Lisa Evans: Medieval Quilts Specialist

Meet the Researcher

A Series of Interviews with Individuals Who Are Adding to the Bulk of Knowledge Known About Quilts Today

Pat: Lisa, tell us about yourself and your interests.

Lisa: I'm originally from Pittsburgh and have lived in Massachusetts for my entire adult life. I work in a mental health agency, am active in my local Unitarian-Universalist congregation, and have degrees from Smith College and Hartford Seminary. My interests include medieval re-enactment, reading, classical music, fine embroidery and textiles of all sorts, writing, and the role of women in history and daily life.

Pat: How did you happen to take up such a strong interest in medieval quilts? What elements draw you to them?

Lisa: I became interested in medieval quilting when I joined my re-enactment group, the Society for Creative Anachronism. I had been quilting for almost ten years at this point and had seen a couple of references to early quilts, and decided that I wanted to do something appropriate to my chosen period, the late 15th century. I was fascinated by the beauty medieval quilters produced without patchwork (98% of references to medieval and Renaissance quilts are to wholecloth silk and linen quilts, usually imported), and before I knew I was tracking down every scrap of information I could find.

Pat: Along the way, what amazing discoveries have you found that havemade it all worthwhile for you to be engaged in this type of research?

Lisa: Discoveries I've made have included the identity of the first quilter known by name (Niccolo de la Coltra, the "master of quilts" at an Italian court in the 1420s); Henry VIII's inventory of silk and linen quilts; possible visual evidence for simple patchwork as early as the 1280s; and a possible reason why backstitching was the preferred technique until the early 16th century (the battings were not fine enough for a running stitch, as I found out when I rammed a needle through my pushing fingert rying to use raw cotton flocking in a test piece). Most of these discoveries have come at random, and I can't wait to see what I find next.

Pat: Did you become a quilter because of studying quilts or did you begins tudying them because you were a quilter, first?

Lisa: I was already a quilter when I started doing serious research. However, I've found that I'm much, much better at wholecloth than at patchwork, and I attribute this to my doing several wholecloth pieces to put my research into action.

Pat: Have you any plans to travel overseas to track down points of research?

Lisa: Overseas - oh, yes! I plan to go to England to view some of the quilts in the Victoria & Albert Museum in the next eighteen months. I'm also starting to research the elaborate wool appliqués of medieval Germany and hope to be able to get there within two years.

Pat: Tell us about the paper you will be presenting at a conference.What is the topic?

Lisa: I'm scheduled to present at the 41st Kalamazoo International Medieval Studies Congress on May 6, 2006. I'll be part of the textile track (aka DISTAFF), with a paper on what I believe may have been Henry VIII's wedding quilt, and so far I've had a wonderful time researching and writing. I'm very much looking forward to the actual conference.

Pat: Please add anything else you would like to say.

Lisa: My eventual goal is to write a short history of pre-1700 quilting, first as part of the SCA "Complete Anachronist" pamphlet series, and then, God willing, as a small book. I've found that there's a real hunger for information on medieval Renaissance quilting, and I expect to see much more work in this area in the next decade or so.

This concludes our interview with Lisa Evans. Thank you, Lisa, and good luck in all of your research and writing endeavors.

To see information that Lisa contributed to a summary article on 
wholecloth quilts, worldwide, click on the following link: 
Wholecloth Quilts: Part V

To read a file that Lisa prepared for another quilt history site: click here: 
http://www.quilthistory.com/quilting.htm