The project this site remembers is a different one: 524 squares, cross-stitched by 375 volunteers in 47 states and 14 countries, for five flag-style quilts. Its story is the front page of this site, and the timeline follows the five quilts to their last known showing in 2011. If you can tell us where those quilts are now, please write to us.
At a glance
| Project | What the source says it is | Held or shown now |
|---|---|---|
| United in Memory 9/11 Victims Memorial Quilt | More than 140 panels, each of 25 blocks, one block for each victim | International Quilt Museum, Lincoln, Nebraska (acquired September 2015) |
| September 11 Quilts Memorial | 94 quilts by September 10, 2002, gathered by a fabric artist in Manhattan | 9/11 Memorial Museum, New York (added February 2007) |
| America’s 9/11 Victims’ Memorial Quilt | Three 20-foot sections, one for each attack site, made by more than 500 volunteers | 9/11 Memorial Museum (retired from display for preservation) |
| An American Quilt | More than 60 panels of 3 × 6 feet, made in 2001 and 2002 | Donated in 2013 to the 9/11 Memorial Museum |
| National Tribute Quilt | A 30-foot quilt of nearly 3,500 fabric squares | 9/11 Memorial Museum, Tribute Walk |
| Pentagon quilts | A series of 40 commemorative quilts from children, civilians, churches, companies and artists | Inside the Pentagon |
United in Memory, International Quilt Museum
The International Quilt Museum says United in Memory Memorial Quilt Inc. was founded by two men from Long Beach, California, who visited Ground Zero a few weeks after the attacks. The museum describes the quilt as the work of a volunteer-based grassroots organization, with blocks from across the country and around the world. Its two pages give the totals as 142 panels and more than 140 panels, each of 25 blocks, covering more than 15,000 square feet. The University of Nebraska–Lincoln says each block is dedicated to one of the 2,977 victims.
The museum says it acquired the collection in September 2015, a gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation. Because of its size, only a selection of panels is shown at one time. The museum’s exhibition “United in Memory” ran from August 26 to October 9, 2016. In 2021, nine panels were in the exhibition “Trying to Make Sense of It: 9/11, Loss, and Memorial Quilts,” where a gallery kiosk let visitors browse the whole quilt or search for a name.
September 11 Quilts Memorial, 9/11 Memorial Museum
This project was conceived by Drunell Levinson, a fabric artist in downtown Manhattan, after the attacks. According to the project’s own page, it had grown to 94 quilts by September 10, 2002, together with statements, photographs and a documentary video. The quilts were shown as a group in 14 exhibitions in the United States over the next two years, and the project was presented in Japan. The materials and the way each artist interpreted a “quilt” were left to the individual artist.
In February 2007 the quilts were accessioned into the permanent collection of the 9/11 Memorial Museum. Many of the museum’s quilts are credited as a gift of Drunell Levinson and the contributors to the exhibition. The museum has said its collection holds more than 150 quilts. In October 2021 it reported that 25 of them were on loan to the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky, for “Never Forget: Quilts From the 9/11 Memorial & Museum,” which ran through November 2.
America’s 9/11 Victims’ Memorial Quilt
The museum’s collection record describes a handmade quilt of three 20-foot sections, each dedicated to one of the three attack sites, with victims’ names and photos at its center and candle icons for those without photos. The record says more than 500 volunteers across the country worked on it, inspired by designer Jeannie Ammerman of Tennessee, with help from two other volunteers. It was dedicated to victims’ families on September 9, 2006, the fifth anniversary, and given to the museum on the families’ behalf. The museum later wrote that it had retired the quilt from display because textiles need rest from light and gravity, and that the quilt is 60 feet long.
An American Quilt
The museum’s record says An American Quilt, Inc. was conceived by New York City resident Bill Bace in the days after September 11, 2001, inspired by the AIDS Memorial Quilt. It was an open disaster-relief charity that asked makers for panels of 3 × 6 feet, each honoring a specific victim or group, and no prior needlework experience was required. More than 60 panels were contributed. The record says panels were displayed at the Naumberg Bandshell in Central Park in July 2002 and that Bace donated the quilts to the museum in 2013. The museum holds a four-quilt panel that includes a Flight 93 quilt bearing the victims’ names.
National Tribute Quilt
The 9/11 Memorial Museum describes a 30-foot quilt, about 8 feet tall, made of nearly 3,500 fabric squares from people in all 50 states and five countries. It was organized by four women who worked for a steel company in Pennsylvania and called themselves the Steel Quilters. It shows the New York skyline with the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and the four hijacked flights, and it hangs in the museum’s Tribute Walk, a space for large works made in response to the attacks. The museum’s post does not give a date for the quilt or its donation.
Pentagon quilts
An Army News Service article from September 3, 2021, describes the Pentagon’s display as a series of 40 commemorative quilts donated by children, civilians, churches, companies and artists. It highlights the Stars of Liberty Quilt, made by the Black Forest Quilt Guild, with more than 70 German and American participants working in Stuttgart, Germany. It notes that few people can get inside the Pentagon to see the display. The article gives 40 as the count in 2021.
How these differ from the 9-11 Memorial Quilt Project
- Keepers: the museum collections are conserved and shown by curators. This project’s five quilts were made to be given to the people each one remembers, and we have not found where they are now.
- Technique: every one of this project’s 524 squares was cross-stitched by hand. The museums describe the other projects as quilts and fabric squares or blocks; they do not say how the blocks were made, so we do not compare stitches.
- Credit: this site lists every stitcher by name, place and quilt, as the project did. We have named only the organizers and groups that the owners’ own pages name.
If you want to make a memorial quilt of your own, how to organize a memorial quilt covers the steps, and how to cross-stitch a memorial square shows the stitching used here. For a quilt that goes to a veteran, see Quilts of Valor.
Sources
Facts above come from the owners’ own pages and an Army news report. We have not seen these quilts in person. Details can change, so check the owner’s page before you plan a visit.
- International Quilt Museum, United in Memory and United in Memory 9/11 Victims Memorial Quilt; University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Quilt exhibition commemorates 9/11 anniversary (September 10, 2021).
- Drunell Levinson, September 11 Quilts Memorial (page from the September 2012 benefit dinner).
- National September 11 Memorial & Museum: Quilting After 9/11; the museum’s post on the National Quilt Museum loan (October 12, 2021); Victims’ Memorial Quilt; Victims’ Memorial Quilt Retires for Preservation; An American Quilt panel; New on View: National Tribute Quilt.
- Devon L. Suits, Army News Service, Pentagon quilts, Army memorial continue to pay homage to 9/11 victims (September 3, 2021).
Know of a 9/11 quilt project that belongs here, or see an error? Tell us and send a link to the owner’s page.
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