For women of the 19th century for whom domestic life was their sphere of influence, the traditional definition of rhetoric does not apply. In the United States, says Aptheker, "conditions of slavery, of the special oppression of women, of the practical needs for warmth and beauty and for a cultural form that did not require literacy produced the quilting tradition" (Aptheker 68). Needlework, specifically quilt making, became the expressive medium through which women articulated their way of knowing.

As a text, the quilt and its maker speak across time and space to a reader who may or may not speak its language. Each fabric patch is ripped from its original intimate garment or household context then carefully pieced back together. This frugal second use for scraps carried with them stories of their owners - of everyday activities, of daily wear and use - that were carefully witnessed, then pieced into a larger cloth narrative. The quilt becomes a palimpsest - a writing material that has been used one or more times after earlier writing has been erased - that reveals the multilayered nature of our experience. Says Aptheker, "In this way women gave meaning to their daily lives, the cumulative effects of their quilts finally transforming the ragged and the mundane into discernible patterns, beautiful, sturdy, enduring" (69).

A quilt is a text, says Elsley. "It speaks its maker's desires and beliefs, hopes and fears, sometimes in a language any reader can understand, but often in an obscure language available only to the initiated." (Elsley 1996, 1) Through the use of symbols, colors, patterns, stitches, textures, and words, women's quilt texts communicate in an intimate fashion across generations. Memory-laden textiles are inscribed by the touch and the witness of the quilter, recovering nearly lost narratives in a ritual that frames issues of identity, representation and knowledge. Designed for everyday use, these quilts have most recently revealed texts hidden in plain view, intimate conversations with ghosts of the past, that reveal the textuality and communicative practices of this women's tradition.

Many traditional quilts, says Hillard, are rhetorical both in messages they conveyed in response to social and political circumstances. The rhetoric of their making and use reveals relationships of power and contested meaning (Torsney and Elsley 113). Hillard attaches high value to quilts because of the act of creation and the beauty and utility combine to create an elegant visual metaphor for a feminist communication style:

We can imagine, however, that for most women, quilting, needlework, and sewing went beyond both practical and aesthetic concerns; stitching became a habit of mind, a ritualized practice of connection-making, unification, and harmonizing. Many quilts - especially pieced and patchwork forms - are icons of a working community. (Torsney and Elsley 116)

Through a community of women, traditional notions of author are challenged, demonstrating a quilt "technology" that is collaborative and polyvocal. This is the language of the quilt … "to speak one's truth in ways that will be understood by those who choose to listen without being denounced by those who may oppose it." (Elsley 1996, 34). As Hillard suggests, "highly individualized personal symbology of one's life - sewn and appliquéd onto cloth - resonates with other individual symbolizing practices, allowing the personal to regain and reclaim its public representation." (Torsney and Elsley 120). Says Elsley, "Individual voices are heard in the context of community, not in competition with each other, not necessarily in harmonious concert, but jostling together in a celebration of separate voices." (Elsley 1996, 46).