Why do we make quilts?
The
reason has evolved as women have evolved in society. This practical craft of
recycling clothing scraps to make warm blankets, has a history around the world
from America to Japan
and beyond, because fabric is precious and we hate to throw away something
that can be reworked into something useful or beautiful.
Most women have
forgotten what the Suffragettes went through to
win the right for women to vote. That was one stepping stone as women began to
dream about having their own careers, and throughout the Twentieth Century we
remade the idea of what it means to be a woman in the world.
Today our
daughters grow up in a world where equality is often taken for granted, even
though there are plenty
of women around the world who still don't have the rights that our girls and
young women assume are here for the taking.
I've been thinking about how
quilting has evolved along with feminism. It has changed along with us – from a
necessity to something that could be perceived as a luxury. (Buying fabrics and
collecting a stash, making creative and artistic quilts, instead of using scraps
for a patchwork blanket to keep out the cold.)
Sheryl Sandberg is on the
cover of Time
Magazine this week, and her
book excerpt discusses how success can equal unlikability for women, and
also how many women are still trying to achieve the impossible goal of " having it
all". No matter how hard we try, we often will feel like we are missing out
on something. It is difficult to feel completely content with our lives, no
matter how much we accomplish, and no matter how much we try to let go and just
BE.
Quilting helps us with this conundrum. When a sister has breast
cancer and we feel helpless, we make her a beautiful healing quilt. When friends
suffer a terrible loss, we make comfort quilts to remind them of our love and
support. When a community suffers a trauma
such as Hurricane Sandy, the larger community comes together to send quilt
relief… the equivalent of a group hug.
Life is messy, and much of it is
out of our control, but when you make a quilt you have time to sort it all out
in your head, and by the time your healing quilt is finished, you've received a
healing in the process of making the quilt. As women's confidence and freedom
has progressed, we have given ourselves permission to use quilting and sewing as
Art Therapy. Instead of feeling guilty about making art, we embrace the process
as a journey of self discovery.
Many years ago I heard a statistic about
how many corporate women were turning to crafts for stress relief. Quilting,
sewing, painting, knitting, crocheting and other arts and crafts have been
embraced by a new generation of working women, as they discover what so many
mature quilters knew already.
When you make something for someone who is
hurting, it heals your own heart.
When you make something beautiful, it
reveals the beauty of your own soul.
**
This image above is a detail of the quilt "Imagine" from the Tokyo
Quilt Festival in January 2013.
* SAQA & Andover Fabrics Call for Entries *
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