To begin with, I want to say something as trite as it is important and that is, “Use the very best materials that you can afford for any and all handwork.” Extravagance is never smart, but good quilt materials are not expensive. It’s the sleazy ones, unreliable dyes and starched cloth that prove expensive in the end.

Wash goods is gauged by the number of threads per square inch, “68-72” is a fair grade of percale, “80 square” is excellent, the weight we usually use and some of the very fine imported ginghams run to “120 square.”

The history of quilt materials is almost as varied and fascinating as the history of quilt names. For instance, our chintz may be traced back through various family connections and changes of name to the “India Chinces” brought over from India by the East India Trading Company. This very fine cotton material was charmingly designed in much the same motifs of Paisley fame. The Persian influence, particularly the “Persian Pear” which women called the “pickle pattern” or “gourds,” peacock feather designs, with pineapple, pomegranates and certain exquisitely unreal but lavish flowers all bespeak the Oriental influence. Chintz came both glazed and unglazed.

The warmth of the quilt will depend upon the thickness and kind of interlining you use. If warmth is desired, have a thick interlining which means that the quilting lines must be farther apart.

As to the lining or backing, colors are quite popular, lemon yellow, baby blue, or whatever tint harmonizes with the quilt top. White or unbleached were always used on the old-time quilts. But white or tinted, the lining must be soft, unstarched either wide sheeting or strips of 36-inch width inconspicuously seamed, to use with wash material tops. Satine is best with satine, while a silk quilt may be lined with wool challis, with a silk that will not cut out, or even with dark cotton chintz where a blanket interlining is used.