12 Throwback Covers That Make Us LOL

As American Patchwork & Quilting magazine approaches it's 25th year in print, our staff is having fun looking back at our past covers. While the quilts are timeless, some of the decor, design, and trends are a little dated. We hope you get some giggles out of looking back just like we did! Sponsored by The American Patchwork & Quilting Archive.

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April 1993

Our Premier issue of American Patchwork & Quilting showcased a quilt in a small diamond, so we had lots of white space to write words on. We quickly learned that bigger pictures of beautiful quilts were much more fun to look at!

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February 1994

Although one of the first rotary cutters was invented by OLFA in 1979, most patterns still called for templates and scissors until the early 1990's. This cover promises to teach readers the magic of rotary cutting and how to use one!

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October 1995

Dark lighting, dark furniture, and family pictures in the background. Need we say more? (And can we talk about that lampshade?!)

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April 1996

Have you ever looked at a quilt and thought, Let's take a picture of it in a wheelbarrow? Thankfully, we don't anymore, either!

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December 1998

We want to concentrate on the beautiful quilt, but we can only focus on the creepy Santas. (Those are even worse than Elf on the Shelf, right?)

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June 1999

Now, we can take it for granted that a quick internet search can give us a video tutorial, a free pattern, or step-by-step instructions. But in 1999, we were first premiering our website and it was a big deal -- and we called it Cyber Quilting!

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June 2000

We forget one very important thing for our "Star-Spangled Issue" -- a star block quilt on the cover. Whoops!

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August 2002

It's such a striking cover, but if you look closer, things don't seem quite right. We have a bed and pillows on the floor and a quilt strung on a clothesline indoors.

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October 2003

For our 10th anniversary issue, we're still talking about the joys of rotary cutting! (Although, with the popularity of die-cutting and quilts-in-a-day now, cutting a quilt in a weekend doesn't seem that impressive.)

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December 2005

Anyone else getting nervous with those sharp skates next to that beautiful quilt?

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February 2006

In our effort to make things "strinkingly simple", we didn't add enough words or pictures on the cover to let you know what was inside!

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June 2007

Let's call this cover: "How many font sizes can we use on one page?"

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12 Throwback Covers That Make Us LOL

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April 1993

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February 1994

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October 1995

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April 1996

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December 1998

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June 1999

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June 2000

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August 2002

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October 2003

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December 2005

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February 2006

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June 2007

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Buy the Archive Today!

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