Quilting: a very brief history.

Quilting: what’s it all about?

When beginning this project not many of us girls really knew a great deal about quilting, after a few wise words from Penny our knowledge deepened, but I have found myself wanting to learn more. So I decided to pop into Hereford College of Arts Library and get some books out!

These are the two I selected and have been flicking through this evening: one with a more comprehensive history of quilting, and another with culturally diverse quilts.

The first thing that astounded me was the length of time quilting has been in existence- records indicate the foundations of the technique started in the Orient over 1000 years ago. The skills then travelled Westwards and was utilised in European lands and then into colonial America. It was in North America that social significance became entwined with the quilting.

English, Irish and Scottish immigrants who settled in the new lands in the beginning of the 19^th century began to form parties, and as part of these women would gather to quilt until the dark came and stopped their efforts. Quilts were made for communally for special occasions to show their significance in the society.

It draws a nice parallel to the Red Suitcase Project how the act of quilting builds a community. The project is seeing the breaching of two parts of society who often do not cross paths. It is a way of communication between generations and a way to build a sense of community within Herefordshire. Because at the end of the day that is one of the most brilliant aspects of this project- not the finished quilts, not the exhibition at the Courtyard, but the building of a community and the impact it will have on both generations. 

Project Preparations:

Before entering the residential homes, it was vital for us all to be well equipped for our roles as voluntary art practitioners.  One of our first challenges was to get us all up to a level of competence in our Quilting abilities.

To turn us into Quilting Queens, Penny organised a workshop at Hereford College of Arts to teach us the basics of quilting. She explained how we would be working on patchwork quilts, as these are quilts composed of component shapes that tessellate together. This patchwork method allows each person to have their own personal segment that then gets stitched alongside the numerous other shapes to form one united piece.

Penny showed us a few quilting methods, such as Log Cabin quilting, but we mainly spent the morning learning about English paper piecing. This addictive quilting method involves you tacking fabric around hexagon blocks, and then sewing the hexagons together. Once a hexagon has all of its sides sewn onto another, the tacking stitches are cut and the paper removed.

Quickly, we all became entranced (I myself have become highly involved and have started my own quilt now!) and soon had some lovely samples to show!

English paper piecing sample

The results are fantastic, and I can't wait to see how they look with the names all sewn in! Keep tuned in to the blog to see for yourself, and hear some of the amazing experiences the girls are having with the residents.

Along with this, Penny showed us how to appliqué and embroider. These techniques are visual ways of translating imagery onto the fabric to speak of the stories that will be accumulated throughout the project. So while some of the girls carried on quilting, others explored these new techniques. Sanya stitched a little red post box as the red suitcase reminded her of the iconic British mailbox!

Sanya's applique sample.

Learning these skills was vital to our progression, and along with this helpful workshop we had an important training session at the Courtyard on “The Essential Skills for Project Workers in a Care Setting. Colin, an Age UK trainer, came in to deliver the information about how to maximise our involvement.

One of the key focuses of the training day was the importance of involvement. The residents will all have varying degrees of dexterity- from competent sewers to those who may not be able to manage something so fiddly! Colin got us to contemplate different ways of involving people: asking for their creative opinion, helping sew their ideas, allowing them material choices. The imperative thing is allowing people the choice of how involved they want to be, and us working to their wishes.

As a starter project, Penny proposed we take in little Red Suitcase logos for the residents and students to embroider their names on to. This would be a great way of creating conversation and connections between the Students involved and the residents.

So in preparation, Maisie got down into the textiles workshop and screen printed multitudes of the project logo ready to be embellished. Here she is busy working away! 

Maisie Printing.

The finished results!

Keep tracks of the blog to see how the induction session went, hear student stories and learn more about the exciting Red Suitcase project!

The Red Suitcase Project:

The brainchild of Penny Allen, The Red Suitcase Project is an exciting community Quilting project that sees a collaboration between the Courtyard- Centre for the Arts, Hereford College of Arts and three care residencies throughout Herefordshire.

Armed with a textile-treat laden red suitcase, 3-4 students from Hereford College of Arts will visit each residential care home on a weekly basis to teach the residents quilting techniques. But the vintage red suitcases aren't just for holding creative goodies! They're there to provide a springboard of conversation- evoking ideas on travel, holidays and adventures. The discourse that springs from this will hopefully be stitched into the quilt: providing a creative piece of work that speaks of the shared experiences from the residents and students.

This blog will be the storage place for all of the exciting work that occurs over the project, so keep tuned to learn out more about this up-and-coming Arts and Older people activity!