Through an exploration of six distinctive styles, Canadian Quilts and Their Makers shows how nineteenth-century quilts reflected the experiences and identities of the women who made them. Quilts were a necessity in the Canadian home, especially in the cold winters. Yet, beyond their obvious practicality, handmade quilts were personal expressions of creativity and identity. Lisa L. Binkley analyzes six styles of quilt - homespun-utilitarian, embroidered, wholecloth, appliqué, decorative-utilitarian, and crazy - commonly made by women from the Great Lakes to the Maritimes between 1810 and 1880. The textiles and methods employed demonstrate how their makers adapted to broader changes in society. Improved shipping and rail and evolving trade laws established access to industrially manufactured textiles for use in quilts. Newly available print media and changing governance systems emerged as the century progressed, and with them quilt styles that embodied the level of education, class, and location of both makers and consumers.

Less strenuous working conditions in the home, and varying degrees of economic ease, governed whether quilts were made primarily for warmth or as a decorative accessory. Despite social constrictions on women in the period, the quilts they made and exchanged reveal fascinating, nuanced ideas about necessity, colour, design, and even the political environment.