Book Review: Pictures in Patchwork

 Title: Pictures in Patchwork (Le Patchwork)

Author: Marie-Janine Solvit

Translator: Walter A. Simson

Date: 1976 (French), 1977 (English)

Publisher: Dessain et Tolra (French), Sterling (English)

ISBN: 0-8069-5380-2 (Englsih)

Length: 112 pages

Illustrations: many color photos and drawings

Quote: “Patchwork as we know it is basically an American craft.”

On page 7 of Pictures in Patchwork, the quote above is surrounded by three photos of antique quilts from France. However, patchwork and quilting are actually two different techniques. Patchwork is joining patches of fabric into a single flat seamed surface; quilting is stitching two or more layers of fabric with lining between them into a thick, textured, insulated material. Quilting was not new when it appeared in French fashions of the seventeenth century, nor was patchwork new when it became a fad throughout Europe and North America in the eighteenth century.

In France, however, the fashion for patchwork didn’t last. Even in England it was a rather short-lived fad. In the United States, patchwork became a Folk Art Tradition and continued to be practiced after the fashion for patchwork clothing had passed.

Solvit provides some examples of traditional patchwork patterns (examples in French museums are older than those in American museums), but her book is mainly about pictorial patchwork and appliqué, sometimes enhanced with embroidery, as shown on the covers of the book. She also briefly considers knitted and crocheted patchwork.

Pictures in Patchwork is less of an instructional guide than Creative Patchwork, less of a reference work than American Quilts. Published under the auspices of Elle magazine, it’s a perky, whimsical guide to what the author clearly regards as a “creative” fad hobby. For those who want inspiration to patch together their own semi-abstract landscapes, this book should be inspiring.