Quilting and Patchwork in the Isle of Man

Abstract

This article is based primarily on the collections of the Manx Museum (which consist solely of material from the Island) with some information from local needlewomen, or previously recorded by the Manx Folk Life Survey. Quilting in dress: Although no examples of quilted clothing dating from before 1800 are known from the Isle of Man, such will certainly have existed. Quilted garments were needed beneath armour, or might be a lighter and cheaper substitute for it. Decoratively quilted clothes were doubtless worn in the seventeenth century, as in England.