The Last Runaway

Content Warning: This section references slavery and racism.

Quilts and sewing are a topic of regular discussion in The Last Runaway. Skill at quilting is a key facet of Honor’s identity, though she works to frame this facility as fact rather than as a matter of pride. In her letters to Biddy, she diligently reports all the compliments (both stated and implied) she receives for her quilting while offering her dislike of American-style appliqué quilting, which she finds facile. Honor hides the prideful nature of these comments by framing them as something to which Biddy would agree; the novel does not include Biddy’s responses, leaving the truth of these assertions unclear.

Honor’s attitudes toward America at large and her role in the Haymaker household are also reflected in her attitude toward appliqué quilting. When she feels close to her family by marriage, she finds appliqué charming. When she is at odds with them, she finds it lazy and simplistic, lacking the precision and planning of British patchwork. The inventiveness that Honor sees in Mrs. Reed’s quilt, made from scraps in a manner that is beautiful and organic for all that it is born of necessity, further explores how Honor slowly broadens her viewpoint (on America, on the utility of doing things in a certain rigid way, on quilting) as she encounters the complex political and social landscape of her new country.