Appliqué
In appliqué, motifs are cut out and sewn onto a ground fabric. Appliqué (French for “applied”) was popular in American quilts in the first half of the 1800s. The Framed (or Center) Medallion layout, with a central area surrounded by a series of concentric borders, was the most popular format until the 1830s.
Costly large-scale floral and birds fabrics were extensively used in mid-Atlantic and Southern appliqué quilts. Maryland and Virginia quiltmakers frequently combined pieced borders with an appliqué center.
Appliqué does not imply thrift. Quiltmakers bought luxurious imported fabrics especially for their quilts. Cut-out motifs wasted huge amounts of cloth, and sewing them required ample leisure time, implying availability of servants to do more mundane tasks.