The Art of Quilting

Considering quilting as its own medium, it seems to be so strongly identified as a female/girl production practice based on the traditional roles assigned to females within the domestic sphere.  In tandem, the quilt speaks to “the perceived relationship between memory and objects” (Rohan, 372) similar to that of the scrapbook.  Issues faced by females such as control, discipline with reference to clothing and social/private behaviors left little room for personal, creative expression.  Thus, the quilt becomes an acceptable medium for creation, while still managing the responsibilities and workloads taken by females in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, in particular.  Quilting also allows for use and re-use of items re-appropriated from clothing and scraps, to useful blanket, bedcover, and tapestry.

In consideration of girl identity, I am drawn toward Rohan’s essay, as it points out “Nineteenth-century moralists believed women were more sensitive, more pious, and generally closer to heaven than men”(DePauw 42–43).”  This “sensitivity,” placed on the female would be a learned behavior from elder female (likely mother) to daughter or young female family member.  Enacting this sensitivity is part of upholding social relationships and values within the family structure.  The Christian values discussed by Rohan include, “piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity,” which aligned their biological assignment as mothers with their spiritual assignment as women (Muncy 4).  Linking the expected behaviors with making of memory, recognition of memory with association between item and place, and the upholding of Christian values, the act of quilting, like sewing and writing, fit the discourses enacted upon women historically. 

On a personal note, I remember a six-month period during which I belonged to the local Las Colcheras Quilt Guilt.  As the youngest member at the time (2002), I realized that I had taken the quilting craft for granted.  My simple assumption that I could take scraps of clothing from my son’s infancy and childhood and piece them together to create a quilt was proven to be entirely too simple.  The tools needed to complete the quilt, the time, and skill were outside of my grasp at the time.  Intricate geometric shapes, tedious hand quilting, machines, and costly binding and fabrics took my nice little idea and complicated it beyond my grasp.  As the mother of three sons, two who at the time were under four-years-old, I realized it could not be done. 

Where intersectionalities of class and race are concerned, it is interesting to me that this type of guild quilting, revealed a 5% Hispanic membership, 0% African-American, 0% Asian, 0% Native American memberships, with about a 98% middle-high to high economic status.  There as well, was at that time, a 0% male membership, although males were utilized to set up at shows and transport frames, etc.  The intersectionalities are not the reason I didn’t complete a quilt, however.  I didn’t complete a quilt because it takes some serious time, attention, skill, and patience, which I didn’t have at the time.  Anytime I see a quilt since those days, I see it with new eyes, knowing it’s not as simple as sewing pretty pieces of fabric together.