1860 - 1875 Machine Quilted Quilt

unknown · 1860-1875

The crafting of this quilt was made possible by William Grover’s 1851 invention of the double-thread chain stitch. He and William Baker were issued U.S. Patent No. 7,931 for a machine that used this stitch. The Grover and Baker Sewing Machine Co. of Boston, Mass., began manufacturing the machines in 1851, and by 1856 were producing for the home market. “Quilting on a Grover & Baker’s sewing machine, is no trouble at all, and the rapidity with which it is accomplished, enables us to apply it to many things which would cost too much time and labor for hand sewing.” (<I> The Ladies’ Hand Book of Fancy Ornamental Work </I> Florence Hartley, Philadelphia, 1859.)