Quilting Parties of Questionable Accuracy

The Brothers Assist in the Quilting, Harper's Weekly, 1863

I've been posting about vintage images of quilting parties here and at my 

Civil War Quilts blog.

The wood engraving above seems to represent the end

of the work and the beginning of the supper. 

The cook in the kitchen is one of many women laughing

at the men trying to thread needles. Why they are threading

needles after the quilting is finished I cannot say.

Perhaps they are binding the quilt.

Quilting Party, 1849

The similarities between this 1849 illustration and the 1863 picture

indicate the earlier engraving as a source for the other.

Women are either binding a quilt or the artist knew

very little about how quilts were quilted.

A Gilbert, Leisure Hours, 1890

Gilbert seems to have a good idea of how an 1890 quilt might

look but the finished quilt is more for visual effect than showing

how quilts are made.

The visual effect is always important.

You see a lot more pictures of women pretending

to sew on finished quilts than women actually

sewing patchwork.

Part of the caption here: "The work was tedious, but Argaree and her sister enjoyed working on the project together." (Hey, reporters! Doing dishes is tedious, patchwork is not.)

I couldn't find a picture of the most egregious error in

depicting quiltmaking, which was a late-20th-century Northern Bath

Tissue advertisement where women were quilting

with knitting needles. Here the artist has bowed

to public pressure and put more accurate needles in

their hands. I see the knitting needles are now in the hair.

UPDATE: Alexandra sent a URL to this old ad, it may

be far-fetched but the quilters are holding the right kind

of needles. In the one we are discussing they held knitting

needles. (Blowing one's nose in the quilt! Bad form.)

UPDATE 2: Stephanie saved the old ad. Here are the quilters

poking at a quilt with knitting needles.