Amish Quilt Books

Two of my favorite quilting books are about Amish quilts. 

The first is A Gallery of Amish Quilts Design Diversity from a Plain People by Robert Bishop and Elizabeth Safanda, which came out in 1976. The language in this book is a little dated (oh, about 45 years dated to be exact!), but very informative- many aspects of Amish history and culture are taken into account as a lens to view the quilts through. And the photos are gorgeous. The quilts are organized by region (Pennsylvania and Midwestern) and by style within region, with lots of design insights alongside. Whoever owned this book before me made a cool tool for testing color combinations (in the photo above) and stuck some photos from an article on Amish quilts in there as well. 

The second book is Sunshine & Shadow The Amish and Their Quilts by Phyllis Haders, which originally came out in 1976 as well, but my copy is new and expanded and from 1984. The text in this one is a little more narrative and a little more dated. However, the quilt photographs are incredible- this book contains a few designs and color combinations that I haven't seen elsewhere. The descriptions and stories accompanying the quilts are abundant and generous. I like that the color photographs are arranged one per page so you can really lose yourself in each quilt. 

I turn to these two books mostly for color theory- if I come across a lot of lime green linen, for example, I can usually figure out what colors I might want to pair it with by looking at the quilts from these books. I think a lot of them show how much you can push the boundaries of color without creating mud, a masterful skill that I am always pursuing. Someday I'd love to see Amish quilts like these in person- they are hand quilted in elaborate patterns that I really want to look at up close!