The Quilters’ Guild of the
'Our Patch'
The Region 1 Newsletter
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of the
Boots and Bonnets, Trunks and Hoods
At
the October 3rd Regional Day Lilian Hedley spoke
about the ‘bees in her bonnet’ and the different quilting terms we have taken
from our American cousins. This reminded me that when I was teaching City &
Guilds P&Q courses at
As
an aside , I was reading a French book about Boutis quilting and in the book French seams are called
English seams. That pleases me no end!
English American
calico unbleached
muslin
cotton prints calico
muslin (butter) ecology
cloth
wadding batting
tacking basting
oversew overcast
cot quilt crib
quilt
single bed cot
double binding, French
fold
(French
binding)
cotton perle thread pearl cotton
feather proof fabric firm
fabric
matt (colour) matte
or flat finish
set square carpenters
square
stranded cotton six
strand cotton
waistcoat vest
cushion pillow
handbag purse
plaiting braiding
bag sac
winceyette (linsey-woolsey) flannel
Evelyne
Wheeler
To most people the arrival
of the Olympics means enjoying hours spent in front of the TV, sharing the
glory of those who win a medal, commiserating with those who just miss out, and
willing on the ones at the back, without whom there wouldn’t be a race. For
some of the athletes it will be their one and only time to strive to achieve
the seemingly impossible – standing on the podium to be awarded a medal.
As a memento of their
participation in this event, we are undertaking a project to make a Textile
Pennant (or ‘mini’ quilt) for each athlete of the Olympics, Paralympics and
Special Olympics. The project gives quilters, felt
makers, embroiderers, textile artists, in fact anyone who sews (or not!), the
opportunity to express their support, through the medium of fabric, fibre and stitch, and become part of the whole Olympic
event in London 2012.
The Pennants can be as
simple or elaborate as you require, and they can be made by anyone regardless
of their level of ability or age. They can be made using any textile media -
felt, fabric, cross stitch, embroidery, painted fabric, beaded - in fact
anything. They need to be A3 sized (42cm x 30cm) overall and suggestions and
instructions can be found on our website www.quilts4london.org.uk . Designs
for the Pennants could be inspired by your Regional Culture, the more diverse
the better.
Quilts
4 London is supported by Gail Lawther, Lynne Edwards, the Batik Guild, the International Felt makers Association,
the Cross Stitch Guild , in addition
to Quilter's Guild of the British
Isles. All these organisations want to encourage
as many textile forms to take part as possible - this project is a fantastic
way to bring us all together to support the athletes in London 2012, and a
wonderful way to showcase all the diverse forms of textiles that exist. The
Pennant project was originally started by Irene Heathcote
and Catherine Hill, both based in Hemel Hempstead,
but has now developed into an ever expanding team of very dedicated
Coordinators across the
For
further information contact
Irene Heathcote 01442 404234 or
Catherine Hill 01442 396774; email admin@quilts4london.org.uk. Or send a S.A.E to, 'quilts4london', 39 Hunting
Gate, Hemel Hempstead,
Soft furnishings from hard places
Quilting is not an
activity traditionally associated with life inside Her Majesty’s Prisons. Fed
largely by negative news coverage and the odd TV drama, our perception of
prison life is unlikely to include images of inmates stitching peacefully in
their cells, but in 26
prisons up and down the country 380 inmates are doing just this;
filling the long hours behind locked cell doors peacefully and building up a
useful nest egg which can give a released prisoner a greater chance of keeping
to the straighter paths in life.
Founded
eleven years ago, Fine Cell Work is a registered charity that trains and pays
inmates to do top-quality soft furnishings in prison. High-quality handstitching requires both skill and time, both of which
are in abundant supply in our overcrowded prisons. Some of the prisoners quilt
for as many as 40 hours a week and the activity is a lifeline for them during
the average 18 hours per day they spend in their cells. The money they earn can
be saved for their release, sent back to their families or used to pay for
people to visit them, or buy necessities inside.
Most recently a
twelve-strong group of men at HMP Wandsworth have
been working on a quilt commissioned for the V & A’s 2010 Quilts
exhibition. The theme is ‘prison life’ and The Wandsworth
Quilt will be hung alongside 65 quilts spanning three centuries of quilt
making, including the Rajah quilt stitched by convicts on their voyage to
Australia. The
quilt has taken two years’ painstaking work to create. Based on the
architectural footprint of the prison, it uses calicos, American cotton, linen,
wool and denim and includes recycled men’s clothing and prison material, all
extensively embroidered to create a powerful piece that speaks to those
‘outside’ of modern prison life ‘inside’.
Inmates learn
through quilting concentration and patience, the meditative repetitive action
of sewing and quilting can offer a time to reflect. Their self esteem grows as
they learn a talent they never knew they had and they gain a sense of self
worth through the financial gains.
As one prisoner
at HMP Wandsworth said “You’re rejected by society
and you have to reflect on what you’ve done, and then let go, then you need
something in place that you can actually get some self-worth back. With the
quilting you go can inside yourself, start creating things and feeling that you
actually can belong to society.”
Fine Cell Work is
looking for volunteers to make up quilt kits to send out to prisoners to make.
If you are able to offer a few hours per week to cut out kits to Fine Cell’s
designs please contact Elena on 020 7931 9998 or Elena@finecellwork.co.uk.
We are also very short of fabric to use for quilting. If you are able to donate
any good quality fabrics please send them to Fine Cell Work 38 Buckingham
Palace Road, London SW1W 0RE or bring them along to the next Region One meeting
in March where Caroline Wilkinson will be able to collect them.
Elena Hall
A Gift of Quilts – London 2012
A big thank you to the 135 individuals and groups who have registered a quilt in the last two months, each one registered takes us nearer to our target of 500 quilts. A Gift of Quilts has been asking not only quilters but anyone who can hold a needle to become involved in making a quilt so that one can be given to each country attending not only the Olympic Games in 2012 but also the Paralympics which follows the Games. You have two years, until December 2011 to make and donate your quilt, time is on your side and the project team appreciate that you have many calls on your skills for quilts but please give consideration to supporting A Gift of Quilts. All you have to do at this stage is to register your intention to donate a quilt.
Registrations of quilts have not only come from individual
quilters (one is 80 years old) and groups but also from Brownie & Guide
packs, schools both Primary & Secondary, U3A groups, Over 60’s dinner
clubs, church groups, craft groups, textile artists & tutors to name a few.
Please get involved either individually or with your group, it is a chance to
be part of the Olympic Games in London 2012 and help us meet our target of 500
quilts. Quilts can be from 1 metre square to single
bed size; full details including registration details are on the projects
website www.agiftofquilts.co.uk
or by post with an SAE to 6 Barrow Hill, Goodworth Clatford,
The projects latest news is that
Kaffe Fassett has agreed to be our Patron,
he is supported in this by Brandon Mably his business
manager and fellow designer. A Gift of Quilts is also one of two projects being
supported by The Quilters Guild of the
If you registered with Quilts4London, they are now making
small banners, they are no longer are seeking quilts, if you registered
initially with them can you please get in touch with us as Quilts4London have
agreed that their quilt registrations can be passed onto ‘A Gift of Quilts’?
Sharon
Garrick & Jenny Rundle
Joint Project Co0ordinators
www.agiftofquilts.co.uk email: agiftofquilts@yahoo.com
Linus Quilts
Linus quilts, as most of you know, are
given as donations to sick children in hospices and hospitals and some are sent
abroad to be used in poverty stricken areas where the provision of a cover for
a child in hospital is of major importance. In 2009 12,419 were made and sent.
If
you would like to make a quilt the website www.projectlinusuk.org.uk
has news about
quilts ideas for making them. You will also find details of your local rep there.
Below
is a letter from Camila Batmanghelidjh
who runs ‘Kids Company’. Lyn Antill
sent her some of the quilts which were donated to Linus
at the Festival of Quilts
A Thank you letter from Camila
Batmanghelidjh to Lyn and the Team at Project Linus
I wanted to write and thank you all for the absolutely beautiful quilts
we received last week. They are breathtakingly lovely, and show just how much
hard work and dedication the ladies at Project Linus
have put into them.
As I’m sure you know, many of the thousands of
children we support here at Kids Company have experienced years of abuse and
neglect. Most of them will never have seen a lovingly hand-made creation like
these quilts. They are more likely to have slept on the floor, using newspapers
for a bed.
The stunning blankets will make exceptional Christmas gifts,
particularly for the very small children, or those with babies themselves. To
have something handmade in their homes, many of which are poverty-stricken and
in desperate need of decoration, will make a real difference in the everyday
lives of our kids.
In partnership with kind people like you we help
vulnerable children pull themselves out of seemingly inescapable
loneliness. Their ability to achieve
despite the challenges they face continuously astounds us.
Without your special help Kids Company would not
sustain itself as the sanctuary children are seeking every day. Together we restore hope in their lives.
With deep gratitude,
Camila Batmanghelidjh.
Chief
Executive
Kids
Company
Linus
Quilts in
Linda
Libby is the Linus rep for
Quilty Secrets at the
Mon-Fri 9-7, Sat 9-5, Sun
10-5. Entry Free. http://www3.hants.gov.uk/wdc/wdc-gallery.htm
It was well
worth the day trip from South London to
The
Hampshire historic collection spans three centuries and includes examples of
many types of work from an 18th century silk coverlet of extraordinary
colour and condition to
a Crazy Red Cross quilt from the 1940s. Hexagons feature prominently but
with many variations including a patchwork banner using hexagons to spell out a
peace slogan from 1814 and an unfinished hexagon shaped quilt with
concentric rows of tiny hexagons. I suspect the maker did not know how to
finish it!. The standard of the collection shown
here is high with wonderful examples of 19th Century work in particular
including appliqué and frame quilts. The NE England Strippy red and white quilt, the
The display
cabinets contain folded quilts, unfinished paper pieced work, needlework boxes
and patchwork and quilted clothes. There is a small display on the work
of Muriel Rose with the Rural Industries Bureau who commissioned quilts and
textiles during the 1930s from
Photographs without flash are permitted for personal use
and the lighting in the gallery, although low, produced good results
The show is
on only until 15th November and there are neither catalogues nor
postcards, however the curator who was on hand told us that a website was
planned for the quilts and she kindly gave me a copy of the outline
catalogue. The Jane Austen quilt will be returning to Chawton
after the show and will not be going to the V&A, although a request was
made, as they wish it to stay in Hampshire for the Centenary year in 2010.
morsbags
– getting rid of plastic bags
Did
you see the morsbags stand at Festival of
Quilts? If you didn’t, maybe you heard
their bell ringing each time someone made a bag?
morsbags is the brainchild of
Claire Morsman who was horrified to discover how discarded
carrier bags are killing wildlife in our oceans. Increasingly, too, the cows that roam the
streets of
This
is a wonderful way to use those pieces of furnishing fabric that people are
always giving to quilters but which are too heavy or too floral for most
quilting projects. The bags are very quick and easy to make (less than half an
hour for a basic bag) and full instructions for cutting out and making the bags
are available on the morsbags website. I was one
of the first to make a free morsbags fabric
carrier at FOQ on Thursday morning and it was filled to bursting with purchases
by the time I left. However, since I didn’t acquire any more plastic bags
during the day, I arrived home feeling quite virtuous. My plan now is to make enough bags to wrap
all my Christmas presents. That way my
presents will look distinctive and I may even convert some friends and family
to using cloth rather than plastic bags for their shopping.
Visit
the morsbags website at www.morsbags.com and join the QGR1
pod. It would be great if we could reach
a tally of 100 bags by Christmas. Labels
and copies of the making instructions will be available at Regional Day on 3rd
October or by post from me if you send a sae. Please remember though that morsbags must be given away free - you are not allowed to charge for them (although donations can be made via the
website).
Lucy Poloniecka
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