How did the name Granny Square come about?

[Jempast]

I was just wondering how did the Granny Squares get it's name?

[Miss Crochet]

Hmm. I guess it got its name because the traditional granny square was mostly done by ... grannies! Crochet was probably seen as the hobby of old ladies, maybe because its easier on the hands/eyes than knitting.

That'd be my guess...

[Granny Square]

Well, it is an old (100 years +), thrify technique to use up scraps, so I imaginine a few generations of grannys made them...back in the '60s and '70s there were granny dresses, granny glasses, and of course granny squares (brown, orange, yellow...oh my). Not sure if that's where the name started tho', that was my high school/college era & I don't remember if it was called something different before then.

[losingmymind2]

You've gotta love thrifty grannies who wanted to use up all the scraps of yarn. They also gave us beautiful patchwork quilts and some amazing recipes from the era of making every little bit count.

[HappyOldCro]

From what I know it came from pioneer days when not only scraps but everything was recycled and reused. When granny could no longer help with farm work she made herself useful by helping Mom out with the house hold chores that weren't as physical. When shawls and any item got too small or worn to continue to be useful (other than fine threads), granny would unwind, unravel and reuse (what we call recycle). But because things were used for as long as possible there really wasn't all that much to recycle. So granny made those small pieces into squares, and when there was enough, she would join them into blankets and shawls. Don't forget that shawls were more than for your shoulders, they were head covers, baby carriers, shopping baskets, (unless you could afford a real basket), bread and fruit holders and served numerous functions. Back in the flower power days, it became economically sound to reuse and create (sort of a green thing) as well as a protest against "management". By not purchasing from big business you were making a statement. So once again grannies became popular, as well as free form and other wilder prints and colors, as a creative gesture (I think some of the mind bending drugs helped in it too).

Young people lived in communes and pinched pennies, living off the land, or spent many hours traveling together in vans. crocheting grannies was a way to fill the time when on the road as well as an aid to a non conventional way of life. Quilting was older and more of a development for land bound people. Old clothes were reused to make smaller sizes for the children, but there were even smaller pieces that were unused, which were saved until there was enough to put together for blankets. Quilts would wear out too, and when patching them became more work than feasible, pieces of the old quilts could be reused as baby blankets, vests, small jackets, and even bags (we call totes) providing warmth and filling practical needs.

Our ancestor's believed "waste not, want not" and lived by that rule.

Grannies were merely an expression of quilting without the need for large stretchers or wasting material that could be used for other things. No batting or stuffing in those first quilts, just layers of material stiched together. That is how my Grandma taught me to make my first quilt

JFYI, an old fashioned form of embroidery called candlewicking, also came from the need to not waste. It used pieces of wicks of candles to make a design formed of knots worked on material. A simple but very pretty craft.