18th Century Wholecloth Quilts
Johnson defines a quilt as “a cover made by stitching one cloth over another with some soft substance between them.” These 18th century wholecloth quilts are generally made of a single material on the top, though many use a different material for the lining. Since there are many extant wholecloth quilts in the 18th century, and they’re all of fairly similar manufacture, I’m grouping them by the type of fabric on the uppermost layer.
“Wholecloth” is a modern term; 18th century documents are more likely to refer to this sort of quilt by its upper fabric, or even just as a “quilt.” I’m referring to these quilts as “wholecloth” to distinguish them from the patchwork and pieced quilts.
Historic Deerfield has a quilting frame from c. 1800-1840 (HD 2004.45), which may be similar to the sort of frame that was used for quilting in the 18th century.
Several quilts are initialed and/or dated using the same sort of cross stitch as laundry marks. Some 18th century wholecloth quilts were upcycled into clothing, especially women's quilted petticoats.
Additional Resources
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America’s Earliest Quilts - The Quilt Index
Early Colonial Quilts in a Bedding Context
Four Centuries of Quilts: The Colonial Williamsburg Collection
American Quilt Treasures: Historic Quilts from the International Quilt Study Center and Museum
Quilts in a Material World: Selections from the Winterthur Collection
Of the Quilters.
Quilting is chiefly performed by the women; but there are ſome maſters, who employ a number of women and girls in making Bed Quilts for the Upholſterers. The women of this buſineſs not only make Bed Quilts, but quilted Petticoats, &c. They either take poor girls apprentices, whom they keep for the ſake of their work, or have a ſmall ſum for learning thoſe grown up, whom they afterwards pay about 10 or 12 s. a week.
Wool Quilts
Jeffrey S. Evans Jul 16 2016, red wool whole cloth quilt, America / Wales, 18th century
Historic Deerfield 2019.32, wholecloth quilt featuring a face fabric made with red plain-weave wool camlet, probably New England, c. 1700-1750
Historic Deerfield F.258, wholecloth red plain weave wool (tammy) quilt, made in America c. 1725-1750
Colonial Williamsburg 1954-757, blue worsted wholecloth quilt, New England, c. 1740-1775
Colonial Williamsburg 1957-13, blue worsted wholecloth quilt fragment, America, c. 1740-1790
Colonial Williamsburg 1959-11, pink worsted wholecloth quilt, New York, c. 1740-1790
Met 45.107, rust-colored calamanco wholecloth quilt, New England, c. 1750
Colonial Williamsburg 1954-715, dark green wholecloth quilt, America or England, c. 1740-1790
Winterthur 1969.0560, New England, c. 1740-1800
DAR 3590, a wholecloth wool quilt in brown worsted wool, made c. 1750-1790 in Unity, Maine
Colonial Williamsburg 1962-190, blue worsted wholecloth quilt, possibly New England, c. 1750-1790
American History Museum 28810, indigo wool whole cloth quilt, Connecticut, c. 1750-1800
Winterthur 1954.0065.008, Connecticut or Massachusetts, c. 1750-1800
Colonial Williamsburg 1952-204,1, pink worsted wholecloth quilt, possibly New England, c. 1750-1800
Colonial Williamsburg 1966-419, pink worsted wholecloth quilt, probably New Hampshire, c. 1750-1800
Colonial Williamsburg 1953-951, yellow worsted wholecloth quilt, probably America, c. 1750-1820
Colonial Williamsburg 1951-224, blue and green worsted wholecloth quilt, England or New England, c. 1760-1790
Historic Deerfield F.011, wholecloth blue plain weave wool (tammy) quilt, probably Massachusetts or Vermont, c. 1760-1800
Historic Deerfield 2009.4, wholecloth blue glazed twill-weave wool (shalloon) quilt, Massachusetts, c. 1760-1800
American Independence Museum 2011.109, pink calamanco quilt made in Britain or America, c. 1765-1800
McCord Stewart Museum M22454, blue calamanco quilt made by Sarah Brown (?) c. 1770 in North America
Colonial Williamsburg 1971-1369, gray-aqua worsted wholecloth quilt, possibly New England, c. 1770-1790
Winter Associates Oct 3 2022, dark blue whole-cloth wool quilt, possibly Connecticut, 1770-1810
Met 62.26, possibly Massachusetts, c. 1775-1790
Colonial Williamsburg 1955-93, pink worsted wholecloth quilt, possibly New England, c. 1775-1800
Historic Deerfield F.575, wholecloth blue glazed plain weave wool (tammy) quilt, New England, 1775-1810
Winterthur 1960.0702, green worsted wholecloth quilt, New England, c. 1775-1825
Met 58.41, rust-colored wholecloth calamanco quilt, probably New York, c. 1780
Historic New England 1990.192, dark blue glazed wool calamanco whole cloth quilt, probably Connecticut, c. 1780-1800
Colonial Williamsburg 1986-140, worsted wholecloth quilt (c. 1780-1800) backed with overshot coverlet (c. 1750-1780), America
Old Sturbridge Village 26.107.32, wholecloth quilt of olive green wool, late 18th century
Historic New England 1927.34, pink wool whole cloth quilt, Massachusetts, c. 1780-1810
Historic New England 1927.2306, green wool whole cloth quilt, Massachusetts, c. 1780-1820
Old Sturbridge Village 26.107.28, wholecloth dark blue wool quilt, New England, c. 1780-1820
Old Sturbridge Village 26.107.1, eggplant-colored wholecloth quilt, cotton warp and wool weft, c. 1780-1820
Colonial Williamsburg 1957-121, blue wool wholecloth quilt, possibly New England, c. 1780-1830
Colonial Williamsburg 1952-86, green worsted wholecloth quilt backed with orange wool, America, c. 1780-1830
Historic New England 1952.278, blue tabby wool whole cloth quilt, c. 1780-1830
Historic New England 1963.223, navy blue twilled wool whole cloth quilt, probably Maine, c. 1780-1830
Historic New England 1917.1443B & =1917.1443, red wool whole cloth quilt fragments, c. 1780-1830
Met 1980.454, red calamanco wholecloth quilt, England or possibly Connecticut, c. 1785-1810
Historic New England 1942.1120, blue tabby wool whole cloth quilt, Connecticut, c. 1785-1810
Connecticut Historial Society 1952.76.0, blue calamanco wholecloth quilt, Connecticut or Massachusetts, c. 1787
Old Sturbridge Village 26.107.30, indigo wool wholecloth quilt, 1789
American History Museum 1973.308057, indigo-blue glazed wool quilt, Massachusetts, c. 1790-1799
Historic New England 1964.379, green glazed twill wool whole cloth quilt, New Hampshire, c. 1790-1815
Historic Deerfield F.574, wholecloth blue glazed plain weave wool (tammy) quilt, New England, c. 1790-1820
Historic New England 1960.105, peach-colored wool damask, Massachusetts, 1790-1830
Colonial Williamsburg 1952-116, blue wool and cotton wholecloth quilt, probably America, c. 1790-1830
Colonial Williamsburg 1959-129, pink-red worsted wholecloth quilt, probably New England, 1791
Old Sturbridge Village 26.107.36, dark blue calamanco wholecloth quilt, Massachusetts, 1793
Old Sturbridge Village 26.107.18, wholecloth olive-green calamanco quilt, New Hampshire, 1795
Printed Cotton and/or Linen Quilts
Chester County History Center 1987.857, block-printed linen, c. 1740-1790
Colonial Williamsburg 1973-53, made in Europe from an Indian textile, 1740-1800
Colonial Williamsburg 1964-453, indigo resist printed cotton, possibly Connecticut, c. 1750-1765
Colonial Williamsburg 1955-175, resist-printed indigo blue and white cotton, New York, 1750-1770
Connecticut Historical Society 1963.11.17, glazed blue and white copperplate-printed cotton, America, c. 1750-1775
DAR 89.59.24, fragment of an indigo resist quilt made in the United States (possibly Massachusetts) c. 1750-1780
Historic Deerfield F.005, block-printed cotton-linen, England or United States, c. 1760-1770
Historic Deerfield F.087, resist-printed cotton-linen, England or United States, c. 1760-1770
Concord Museum T1104, block-printed linen bedspread made in England or America, c. 1770-1779
Old Sturbridge Village 26.23.172, wholecloth printed cotton quilt in a rose and brown floral design on white, c. 1760-1790
Colonial Williamsburg 1973-3, copperplate-printed cotton-linen, possibly made in New York, c. 1765-1775
Winterthur 1955.0656 J, K, indigo resist-printed wholecloth quilt, England or America, c. 1765-1775
Winterthur 1958.0061.005, copperplate-printed cotton-linen, c. 1765-1775
Colonial Williamsburg 1953-1048, copperplate-printed linen wholecloth quilt, England, c. 1770
DAR 2000.12, a wholecloth quilt in indigo resist cotton, made in Schenectady, New York, c. 1770-1790
Cooper Hewitt 1960-145-1, copperplate-printed cotton quilt, England or America, 18th century
Wholecloth block print chintz quilt made in Massachusetts c. 1780
Colonial Williamsburg 1975-258, brown copperplate-printed wholecloth quilt, printed in 1780
DAR 7251, wholecloth block-printed quilt with narrow block-printed border, made c. 1780-1800 in Hunterdon County, New Jersey
Colonial Williamsburg 1971-132, copperplate-printed cotton wholecloth quilt, c. 1780-1810
Jeffrey S. Evans Jul 16 2016 and Cooper Hewitt 1934-9-1, , copperplate-printed cotton (Apotheosis of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington), c. 1780-1810
Winterthur 1952.0325.001, indigo resist-printed cotton made in England c. 1770 and made into a wholecloth quilt probably in New York c. 1780-1810
Historic New England 1992.382, indigo resist print linen, Massachusetts, c. 1780-1820
American Folk Art Museum 1995.13.3, copperplate-printed linen-cotton whole-cloth quilt, probably England, c. 1785-1790
Colonial Williamsburg 1958-406, dark indigo and white resist-printed cotton, France, 1785-1830; see also V&A T.13-1980
DAR 89.56, a wholecloth quilt with a block-printed linen top and a plain linen backing, probably made in the United States in 1788
Met 10.125.411, printed cotton-linen (copperplate-printed toile) wholecloth quilt, possibly England or America, c. 1790
Met 45.145, copperplate-printed cotton (in a red design on one side and a blue design on the other side), probably England, c. 1790
Old Sturbridge Village 26.23.82, wholecloth quilt made of copperplate-printed linen and cotton, c. 1790
DAR 62.28, single-layer whoelcloth counterpane, not filled, or quilted, but finished, made of red copperplate printed plainweave cotton (“America Presenting at the Altar of Liberty Medallions of her Illustrious Sons”), made c. 1790-1810
Winterthur 1955.0637.005, wholecloth quilt made from an Indian palampore on one side and a cotton fabric printed in France c. 1795 on the other
National Museum of American Museum 277125, indigo resist-dyed cotton, Connecticut, c. 1790-1810
Colonial Williamsburg 1955-176, resist-dyed indigo and white cotton, New York, 18th century
Silk Quilts
Winterthur 1954.0049, Europe, 17th century
MFA 49.886, pinkish-red silk whole cloth bedcover, probably England, late 17th or early 18th century
18th century silk wholecloth quilt in cream-colored silk
Colonial Williamsburg 1976-59, blue silk and printed cotton wholecloth quilt, Pennsylvania, 1736
Met 1999.352, green silk wholecloth quilt, England, 1747
Colonial Williamsburg 1952-572, green silk wholecloth quilt, England or New England, c. 1730-1750
Winterthur 1952.0341.004, England, c. 1775-1810
Historic New England 1925.6, c. 1780-1820, gold silk whole cloth quilt, c. 1780-1820
Historic New England 1964.379, aqua blue silk whole cloth quilt, England, c. 1780-1820
Old Sturbridge Village 26.113.2, turquoise wholecloth silk quilt for a cradle or crib, New England, c. 1790-1820
Linsey-Woolsey Quilts
Jeffrey S. Evans Jul 16 2016, blue linsey woolsey (or linen?) whole-cloth quilt, America, 18th century
Bonhams Skinner Oct 14 2021, brown linsey woolsey whole cloth quilt, 18th century
Bowers Museum 37075, blue linsey-woolsey wholecloth quilt, America, 1776
MESDA 471.6, olive-green linsey-woolsey quilted bedcovering, America, c. 1775-1800
Homespun cochineal-dyed linsey woolsey quilt, North Carolina, c. 1780-1820
Spencer Museum of Art 1928.0932, dull green linsey-woolsey counterpane, made in the United States c. 1780-1830
South Bay Auctions May 21 2022, indigo linsey woolsey whole cloth quilt, c. 1790-1810
Skinner Feb 17 2008, gold linsey woolsey whole cloth quilt, America, late 18th/early 19th century
Linda Rose Antiques, indigo blue linsey woolsey whole cloth bedcover, late 18th or early 19th century
White Linen (Whitework) Quilts
National Trust 454682, c. 1700
Cot quilt c. 1700-1710
V&A T.616-1996, England, 1709
American History Museum 1979.0184, white linen, New York, 1760
National Trust 414505, England, second half of the 18th century