There are some wonderful old wool quilts out there for a fraction of the price of a cotton quilt. The wool quilts were used for utilitarian purposes not beauty! However, that doesn’t mean that these quilts are ugly. Ranch wives, pioneers, and farm wives all added some artistic thoughts when making the simplest utility quilts. They were made from wool scraps, salesman samples, and old clothes to supply warmth to the bunkhouses for the hired hands’ beds, pallets and even bedrolls called ‘Soogans’.
Today these lowly wool quilts are at the bottom of the collector’s list and can be bought for a song. I have several and paid anywhere from $5 to $100 and some of them are amazing! I have one that is a ‘Flying Geese” pattern that has been embroidered around each goose, another that is hexagons with red cornerstones, and yet another that is squares on point. Most of these quilts are tied or quilted with a ‘big stitch’ or ‘utility’ stitch. They have whole cloth cotton backings, mostly plaids or homespun and are stuffed with cotton or wool batt. A couple of them have an old blanket for the batt.
If you plan on using these quilts, I would first have them dry-cleaned. Most, if not all of the wool in these quilts has NOT been felted. If that worries you because of the fragile condition or shrinking issues, you can always do the bathtub Woolite lay-it-flat to dry method. Either way, they are nice and warm and a comfort to own.
