An Overview Bibliography for Frame Quilting

The following volumes provide an overview of the historical sources regarding quilting in a frame and its context in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England. It is not intended as an exhaustive list, but a place to begin research.

Rosemary E. Allan, Quilts and Coverlets: The Beamish Collection (Beamish; The Beamish Museum, 2007).

Averil Colby, Quilting (London: Batsford, 1962).

Mavis FitzRandolph, Traditional Quilting (London: Batsford, 1954).

Elizabeth Hake, English Quilting Old and New with Notes on its West Country Tradition, (London: B.T. Batsford Ltd, 1937).

Mary Jenkins and Clare Claridge, Making Welsh Quilts (London: David & Charles, 2008).

Jen Jones, Welsh Quilts (Bridgend: Seren Books, 2016).

Deborah McGuire, ‘Our folk on twilting in our parlour’: The Pragmatic Emotional Networks of the Quilt Stampers of Allendale, 1870-1920. Quilt Studies Journal, (2023), 24, 37-69.

Dorothy Osler, North Country Quilts: Legend and Living Tradition, (Durham: The Bowes Museum and The Friends of The Bowes Museum, 2000).

Dorothy Osler, Traditional British Quilts (London: Batsford, 1987).

Clare Claridge, “The Quilt Wives of Aberdare”, Quilt Studies Journal, 17 (2016): 91-126.

Sue Pritchard, ed., Quilts 1700- 2010 Hidden Histories, Untold Stories (London: V&A Publishing, 2010).

Janet Rae, The Quilts of the British Isles, (London: Constable, 1987).

Heather Audin, Patchwork and Quilting in Britain (Oxford; Shire Publications, 2015).

Clare Rose, “Quilting in Eighteenth-century London”, Quilt Studies Journal, 2, (2000): 11-30. 

Deborah McGuire, ‘Although it smack somewhat of the days that are gone’: Memory, Legacy and the Preservation of the Patchwork Quilt’ in Inheriting the Family: Objects, Identities and Emotions. Edited by Katie Barclay, Ashley Barnwell, Joanne Begiato, Tanya Evans and Laura King. (London: Bloomsbury, 2025).

Beatrice Scott, The Craft of Quilting in the North Country (Leicester: Dryad Press, 1935).

Anne Ward, “Quilting in the North of England”,  Folk Life 4, (1966).

Various Authors, Quilt Studies Journal, The Journal of the British Quilt Study Group vol. 1-24, (2000-2024).

A Preliminary List of Museums, Collections, & Archives

The following museums and collections have significant extant quilt holdings, but not all have quilts on permanent display. Beamish, Museum Wales, Bowes and the Ulster Folk Museum include quilts in their permanent displays. Check listings for The Quilt Collection, The Quilt Association and The Welsh Quilt Centre, as all hold time-limited exhibitions each year where their quilts can be seen. Many collections now include online database where quilts can be viewed, and their location in the museum or storage revealed.

The Quilt Collection of The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles, York.

Beamish, the Living Museum of the North, Stanley, County Durham.*

The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham.*

The Quilt Association, Llanidloes, Powys, Wales.*

The Welsh Quilt Centre, Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales.*

Museum Wales, St Fagans, Cardiff, Wales. *

The V&A Museum, London. 

The Ulster Folk Museum, Belfast, Northern Ireland.*

*See extant quilt frames on display, or sometimes in use, at these locations.

{Images below: Rural Industries Exhibition at David Morgan, Cardiff, 1932. Collection of Museum Wales. F3182-3 CD09-88/DF109119. Quilt displayed as part of the living history exhibits at Museum Wales, St Fagans, Cardiff. }