Two Quilts

"My mother always said that if you used a machine to make it then it wasn't a quilt!"
--visitor to the National Quilt Museum, Paducah, KY



The Art Institute of Chicago has recently re-opened the Textile Galleries, which will be dedicated to rotations of the permanent collection as well as a space for temporary exhibitions. The inaugural exhibition Contemporary Fiber Art: Selections from the Permanent Collection features fiber arts from the late 1960s to the present day. One work, titled Denim Cubes by the Australian artist, Lyn Inall, could in some respects be considered a quilt. It is pieced together and involves geometric patterning akin to what one might be accustomed to seeing in traditional quilt patterns (in fact, it bears a resemblance to the Amish "box" pattern as one docent related to me). Inall became familiar with the American quilting tradition during her tenure in New York in the 1980s and constructed this piece from recycled bits of blue jeans. It hangs amongst pioneers of inventive and innovative approaches to the fibers arts like Sheila Hicks, Lenore Tawney and Claire Zeisler as well as lesser known masters from the late 20th century who experimented with the boundaries of weaving, dying, quilting, and traditional concepts of textiles.

(photo from http://quiltmuseum.org/exhibits_current.htm)

Over Thanksgiving I had the pleasure of spending some quality time at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky. Such a visit was long overdue since I've visit family there every year! In addition to the permanent collection, the exhibition, The Machine Age of Quilting: Treadle to Computer comes highly recommended (pictured above). Featured in the exhibition were several early 20th century quilts, some of the first to be made with foot-powered sewing machines. Quilting is a process consisting of multiple layers of fabric. The top layer is usually the most decorative and can be made of different fabrics pieced together. The middle layer is the cozy, insulating material, called the batting, which is sandwiched between the top and the backing material (which can also be decorative). All layers are stitched together at points throughout the quilt (this is the act of quilting). Quilting can be basic or involve incredibly intricate designs. And, most importantly for this post, can be done either by hand or machine. After departing from the exhibition I overheard the statement quoted above and was struck by the sentiment. Honestly, it wasn't too surprising as it's a rally cry one hears often in the official Quilt Capital of the World, but after seeing that some of the oldest surviving quilts were among the first crafts to embrace that indicator of modernity, the sewing machine, one sees that the tension between handicraft and the machine is still relevant.



The NQM is a contributor to the online Quilt Index (http://www.quiltindex.org/) which is a great resource to browse. I came across an early 20th century quilt made in Depot Harbor in Ontario. The quilt is made of alternating blocks of color, a creamy white and "turkey red," which gives it a pulsating overall effect. It was machine pieced which means that the quilter cut the shapes and then used a sewing machine to attach them together (a process which itself involves lots of pinning, ironing and cussing). What is unusual about this quilt is that it is a "signature quilt" a rarer genre of quilts which contain the John Hancocks of family members or even a small community. Here is a close up of some of the names embroidered into each block of color. While some signature quilts were made as "friendship" quilts, signed by friends and family of an individual about to emigrate, others like this one were designed to raise money. Folks would pay an amount of money to have their names put on the quilt and the finished product would be auctioned off. This charitable quilt was made to raise funds for the building of the Childerhouse Presbyterian Church in Deport Harbor in 1906. The signature quilt was the ancestor to modern communal projects such as the monumental AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Even though there is almost a hundred years separating these two quilts they have a lot in common. Both are pieced using the same method and both are constructed from blocks of fabric that are tied to the personal lives of those who sat in, scuffed, tore holes in and shoved their hands in the pockets of their blue jeans or those who belonged to the Deport Harbor Presbyterian community, now a ghost town. Denim itself has its origins in being a fabric suited for intense labor in the age of mechanization ("denim" comes from "de Nimes" its place of origin in France). One would need an industrial sewing machine to power through the coarse fabric. The statement I overheard concerning the boundary between handicraft and machine production is still representative of a highly politicized line not only among quilters but among museums, collectors, designers and artists. But both of these quilts show not only the meaningful melding of machine and handwork but the tie between individual and communal craft.

Treasure your quilts. Whether by machine or hand, they have a story to tell even if so much of that history is lost.