Dangerous quilting

Adelgunda, 30 January 2026

This week I’m starting on my Perkiomen Valley quilt pattern. As I started cutting out the necessary squares and triangles, I was reminded of a strange news report about a quilting party that happened this month 157 years ago. It was printed in the Thursday, January 7, 1869 edition of the Republikaner von Berks.

“Stabbing Affair”, Republikaner von Berks, January 7, 1869

The news item recounts a fight that broke out at a quilting party near Rehrersburg, Berks County. It involved some of the men in attendance. Daniel Moyer, a carpenter, was stabbed and another man was punched. Moyer’s wounds were severe enough to require care and dressing by some local doctors.

We don’t often think of quilting parties as being such dangerous places. The one pictured below, taken by the famous H. Winslow Fegley, looks quite reserved. Not a knife in sight.

Quilting, ca. 1890-1925 (A23), H. Winslow Fegley Collection, Schwenkfelder Library and Museum

Quilting parties could be ruthless, though. I once interviewed an elderly Amish Mennonite woman in Central Pennsylvania who recalled how her grandmother would invite neighbors and friends over to join her at the quilting frame. The grandmother was exacting, and knew whose stitches were less than ideal. When all had left for the day, she’d spend an hour or so going around the quilting frame where the offenders sat, picking out the sloppier stitches.

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