At dawn of mankind , our first ancestors used to get some protection from  the biting cold by covering their bodies with skins of available animals. Such garments were, of course, thick and heavy .The whole skin  of a large beast  being  often required just to dress a single individual. Towards the  lower  paleolithic period, mammoths and rein-deers became scarce in and around Chécy, so the Man of  Christiandiorus hit upon a sensible idea and decided to stitch together  several skins of  smaller  animals in order to obtain less bulky and better fitting clothes : the Patchwork of Chécy was born ..... smartness would soon follow......

At first  such work was roughly made in order to fill , at low cost, the needs of  domestic households,  but rapidly, and in the wake of cotton becoming more available, they were decorated with  various motives  and patterns drawn from local lore.

Paleolithic mannequin at the time of a procession (surroundings of Chécy)

There are very few surviving patchworks of the times : for instance, Knights going to Crusade could wear them under their armours and horsesaddles.

In fact, the Patchwork of Chécy had become famous enough  so as to be the subject of a medieval legend according to which Englishmen had fought in the area of Checy for 100 years in the -vain - attempt of gaining the local knowhow and secrets of the trade !

It is a young shepherdess from Lorraine , who, passing one day through Checy and delighted before the sight of these ornamental works,  eventually exported the technique to different parts of Europe.

Young unknown factor in workshop of patchwork in Chécy