I have very much admired the hand sewn Turkish quilts and want to aquire one if possible.  I was in a quilt shop in Istanbul, but did not order one while there because I don´t want acetate or polyester satin as a cover fabric.  It was all but impossible for me to explaine my wants, so I gave up.

I would love one made out of Egyptian cotton or silk satin.  Does anyone know about this?  Also, what is in the middle of them? I know a woman who had some and she said they can´t be washed. She said you have to take them apart to clean them. I´m thinking maybe she really doesn´t know....any feedback on the subject?

Hmmm....there used to be a Turkish Culture section, did I not see it, or is it gone now?

I have moved your thread to the "Turkey" section.

Out of curiosity, what is wrong with those fabrics you don´t want? And isn´t it a pain in the rear not to be able to wash a quilt?

Thank you Catwoman. 

As for those fabrics.  Acetate is not a stable fabric, it is synthetic and degrades very fast. In fact, if one wanted to made a design on acetate and then soaked it in a strong solution, the acetate disintegrates leaving only the design sewn with cotton or cotton thread. Acetate is what is often used to line jackets, pants and garments. We all have the experience of linings that rapidly disintegrate, right? Well, that is acetate.

Polyester is produced out of a gooey tar like mass of petroleum and coal by product to produce fabrics. The fabric produced is a very strong, but not biodegradable, has poor absorbtion and breathability. When it burns, or gets too hot, it turns into a sticky gooey tar like substance that sticks to the skin. It´s horrible to have that hot sticky burning thing stuck to one´s skin, thus a quilt out of it brings up horrible images.

I prefer organic fabrics like cotton, silk or wool, and I think they are healthier for us.  Fine cotton is long fiber cotton.  What that means is the fabric can have a finer satin like surface. Cotton, like all fibers comes in different grades dependant on the quality of the individual fibers that are then spun into threads that are woven into fabrics.

Well, I´m pretty sure this is much more than you probably ever wanted to know about "those" other fabrics.......or any fabric for that matter.

Yes, the inablility to wash anything, particularly bed cloths is not appealing.  It doesn´t seem practical or reasonable, knowing Turks to be very pragmatic people, I´m asking about truth of that statement. 

Alameda,

we have a saying: "Ayağını yorganına göre uzat"

....thank you TheJanissary,

But I still would like more technical information as to what they are made out of.  Just about every home I was in had them.  They are much thicker than any quilts seen here.  Some places they seemed to double as a matress as well as a top cover.  I love them they are wonderful.

They were beaufiful when they were stacked up.  I remember the ladies folding them in a special way to place against the wall, or in a special closet.  It seemed a "must have" for a bride.  Are my conclusions correct?

BTW.....I hope you do write a column on the Black Sea, or what ever you decide.

I have a Turkish quilt, but it was given to me as a wedding present.  The batting (part in the middle) is wool. 

Here is a site for Turkish quilts.  They look like natural fibers, ect...

http://www.gulhis.com/

Thank you Elisabeth....

You know the site you sent me to looks pretty much like American quilts.  Here is a link with a video of some beautiful Turkish quilts....called

Yorgan

The video has the oddest choice of background music....Hotel California   ???

I think I saw quilts covered with cotton (my guess is Turkish cotton ) in a bed-covers etc. store in Balikesir... It was a store filled with all kinds of sheets and other stuff to dress up your bed. Kind of a cheap place actually, and the shiny polyester silk ones were more expencive then the cotton ones. I think shiny is more Turkish taste, and the cotton ones were B-choice

I guess you should check out some bed-stores. Most of them have a LOT of the shiny fake-silk ones, but I guess if you´ll look around you can get some "real" stuff as well.

 I will give you my mother´s msn u should ask her

Your mother msn´s with people? hahahahah

I seem to remember seeing one in neutral colors out of a organic fabric, cotton maybe.  I think you are right about the shiny thing. My taste is more in the neutral tones.........or just about any red.

The synthetic fiber thing is a phenomena that is sweeping the whole world now.  You used to be able to get wonderful cotton scarves & Jellabas from the Arab countries, now most everything is Polyester....I have seen some fabulous embroidery on things, but they are polyester, so I won´t get  them. 

Actually, it´s long stable fiber cotton, it won´t wrinkle very much anyway, same with silk.  I have a Chinese silk jacket that never needs ironing, even though it is 100% silk.  The short fibers wrinkle, not the long ones.

You laugh, but in reality IMing is very convenient for people who are away from home....or far from loved ones.  Just about everyone uses it.  You can see your family and they can see and talk with you.

It really saves on the phone bills. In the "old days" (10 years ago) phone bills were horrible....could be mega bucks.

 mrs.janissary1950@hotmal...

 dont worry I dont have a quilt too

I am not particularly knowledgeable about the quilt art in Turkey. I just know that in the past there used to be these small shops where the quilt maker would usually sit in the window relentlessly sewing those pastel colored sheets of fabric. These days, quilt makers´ shops have become extremely rare. Most new couples prefer alafranga items.

Having said that in the past there used to be two main choices in certain things: alafranga and alaturka (meaning alla franca and alla turca respectively) Like in alafranga music, alaturka toilet etc.

Hmmm.....how sad.  Is there any movement to preserve the art form?  Turkey has numerous artisans whose arts need protection, encouragement, so it seems.  That is one of the reasons I´m doing this research. I´m sure one can commission items, don´t you think?

Gee I wish someone would have something to say about these....I found these videos of making them.

Woman and child making cotton quilt stuffing

a man sewing the design on a quilt