Guest Post: Quilt Making in America, A Necessity and an Art Form

Quilting was common in the early 1700s on into the 1800s as immigrants settled here. The word quilt was derived from the Latin word "Calcita" which means a stuffed sack, or a three layer bed covering. Women would sew through three layers of cloth to keep the middle layer from bunching. You might call it a cloth sandwich. The top layer was usually a decorative piece of cloth if it was available.

There were three types of baby quilts. The first was a plain whole cloth quilt, the second was called an appliqué quilt and the third one was patches of different material stitched together and called a patchwork quilt.

The quilt was originally made for warmth, used as a bed cover. They were also used to cover doors and windows in homes to prevent drafts in the very cold weather. They could also be made into coats for the men and for petticoats for women to wear under their skirts for warmth in the cold climates.

In the early years of America, the priority was given to sew clothing and with all the chores the women had besides raising children there was very little time to make fancy baby quilts for sale. In the early 1800s when fabric was just starting to be manufactured in America and clothing became available in general stores and by catalogues, the women would have more time for quilting. That was when more decorative baby quilts started to appear and became more popular. Thousands of baby quilts for sale were stitched together and a good amount of them have been preserved. Many were so intricate that it sometimes took years for them to be completed. They have been handed down as precious family heirlooms and are displayed in people's homes as well as museums. Those early baby quilts provide a window into the history of quilting and this United States.

In the early 1800s, the popular styles of baby quilts were Whole Cloth, Broderie Perse and Medallion. The whole cloth quilt was known also as the Counterpand and was usually made from single pieces of material top and bottom and the decoration was obtained by padded or corded quilting in a very elaborate design. Appliqué quilt had a top made of a whole cloth with smaller pieces of fabric cut into shapes that were stitched to the whole cloth. These baby quilts were more elegant than the pieced type. Appliqué quilting became more favorable around the late 1700s and peaked around 1850. Only the very wealthy could afford to purchase the expensive imported fabric and also had the leisure time to create this type of quilt.

As living conditions improved and more materials were made available the patchwork quilt had become the "utility quilt" and the appliqué quilt became the decorative or "show" quilt. More time was invested in stitching this quilt.

Another style of quilt that became popular in the early 1800s was called the Medallion Quilt. This quilt was created in a style that had been brought to America from Europe by the colonists. It had a central motif encompassed by multiple borders and led to endless design possibilities for quilters. They could combine patchwork, appliqué and embroidery either alone or in any combination.

There are examples of very intricate patchwork baby quilts that took large amounts of time to create. Pieced baby quilts were used as the everyday bedcover designed to be made in a short period of time. Women would save every scrap of fabric and any usable portion of worn clothing to use to make patchwork baby quilts for sale. These became the most common type of baby quilts used in that time.

A variation of the everyday quilt was known as a plain "tufted" quilt that is tied through the material in enough places to prevent the middle layer or the filling from bunching or slipping. While this quilt has no stitching to hold the layers together it does have three layers just like a traditional quilt. Another type of quilt was known as the "summer quilt" which does not have the middle layer of filling and was more useful as a bed covering during the summer months. This summer quilt has traditional stitching holding both layers of material together.

During the 1800s, there was a custom that young girls make thirteen baby quilts for sale consisting of twelve utility baby quilts and one great quilt which was either pieced or an appliqué quilt for her bridal bed. After she was engaged, she would put the finishing touches on the top of the utility baby quilts and turn them into completed baby quilts for sale. Another custom was for the mother to make several baby quilts for her daughters to take with them when they left home to start their new life. This custom is carried out today in some families as quilters stitch heirloom baby quilts for their children and grandchildren.

There will be a follow up article about quilting soon due to the extensive information available about quilting and that it is still used today.

Examples of Business Goals & Objectives

According to the Iowa State University Extension website, a goal is a general statement of achievement while an objective is a specific step or action you take to reach your goal. Goals and objectives are important to the entrepreneur, as they clarify the purpose of the business and help identify necessary actions. Goals can involve areas such as profitability, growth and customer service.


Profitability

A common business goal is to run a profitable operation, which typically means increasing revenue while limiting expenses. Revenue objectives could consist of increasing annual sales by 10 percent or landing three new accounts each month. Expense objectives could involve finding a new operating facility that decreases your rent by $200 a month or cutting monthly utility bills by 15 percent.

Customer Service
Examples of customer service goals are to develop a perception that your company is easy to do business with or to improve your response time to customer complaints. Objectives to help meet these goals could be increasing your customer service staff from one to three workers by the end of the year or implementing a policy where customers are guaranteed to receive a return phone call before the end of the business day.

Retention

If you've experienced a problem with employee turnover, your overall goal could be to improve retention. To achieve this goal, your objective might be to develop and implement a training program that details new-hire activities for the first 90 days on the job. You also could implement one-on-one meetings with your employees in an effort to build rapport and find out what's on their mind.

Efficiency

Another goal could be to become more efficient in your business operation as a way to increase productivity. To improve efficiency, you could challenge your salespeople to improve their closing ratio from 30 percent to 45 percent. If you distribute a product, you might consider implementing a new shipping procedure that improves your delivery time from four days to two.

Growth

Perhaps your goal is to grow your business operation. If you own a franchise unit, for example, your objective might be to open three more units within a five-year period. If you operate a retail store, your objective might be to increase your selling space by 25 percent by completing an addition to your building within a year.

Does everyone have a business in them?

"It's not beyond anyone but it certainly doesn't work for some people. It's strange isn't it that Business Link have an introductory section on their site which is headed 'find out whether you can work for yourself' that somewhat suggests they doubt it works for everyone."

"You have to have the fire in your belly to even consider starting up your own business. By the evidence, the vast majority don't have it. There are sacrifices and extra worries and responsibilities you take on which I don't think many are prepared to entertain. The allure of the 9-5 set time set wage every week is too easy to go along with."

"I think the potential is there for everyone to create their own business - although of course the quality of each will vary significantly. That said, can everyone manage to successfully run their own business for a significant length of time? Well, given the right tool set and the desire/ability to utilise the right resources then perhaps. Do most people want to? I don't think so at all.

"At the end of the day, I think many people would create a business where they simply attained the position of a high ranking employee, rather than as a dynamic business owner with the urge to expand and grow. Nothing wrong with wanting the security that that would bring, but the loss of drive could lead to catastrophic failure in the long run."

"I think you will find that going by 80% of the threads on this forum that most people obviously don't. Reasons? I would take a guess at lack of common sense seconded by lack of courage. Get those two together with some finance and you are on your way, for better or worse."

"Who created this daft idea? Is this supposed to encourage people to go into business? And in this current economic climate? How irresponsible. The ability to run your own business is one thing, to make a profit while doing it, is quite another. Maybe the powers that be are looking for extra revenue in tax and VAT."

"Short answer no. Not everybody, not even a majority. Most people can do any job but not all have what it takes to run their own business. It's not just about having some knowledge to carry out the business, but most importantly it's having the grit and determination to keep going when most have given up long before. You can learn just about anything, but you cannot give people a backbone, and sadly some just don't have it in them."

"No, not everybody has a business in them, and this is a political move to try and get people to start new businesses rather than just accept redundancy/the sack and claim benefits. It might be seen as a cynical ploy, but despite higher failure rates of new businesses in recessions, if at least some startups are attempted and become successful than we have at least those successes, which we might not have had. There are those who start the fire and at the other end of the spectrum there are those who tend them. All provide value in some way, but at the moment we are trying to get as much value from the fire raisers as possible because the market for fire carers is getting smaller. We need the startups by fire makers despite high failure rates."

"Has everyone got it in them to be a a employee? Not in my experience. To even suggest that everyone has the ability to run a business is just plain daft. The vast majority of people like security or at least the perception of it which is what a job is, but that perception is better than the chaos of running a business. Look at the failures of business as it is and that is from motivated people who want to do it. Having having said that, the future of being an employee is very limited in western countries so creating a life you are in control of as much as possible is to be encouraged but you have to want to and want to a lot as well as having the ability to do so."

In my humble opinion I don't think business is for everyone. There are many key skills that are needed to run your own business - whether you are doing something like cleaning or offering a bespoke service. When an individual has a job, they are focussed on the tasks that they are responsible for and may have absolutely no idea what it takes to run and manage the whole business whether large or small. Running your own business you have to wear many hats, cleaning, management, determination, accounting, customer service, planning, cash flow, making a profit not just turning money over, H&S ..... I could go on! There are many people who enter business and fail very quickly as they really don't understand what it actually takes to make profits and soon realise they don't possess the skills or determination. Entering or starting a business should not be taken lightly."