Where are the best places to find Amish quilts to buy?
After the 1940s, the Amish pretty much stopped making the kind of quilts we collect. If you go to Amish communities today, you’ll often see signs “Quilts for Sale.” These are new quilts, made for the tourist trade. Many of them use white backgrounds, printed fabrics and even representational designs. Some are made of polyester. They are a far cry from the darker, abstract geometric designs that attracted us, and the quilting is not as fine or intricate. In the 1970s and 1980s, good antique Amish quilts could be found at several folk art galleries in New York, three shops on Hayes Street in San Francisco and occasionally antique shows. These sources are long gone, and great antique Amish quilts are very rare today. We’re still looking for them, but it’s like a treasure hunt and finding one is very exciting. How did you get involved with the de Young? In the past, we had several other museum exhibits. However, we thought the de Young would be a great place for several reasons—they have a
