When you’re choosing that most important gift for the special baby in your life, you want it to be spectacular, and you hope it will have a unique quality that makes it stand out from all the other gifts.
Homemade baby quilts for girls and boys are what you’re looking for. Not only are they beautiful to look at and a source of soothing comfort for the little ones, but handmade baby quilts are continuing a tradition that is thousands of years old.
Origin is Ancient
If you think Europeans invented the quilting process, think again. Tombs in China dating from 770 B.C. contained quilts, and there is said to be an ivory statue of an Egyptian Pharaoh wearing a quilted garment. It is believed that the Crusaders returning from the Middle East introduced quilting to Europeans in the11the century. The Crusaders liked wearing quilted garments for comfort under their armor, and used quilt pieces to protect their weapons. The word itself stems from an English variation of what ancient Romans called floor sleeping pads.
Colonists Transported, Pioneers Transformed the Art
In the colonies, as in Europe, quilting was at first a diversion of the wealthy, to show off skill with a needle.
But as settlers headed west, quilts took on more practical applications. Not only were they used as bed coverings, but as weather protection on windows and doors.
We all remember hearing about the quilting bees of bygone days. The women of the region would gather with finished quilt tops and sew them together in one big piece, maybe for a young girl’s hope chest, or for one of the neighbor families. The recipients changed, but the same affection and care were applied by these women every time.
Patchwork was a popular pattern for quilt makers, but those blessed with a good imagination and a sense of adventure created unusual patterns of their own. Today, when gift givers seek unique baby quilts as gifts, there is a myriad of unusual designs that tickle the imagination or match the interests of the new baby’s family.
Quilts Have Quality
Run-of-the-mill gifts for babies, such as clothing and equipment, are mass-produced by machinery or assembly-line workers in foreign lands. But the homemade baby quilts for sale on line are a different matter. Each one has been lovingly created by a talented and experienced quilter who might only live a few states away.
Your average baby gifts aren’t long on life expectancy. Bright little outfits get soiled and shrink and lose their pep before they’re outgrown. Toys break. Not so sturdy, all cotton baby quilts that have been carefully crafted with tough binding and strong stitching to ensure durability. The quilting ladies back in the day knew how to make quilts to last, and modern practitioners of the art, with better tools, are no less savvy.
It’s Emotional
Homemade baby quilts say you’ve cared enough to give something that will be loved by this baby, his future siblings and maybe his own children sometime in the future. Mighty spectacular!
