create a dense pile surface similar to that of an Oriental rug. Hand-woven blankets, treasured for their warmth and durability, often were embroidered with colorful handspun wool yarns. Women embroidered swirling vine, floral and shell patterns on plain blankets and filled squares of window-pane-checked blankets with stars and flowers. Single and double coverlets, hand-woven in bold, geometric patterns from the mid-eighteenth to mid-19th centuries, were considered more decorative than plain or plaid blankets. While most were woven in blue and white, some weavers chose to emphasize the patterns by combining two or more colors. Jacquard coverlets, introduced in the early 19th century, became immediately popular because of their elaborate floral, mosaic, figural, and patriotic patterns. Professional weavers advertised them as fancy coverlets to differentiate them from hand-woven coverlets with geometric patterns. Quilts are made by joining layers of cloth – usually a decorative top, warm filling of either raw wool or cotton, and plain backing – and sewing or "quilting" them together. The method by which the quilt top is made, pieced, appliquéd, or plain, determines the nature of the design. The first quilts made in America followed English and European traditions. Early plain whole-cloth quilts were made from lengths of imported, highly glazed, richly colored wool fabric. The stitches used to secure the layers followed decorative swirling vine and floral patterns similar to those used in embroidery or in painted decorations on furniture and walls. The earliest pieced quilts were made by sewing or "piecing" small geometric pieces of fabric together in simple honeycomb or triangle patterns. As American women perfected the art of quilt making in the early 19th century, they developed more complex patterns often requiring hundreds of thousands of tiny pieces. Geometric star, flower, and figural patterns were pieced together in small blocks and then sewn together to make a quilt top. The first American appliquéd quilts, made in the 18th century, used the broderie perse, French for Persian embroidery, technique of cutting entire motifs from imported printed fabric, then sewing them on a plain fabric background. 19th-century quilters continued this tradition adding their own twists, following patterns printed in ladies' magazines, copied from a friend, or designed on their own. Occasionally women also stenciled, painted and embroidered fabrics to imitate elaborate quilt or coverlet patterns. Other bedcovers were knitted or crocheted in elegant patterns. See also History of quilting References Oliver, Celia. Enduring Grace: Quilts