My First Quilt - The Story

As a child, I learned to sew clothes from my mom.  We kept all the scraps in a cardboard box near the sewing machine on the bottom shelf, and she told me we would make a quilt someday.  She even collected some Aunt Martha quilt pattern pamphlets.

 

That's as far as she and I ever got, but the "someday" kept echoing in my head.  After college, while doing data entry on a primatology project, I took a little 6-week intro to quilting class.  I made a pillow. I was needing something colorful and handy to entertain myself while "waiting" for the huge "mainframe" computer to return my "output".  Ancient concepts now.  The year was 1978.

American History Quilt, 1937

I came across this wonderful quilt in my surfing today.

It was made and signed in 1937 by Camille Nixdorf Phelan.  There is a map of the US as it was in 1937: 48 states.  Landmarks and personalities are embroidered in the states.  The map is surrounded by a further 150 portraits of famous people - including Presidents, First Ladies, and herself as quiltmaker, 50 further landmarks, maps of 4 US territories.

Camille was born in 1882 in Missouri, and moved to Oklahoma after her marriage in 1900.  She became famous for her Oklahoma Historical Quilt that was displayed at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair.  Here's a bit about that quilt in her own words (from the Oklahoma Historical Society site, link just previous):

"Twenty 100-yard spools of thread were used.  Every stitch of the embroidering is my own work and I spent all my spare time for four years in actual construction. Two years were spent in research work before I began the quilt."

Shortly after her success with Oklahoma history, she embarked on creating the America quilt.  It was documented, but lost, and finally resurfaced in the 1980s.

A description is at Rare Book Hub.  A further description, bio of the quiltmaker, and detail photos are in a Bidsquare listing, where the quilt was recently sold by Cowan Auctions for $19,200.

Oklahoma Historical Society photo

Great Design, Great Stitching, Weird Fading

A friend was unexpectedly given this quilt along with some other Freecycle things she was picking up.  And guess who she thought might like to adopt it!

I love the design of this quilt!  The combo of center star, inner borders, log cabin surround, scalloped edge, feathered heart quilting - masterful.  On top of that, the quilt is extremely well-crafted.

Repairing Broken Lace

This is a lovely Edwardian dress with loads of lovely lace.  The lace was broken in a few places.  Here's how I repaired it.

Break #1
Petals had broken away from the borders, leaving the flower crumpled and fraying.

Before

I decided not to cut any of the dangling thread ends, so as avoid risking more unraveling.  I whipstitched the broken thread ends to the remaining lace.

When Mending a Dress is More Like Engineering than Sewing

Here's a photo my vintage clothing friend Julia took of me as I was puzzling out a repair.

The dress is (more precisely - was, and soon will be again) a perfect 1950s party dress, nearly all lace over satin.  The front panel of pleated netting has a bad rip in it.  Just at this moment I was happily realizing that my idea of where to cut and re-sew was actually going to work!

Some of the repairs I do for Julia are simple - closing seams, restitching hems, etc.  Some, like this one, are real challenges.  I'll post a step-by-step on this one when I get to the sewing.  Just thought I'd post a photo of me, because I hardly ever do.

In this photo, you also get to meet Julia's dress form, our good friend Ethel.  

A Quilt-y Excursion

I spent last Thursday through Sunday at a most enjoyable quilters' retreat.

Good times all 'round!  A recently retired friend has bought and furnished a house and is bringing folks up a few at a time to eat great food, visit the quilt and antique shops between here and there, make new friends, and sew and talk until the wee hours.  She is most talented at all these things.

Now on Pinterest

Two of my buddies, with whom I share and discuss business plans for our on-line businesses, have been urging me to join the Pinterest world.  I've been resisting having yet another "thing" to keep me at the computer.

At first, I also resisted having this very blog until both my kids told me, in no uncertain terms, "Mom, everyone who has a business has to have a blog." And here I am, so happy to be a blogger.  So I finally succumbed to Pinterest a few months ago.  After all, I already collect photos!

So, I'm introducing you to my boards.

The one I'm most fond of is called "Quilt Repairs: Before and After".  I'm proud of figuring out how to post two photos in one pin, like this:

"Art Quilts" simply has photos of my art pieces.

"My favorite posts from my blog" has basically the same things you'll find here on the blog under the heading "Featured Posts."

"Dated Quilts" is pretty fun, a compilation of quilts I have worked on that have inscribed or documented dates. I love these for the fabric history they illustrate so neatly.  You can read about these quilts by staying right here at the blog and using the label of the same name - Dated Quilts.

"Favorite fabrics and superior needlework" shows off the quilts and vintage clothing that have really added sparkle to the (yes, sometimes tedious) work I do.

"Textiles that tell stories" is collection of both antiques and new art by me, all pieces that are notable for the stories they carry.  That's the other category that makes this job so exciting.

"Looking through things" is a collection of photos I've been taking that may someday, somehow find themselves becoming an art quilt series.  The first one I took was a pair of chain link fences.  I found myself staring at them while I waited to pick my son up from something or other.  I loved the offset rhythm they created.

"Photos I dream on" is a collection of photos by me. I've been taking a photo nearly every day that speaks somehow to what's going on in my life or is just plain lovely, and sometimes both at the same time.  This board contains some of my favorites.  I began this "photo diary" as a mindfulness exercise last summer when I became an empty-nester.

"Artists and inspiration" are photos of works by other people that I have come across online, with links to more of their work.  Making this board turned out to be a really educational process - now I can see a pattern to what draws me in which I have never seen so clearly.

by Jude Hill, at spirit cloth

I can see already that the Pinterest outreach has already begun sending my blog some new visitors.  A shout out and thanks to Julia at Basya Berkman Vintage Fashions and Cheryl at Sk8 Gr8 Designs Custom Figure Skating Dresses for spurring me onward!