, jewel-like colours with plenty of black for contrast.

Interest in patchwork and quilting as a hobby had almost died out by the beginning of the twentieth century though local quilting traditions survived in the North of England and Wales. Here, the production of high-quality quilted items enabled women in economically hard pressed mining and industrial areas, to earn money. Their quilts were marketed in London during the twenties and thirties through a co-operative venture which provided a much needed source of income. The Second World Wa brought extensive social and economic change to all parts of the British Isles. Women ever-increasing move to the use of ready-made clothes and bedding meant that patchwork and quilting were no longer of importance as sources of income nor even as hobbies.

Fortunately, enough women who remembered and practised the old skills survived to pass on their heritage to a younger generation and the most notable of these was the renowned North Country quilter, Amy Emms, MB, who died in 1998 aged 94, a dedicated teacher and practitioner who influence will long out-live her.

Of course, the briefest glance at today's patchwork and quilting scene will confirm that the amazing revival inaugurated in America, which swept to Europe, Japan, South Africa and Australia, is also booming in the UK. The exhibition 'The Pieced Quilt; and American Design Tradition', which was brought to England in 1975 by Jonathan Holstein and Gail Van der Hoof, is largely responsible for the British resurgence in patchwork and quilting but it in turn has led to and increased interest in our home-grown traditions.

While embracing all the modern techniques, folk customs and styles of American patchwork and quilting, we see the development of characteristically British styles in contemporary work and also have quilters making exquisite traditional-style whole-cloth quilts. There is a renewal of interest in the study and appreciation of our uniquely British patchwork and quilting legacy. In 1998 the Quilters' Guild of the British Isles founded The British Quilt Study Group, which now encourages, supports and publishes research in British quilts and quilt history. This is an exciting time of growth ad development in crafts which, from sometimes humble beginnings have captured the interest and imaginations of thousands of people. They range from unselfconscious hobbyist who love creativity for its own sake, to textile artists who exploit all the creative and expressive potential of patchwork and quilting in producing anesthetically pleasing works or making artistic statement.

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