Quilters

It has been part of the world since at least the 12th century, brought to Europe by the Crusaders, although it may date back to before the common, that is Christian, era. Padded fabric was used for clothing, bedding and even armor. It may have originated in China and/or India. Interestingly, "quilt" comes from the Latin culcita, meaning a stuffed sack. The word has come to have 2 meanings. It is used as noun, meaning the 3-layer stitched bedcovering, and as a verb, meaning the act of stitching through the 3 layers to hold them together. When we think of quilts today, we turn our minds to bed covering, or perhaps a wall decoration.

Quilting Room at the Missouri Prison

For some reason, quilting is now associated with as part of Americana--those items generally that took hold in the United States and flourished. Using scraps of fabric was more than frugality, it was often out of necessity. At times it seems it was destined to become a lost craft, or art, but every time that seems to happen nostalgia, or desire to create kicks in and saves the art form from becoming lost. Quilting is much easier now than the early quilting bees, where everything was handstitched. Sewing machines are used and there are long arm quilting machines. My wife has been quilting for over 45 years, and with JoAnn Fabrics now having closed has lost her go-to store for supplies, that may end. She made over 300 quilts the past few years for Access Community Health to provide to disadvantaged households to welcome their infants. 

My Hovel male ancestors, in addition to farmers, were weavers. They weaved linen from homegrown  flax. The weaved cloth would be used for clothing, and perhaps bedding. I would not want to try my hand at sewing, due to poor fine motor skills, so that skill has obviously been lost to me. Although, I doubt the wife would even let me try to use her Janome. My twin brother has done some sewing, as has one of our sons. It makes my wife happy that our son sews to repair clothes, or what have you. 

One of the quilts designed and made by the prisoners

Men have been sewing for a long time--many tailors were men, so they obviously developed better fine motor skills than me. However, we watched a short 33 minute documentary on Netflix on Monday night called The Quilters. Male prisoners in a high security prison in Missouri quilt for foster kids and others. All of the material and equipment used is donated. It is really quite a heart-warming story of restorative justice to see men, some of whom are lifers, make a quilt for some one else and then tear up at the thank you note sometimes received. As one prisoner said, quilting puts him on the outside. They seem to do their own designs. To get the quilting gig, a prisoner must not have had any write ups or demerits, for obvious reasons since sewing involves the the use of sharp objects. Heck even the wife learned a couple things. Such as a man using a rotary cutter to take out some poorly done stitching that caused a few puffs in the quilting. 

A sad part of the show was one man, probably in his sixties, who was written up because he was working on fabric in his cell with a small cutter, which is a no no to have outside the sewing area.  He was removed from quilting due to this. He certainly had a knack for design. A misstep on his part taking the sharp with him to his cell. 

Assembling a quilt

During the show, one man says the room is organized chaos. That is how I felt when my wife was making the quilts for Access Community Health, as she had an assembly line process and partially done quilts were piled, albeit neatly, through the room. She often made thirty or more quilts at a time and when completed we would pack in large plastic bags, not unlike what they do in the show. A few years ago, a mom brought her child into the Access Community Health clinic, wrapped in a quilt my wife had made. It was the only item the mother had for her child.

Beware if you watch that The Quilters show on Netflix, however, as there is some jargon involved. They were speaking English, but it did not make any sense. I commented to my wife, when the quilting prisoners were using some jargon, that I did not understand a thing they said. As a 45 year quilter, she understood what they were talking about and doing. I could say my wife knows three languages: English, Nursing and Quilting. Nursing also has its own short hand, or did before the advent of digital medical records. I would come home from work and see her often times neat handwriting with some odd notation, which turned out to be shorthand nurses use. To me it was a squiggle. I was supposed to understand that notation. As a planner people often complained about planning jargon, but they must not have had to put up with nurse notations or quilting jargon. One could say each occupation or hobby has its own jargon.

There is a certain irony in these men quilting. If they make a mistake it is often correctable by removing stitches and redoing the seam. Recutting is a different story. Yet, many are serving long, if not life, prison sentences for a horrible crime in which there is no do over. They showed men who readily admitted to their crime, and find a certain rehabilitation in quilting. They are doing something that both helps themselves and others, which is the best part of The Quilters. 

Images from Google.

"You can’t rewrite what happened, but you can stop rereading the worst parts over and over again."

---St Mother Teresa