We Ponder the Future of Quilting

On August 10, 2012, I attended a breakfast and panel discussion entitled Quilting with a Crystal Ball: The Future of Our Craft, part of the activities of the Lowell Quilt Festival and Images Quilt Show, which is produced by  the New England Quilt Museum (NEQM) auxiliary.

Kudos to the NEQM for organizing this forum, moderated by NEQM curator Pamela Weeks.

Panelists:

Marianne Fons (MF) - Eminence Grise in the quilting world, founder, with Liz Porter, of the Love of Quilting media company. Love of Quilting was one of the first craft magazines whose production values were not an insult to the intelligence of its target audience, women.

Mary Fons (MyF) - daughter of Marianne, continuing the family business with new magazine Quilty, aimed at the "rookie" quilter, someone who did not have to take home ec in 7th and 8th grade, as I did, but who is now interested in quilting and sewing.

Martha Sielman (MS) - Executive Director, Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) and author of Art Quilt Portfolio: The Natural World.

Laurie Matthews (LM) - President, Boston Modern Quilt Guild (BMQG) and self-described stay-at-home mom and blogger.

Rachel May (RM) - Author and BMQG founding member.

Audience and panel get ready for discussion.

Moderator Pamela Weeks began with a few statistics culled from the biennial industry survey sponsored by the Creative Crafts Group, a media conglomerate that owns Quilters' Newsletter Magazine, among other titles.  If you google "creative crafts group survey quilting" you'll find a link to the 2010 survey, ready for your download.

Quick facts, according to the 2010 survey:

There are 21 million quilters in the US
14% of US households are home to at least one active quilter
Average of dedicated quilter (female) is 62
72% of dedicated quilters have a college degree
Spent an average of $2,442 on quilting per year
Estimated total value of the quilting industry is $3.58 billion (yes, billion) per year

Quilting in America 2010 survey.

Following her presentation of these statistics, Pam introduced the format of the discussion - she posed a question to the panel, who responded at will.  The summary of the discussion is based on my notes, and is reported through my own admittedly subjective filter.

First question - Who is today's quilter?

According Martha Sielman (MS hereinafter) many SAQA members came to quilting later in life, after another career.  Of 1720 respondents to a recent SAQA survey, only 11 were male.  Many SAQA members have a math or science background, hence are comfortable with measurement and numeracy. In her view, a decline in membership in traditional affinity groups, such as those affiliated with religious institutions, has led women to seek new forms of community such as quilt groups and guilds.  Despite the fact that many SAQA members display confidence with math, quilters often migrate from "traditional" quilts to art quilts in order to move away from the need for much computation.

Marianne Fons (MF) shared a bit of her life story with us, to which many in audience could relate. She began quilting during the US bicentennial hoopla, when Americans were celebrating their history and heritage, and she was a new mother looking for a creative outlet.  In her words, a quilt "stayed finished," was "something for me," and was something she could "pick up and do" during free moments. 

Note price of $1.25!

Young mother Laurie Matthews (LM) reiterated that women still seek a creative outlet.  50% of the BMQG membership work full time, many of them also have young children at home; this means progress on each quilt is slower than that of the empty-nester who may have fewer demands on her time (wait 'til Laurie has to take care of an aging relative), but her guild members are not necessarily interested in "churning out" quilts anyway.  Since the advent of instant messaging, and instant everything else, perhaps the appeal of "quilt in a day" is over.  Finally, the BMQG members want to "do it in their own way" and in this post-feminist era seek to re-engage with domestic activities with their own rules.   

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-new-domesticity-fun-empowering-or-a-step-back-for-american-women/2011/11/18/gIQAqkg1vN_story.html

In addition, and especially for stay-at-home moms, the community and connectivity afforded by an affinity group is important; one key difference for her generation, though, is that this community is online. Rachel May (RM), who has an extensive online presence which reflects her multi-faceted career interests, stated that blogging is key for this generation of quilters - those who don't have their own blogs nevertheless follow bloggers.  Indeed, a virtual quilter may be able to self-promote as effectively as a quilter with a more substantial body of work but no web presence.

MF bemoaned the stereotype of the quilters as little old ladies, and posited that the origin of this stereotype may have developed in the 1940's. After all, in previous centuries, quilters came in all sizes - young girls (and boys) learned to do hand sewing, and young women did communal stitching. However, during the Second World War, MF theorizes, younger women worked for the war effort and only grandmothers had the time to quilt; a stereotype thus emerged and today "even librarians are sexier than quilters." MF herself couldn't look less like a little old granny, by the way, in chic gladiator booties, black leggings, belted big shirt and Iris Apfel-inspired necklace.

Speaking of librarians reminded me of the mini-crisis when Jo-Ann Fabrics banned an issue of Mark Lipinski's magazine, which featured quilts with political and - gasp - sexual themes.

Source: http://design-crisis.com/?tag=mark-lipinski.

Pamela Weeks moved the discussion right along with her second query: What is the impact of the web on the quilting community?

Mary Fons (MyF) made an important point is that we are not as isolated as media reports indicate.  I think she's right - we are not all bowling alone, to co-opt the title of one recent book on social isolation. And, as long as one isn't driving, texting isn't necessarily an inherently bad thing - as MyF pointed out, tongue in cheek, isolated women back in pioneer days would probably have loved a text or phonecall, if such an anachronism had existed, for example.

If I may paraphrase Elizabeth Gilbert, we "love, create, talk" about quilts online and it can bring us together. As MF emphasized, we all have an impulse to share, to be praised, to be nurtured and much of this happens online now.  However, tactile input is still exclusive to an actual artifact - nothing can replace touching a quilt.

MF also pointed out that quilters were quick to embrace technology, even back in the Pleistocene era when email was pretty much limited to aol.com.

MyF claimed that her readers report no time to take an in-person class workshop but want instruction online. MyF did not explicitly state the corollary to this,  but I will - which is that this online generation expects information - and this includes instructions - to be free.

An audience member mentioned that she can't give her instructional CD away - nope, not to Gen-Wiki!

Some things are hard to learn online - Maggie Weiss teaches thermofax printing.

LM does belong to a traditional guild ( I believe she said a guild in Chelmsford, MA) but is sometimes frustrated by the reliance of older member on "snail mail." For the BMQG, online meetings are the major form of interaction, and connectivity is achieved through Facebook and email.  Moreover she can't afford the "$13.99/yard" fabric in stores, so buys all her fabric online.  (Does she know about the Fabric Corner in Arlington? Very reasonable prices and lots of coupons for even better bargains.)

RM attributes the beginning of the "modern quilt" movement to the flickr site Fresh Modern Quilts, and mentioned there are zillions of modern quilt books in the pipeline, so books still sell evidently, albeit on Amazon.  The inspirations for modern quilts, according to RM, are Amish quilts, Gee's Bend quilts and Nancy Crow, who's no dummy when it comes to adapting to new markets. I was surprised that RM omitted mention of Denyse Schmidt, whom I would have thought THE godmother of modern quilts.  However, I've since learned that Denyse Schmidt will indeed be the keynote speaker at Quiltcon (of course, it would have that name!)

From website for Quiltcon.

Pamela Weeks was curious about the nature of these new communities and asked if they, like traditional quilt guilds, make any kind of outreach to the non-quilting community, say, through charitable donations of quilts? LM responded that this is not yet a focus of the BMQG, although it's still a new group. An audience member added that her cohort of modern quilters initiated their own quilt donation effort.

LM brought up a dark side to all this online connectivity: the ability to be dismissive, and yes, bullying, with few consequences. If you google "dumbing down quilting," results lead to blog posts which are rather negative, and worse, towards the "modern quilting" movement.

Reacting to this discussion of  modern vs. traditional antagonism, an audience member mentioned feeling unwelcome at a "traditional" guild.

RM underscored that this is a common feeling among younger quilters; however, the new movement itself risks falling into the same trap of becoming another clique. In her view, the goal should be to avoid this and break down barriers and reject labels. 

MyF, in an effort to mellow the tone of the discussion a bit, perhaps, stated that it's only natural for affinity groups to self-select - we have a need to make sense of our world, and sorting and compartmentalizing do this. However, she remembers her horror at one show-and-tell when a modern quilt, proudly displayed by its maker, was greeted with "crickets" (silence so pervasive you can hear crickets chirping). This should not happen to anyone.

An audience member picked up on Mary's remarks, stating that since her "traditional guild" met only once a month, there was an understandable tendency for people to gravitate towards folks already familiar, but the guild was recognizing the problem and trying to introduce "getting to know you" exercises. Also this guild has a rule that everyone must clap for every show-and-tell quilt.

Round Robin quilt projects get people talking to one another.

The above image is the Round Robin unveiling from Quilters' Connection, my quilt guild, in May, 2012.  We all clapped furiously for every quilt.

MF reminded us that some people just hate change, and that machine quilting was for a long time not accepted. She pointed out what had been obvious for a while in the discussion, that there are really no universally definitions for traditional vs. modern vs. contemporary. In Marianne's words, "I'm still here, so I must be contemporary!"

This led Pamela to her next question, To what extent is the modern label based on a certain aesthetic?

Interestingly, this question was largely ignored by the panel. I'll go out on a limb here, with my impressions of modern quilts.  They are often  characterized by what I call the "kate spade" color palette of neutrals and high tones - no more "Grateful Dead" rainbow brights, no more toned Civil War colors, and fewer "jewel tone" batiks.  Some modern quilts feature repeated blocks but many are improvisationally pieced.  Graphic impact is achieved not by intricate piecing but through contrast of hue or value. Most functional modern quilts are machine quilted, but there is a growing move towards hand work too.  Am I near the mark?

From Kate Spade website.

There was throughout this discussion, however,  a suggestion that the modern quilt movement is "owned" by women under 50.  This undercurrent of generational tension  may have prompted the reaction of one mature audience member who rose in defense of quilting as an activity for older people - keeps the brain active, not demanding physically, etc.

Before the exchange could devolve into generational antagonism, Pamela asked her discussants to peer into their crystal balls, and predict where we are headed?  For example, with this online emphasis, is print media dead?

MS practically leaped out of her chair at this, waving the books she had brought for the post-discusson book signing. She regularly convinces the SAQA board of the continuing importance of the print version of the SAQA journal.   MyF is pleased to announce that her newly-launched print magazine Quilty is doing well, which is a pleasant surprise, as I would have thought the market for quilt magazines quite saturated already.

Pamela continued with the question What role will shops and museums play in the years to come?
MF told us how she was influenced by seeing Nancy Halpern's quilt Archipelago at the NEQM many years ago, and the work of Caryl Bryer Fallert in another exhibit. Museums, in her mind, continue to be important as repositories and for conservation.  Not to mention events such as the one she was in at the moment, perhaps? I think museums must do much more to make themselves relevant, and I thnk the NEQM understand that too.  As MyF pointed out, The Met serves painters and quilt museums should serve quilters, but I think it would help if the museums educated quilters in the use and interpretation, as opposed to reproduction, of historic models.  The Victoria and Albert museum makes an effort at this, but then it was always designed to be a resource for industry as much as an edifice for culture.

Fallert's Corona #2. Source: http://www.bryerpatch.com/images/quiltrecords/corona2/corona2.htm

LM and RM cited the limitations of young quilters budgets and time.  Stores shouldn't charge for renting rooms for guild activities, as guild members will patronize the store.  Modern quilters need a selection of solids and desire fabrics that "bridge modern and historic quilts" in the words of RM, and the need for more solids was seconded by MyF.

For MF, who has had a successful online store for ages, aided by her television exposure, retailers must respond to market demand. She mentioned the role wholesalers Checkers Distributors in helping drag retailers into new territory and encouraging them to offer up-to-date fabric selections.

Finally, as time grew short, Pamela asked - what's the artistic direction for quilts?

The answers finally touched on something I'd been waiting for since eating my mini-bagel - a discussion of process, as opposed to product. MS mentioned the artistic approach of "Mark Making,"as opposed to quilt making, and gave two SAQA examples, Dorothy Caldwell, a Canadian, and Pamela Fitzsimmons, of Australia, as artists for whom "the time it took" is as much the product as the completed artifact.

Dorothy Caldwell. Four Fields. Source:http://www.quiltstudy.org/exhibitions/online_exhibitio/qic/international_quilts1.html

The aesthetic is of time and aging.  MF mentioned a comment made to her by quilt historian Gerald Roy, that the 19th century quilter was much more into the process, partly because needlework was an acceptable excuse for women to sit down and be in control of the pace of their own work, without being accused of idleness.  RM added that the modern quilter can justify spending time on a quilt if it's for her child. Sigh, is there still a need for women to justify how they choose to spend their time? Modern or traditional, some things never change, it would seem, and on that note, the discussion came to a conclusion. 

An enthusiastic "thank you" to the panel from NEQM director Connie Barlow.

Hand-quilting preparation

Basted quilt, hoop, and muslin strips.

I was recently in Japan, where many traditional craft techniques developed centuries ago still survive, albeit precariously. (I'll blog about my adventures soon.)  In my own quilt work, I often tap the services of my talented machine quilter, Laurena McDermott, but have not, and never will, abandon hand-quilting altogether, as long as I'm able to manipulate the needle to my satisfaction.

As I methodically stitch, it feels good to be a sustaining part of a long tradition of handwork, and I also love the texture unique to the hand-quilted surface. I use traditional tools, for example, my trusty two-part wooden quilting hoop, and was recently thrilled to find a vendor selling small bars of beeswax at my local farmers' market, so I can now run my lengths of thread along the edge of the beeswax. The ever-so-thin coating of wax helps prevent the thread from breaking and fraying.  Silicon thread conditioners work well too, but don't have the same faint, pleasing fragrance as beeswax.

In a previous post, I discussed hand-basting the quilt sandwich - layering the backing, batting and top with long stitches in contrast color thread. Once basted, the last step prior to beginning hand-quilting is to address the problem that the quilt is rectilinear while the hoop is circular. There are tensioning devices, for example the Q-snap frame, that are rectilinear, but I've found I can't achieve the same tautness with that type of frame.

Extender strip pinned to basted quilt.

I rip regular or unbleached muslin into strips about 8 - 10" wide (exact width doesn't matter), and anywhere from 60" to 110" long. In a fit of organizing a few years ago I labelled each strip with its length at both ends of the strip, using a fabric marking pen (those are the numbers visible on the muslin strips in the top image).

Strip pinned through all layers; excess length held by safety pin.

I pin two muslin strips on the long edges of the rectangular quilt, aligning the long edge of the extender strip with the long edge of the basted quilt top, and pinning carefully through all layers.  Let the extender strip overhang the bottom and top of the quilt a few inches. For example, if the quilt top is 60" long, the extender strip needs to be at least 66".

I stitch the extender strips, through all layers, using a 90/14 needle. I use the longest stitch length on my Janome and set the needle position to 3.5, which gives me a 1/4" seam allowance, so I can quilt right to the edge where the binding will be.

Stitching through all layers.

Left: muslin strip stitched. Right: strip folded over.

After sewing strips onto the long quilt edges, the strips are folded to the right side and additional strips are pinned along the top and bottom edges of the quilt top, again through all the layers.  It's sort of like adding an additional border, one that will be removed when the quilting is done.  Having the edges of the quilt sandwich "framed" by extender strips not only allows me to use my round hoop, but the secure stitching prevents batting from "leaking" out and keeps everything nice and square.

Extender strip pinned to quilt and to previously sewn strip.

Extender strip sewn through all layers, flipped to right side.

Extender strips allow corner to be quilted.

Reverse side, quilting in progress.

When all four sides have their extender strips sewn on, then quilting can commence.  It's perfectly fine that the quilt back - the purple fabric -  stops short of the hoop, as the securely sewn muslin extender strips allow for correct tensioning. The last image was taken several months after the other images, when quilting was almost completed.  Once the stitching is complete, I carefully remove the muslin strips with a seam ripper. I press the muslin strips, remove any bits of thread, and they are ready for reuse on another quilt.

Sylvia Einstein at The City Quilter

The Gallery is near the Fashion Institute of Technology.

In this post I share my blog with guest Sylvia Einstein, an internationally-recognized member of my quilt guild whose work I have admired for years.  From July 10 until August 25, an exhibit of Sylvia's work, titled Let Fabric Speak, can be seen at The ArtQuilt Gallery. The gallery is associated with The City Quilter store, located at 133 West 25th St., between 7th and 6th Avenues, in Manhattan.

All photos in this post are by Sylvia, unless otherwise noted.

Sylvia's art quilts.

 Sylvia, who is a marvelous lecturer and teacher as well as artist, is originally from Switzerland and made her first quilt during the Bicentennial celebrations of 1975-6, embracing, in her words, this "very American art form."

Left to right: Dialogue, Le Monde, and Himmelsleiter.

Sylvia is, in some way, a traditional quilter, as she utilizes readily-available commercial fabrics, eschews complicated machine quilting, and has a block-based approach to composition. However, those blocks are fractured, the curves are realigned, and geometry is delightfully skewed as the fabrics dynamically interact with each other, in ways planned and serendipitous.

 

More images of Sylvia's quilts can be seen at her website, http://www.sheinstein.addr.com/Index.html

City Quilter and High Line park, New York

Astilbes in bloom, High Line park.

The week-end of June 16, 2012, DH and I visited our offspring in New York.  I planned a trip to The City Quilter, a Manhattan fabric store, with an associated art quilt gallery, recommended by quilt friend Linda. Daughter decided to show me the High Line, as it's in the same geographical area.  The High Line is easily accessible by subway, and became our scenic route to The City Quilter.

The High Line is a defunct elevated freight rail line reborn as a linear urban park in the former meat-packing district of Manhattan. Wildly popular, if the crowds were anything to go by on a beautiful June day, there are food stalls, fixed lounge chairs, loads of special events, and flowers and foliage galore. Almost too many plants, as at times the generous planting beds squeeze the walkway to a narrow bottleneck, slowing the pace and forcing a single file passage. This is a minor quibble, however; overall it's a wonderful, unique addition to New York's open space.  Part of our subway system here in Boston is called the Green Line - the High Line is, literally,  New York's Green Line.

The High Line.

The long green line of High Line park.

 The City Quilter, which sells fabrics, books, and needlework supplies such as sashiko samplers, has an associated gallery for art quilts.  Hand-made gifts are quite reasonable; I purchased a hand-dyed rayon scarf for daughter for only $15, my Manhattan bargain.

The City Quilter and The ArtQuilt Gallery - NYC.

Lots of goodies and nice staff.

Daughter admires quilts on display.

 On our way back to the subway, we stopped for liquid refreshment at Argo Tea Cafe Chelsea location (275 7th Avenue).  Tea and light bites to stay or go, plus a wall of tea to make at home.

Argo Tea Cafe.

Got tea?

Paula Nadelstern Kaleidoscope Quilts

Kaleidoscope XXVII: September 11, 2002

I caught an exhibit of quilts by Paula Nadelstern on the last hour of the last day it was up, June 15, 2012.  Shown at the arts center of Endicott College, on Boston's North Shore, the touring exhibit of work by New Yorker Nadelstern was organized by the American Folk Art Museum.  In addition to the textiles, the show featured several actual kaleidoscopes, including one by Kennebunkport artist Sue Rioux.

Collage of images from Snowy Egret kaleidoscope by Sue Rioux.

Snowy Egret kaleidoscope, Sue Rioux.

Kaleidoscope XX: Elegant After Maths.

Most of the exhibit quilts are published in a new book, Paula Nadelstern's Kaleidoscope Quilts An Artist's Journey Continues, in which Ms. Nadelstern also explains her methods. The two images below are from this book.

Diagram of cutting and assembling kaleidoscope components.

Basically, Ms. Nadelstern positions wedge-shaped templates over printed fabric, cutting multiples of the same motif from the fabric pattern repeats. These wedges are then stitched together to construct her symmetries. Ms. Nadelstern did not invent this technique but she has refined it to a level achieved by few other artists.

Kaleidoscope XVII: Caribbean Blues.

The quilt above, Kaleidoscope XVII: Caribbean Blues, was used for the promotional materials, and is a masterpiece.  Unlike some of the quilts in which a variety of deployed pieced kaleidoscopes, unified only by a vaguely similar color palette, sit in uneasy relationships with one another, in this quilt only one motif is seen in its entirety.

This geometric mandala is joined by identically-patterned, partial motifs. Since they are cut from the same cloth, literally, all the pieced kaleidoscopes reinforce one another, and the repetition of the motifs creates a surface of elements in harmony, not competition. The kaleidoscope motif is so complex, its repetition gives the viewer needed opportunity to absorb and comprehend the pattern. The continuous unbroken border contains the energy, and there is no awkward field/border relationship to distract from the glowing geometry of the kaleidoscope units.

The background is clearly delineated through color and, rather than being just leftover space, forms a glowing interstitial matrix containing and framing the exploding bursts of color.

Caribbean Blues, detail.

The centers of the Caribbean Blues motifs were simplified for technical reasons, but this construction allowed the introduction of a fabric with a lot of white, a perfect foil for the saturated tones of the background. Let's hope this work enters a sympathetic museum someday.

Caribbean Blues, detail of wedge construction.

Also on view were pieced, individual kaleidoscopes, which hold their own masterfully, without the need for placement into a quilt.

Eight Kaleidoscope Blocks.

Viewing Kaleidoscope XXXIII: Shards.

Embroideries of Colonial Boston

Chair seats, Bradstreet family, mid-18th century.

On Wednesday, May 9, DH and I had a double treat. We attended an enthralling lecture/discussion featuring Hal Prince, legendary Broadway producer, complete with live musical medleys. After the lecture we viewed the third installment in a series of exhibitions highlighting needlework of colonial Boston, staying until we were kicked out of the museum.

Apron, Ruth Eliot, mid-18th century.

According to family lore, Ms. Eliot made the decorative apron above, and a matching stomacher, and wore them to her wedding to Reverend Jeremy Belknap on June 15, 1767.  How proud she must have been, wearing her own handiwork on her special day.  This piece was created at a time of great economic and political turmoil, but Ms. Eliot was evidently determined to have a beautiful wedding ensemble equal to that of any English bride. Her husband, Reverend Belknap, became a pastor in Dover, New Hampshire, and was quite active in the Revolutionary War.  Reverend Belknap was often away from home, leaving Ruth Eliot Belknap with their family, which eventually included six children.

One wonders if Mrs. Belknap ever had time for embroidery while raising their children, and this delicate and charming piece was an expression of the artistry she may never have had a chance to exercise again. No wonder she took so much evident time and care.

Apron, detail, Ruth Eliot.

Bed clothes and fashion accessories on view.

Curator Pamela Parmal reiterated the point that textiles, time-consuming and costly to prepare or import, were considered moveable wealth in colonial America. In addition, with our modern emphasis on bricks, mortar and a misguided perception of permanence, we've forgotten what children know when they prop a blanket over two chairs, making a "fort" - that a piece of special fabric can create a still, quiet place within its drapes. A nomad's tent, a Jewish ceremonial chuppah, Japanese noren curtains: all offer degrees of shelter and spatial definition.

The furnishings of the bedroom also telegraph wealth, rank, and status. Before modern hospitals, many lifecycle events took place in the bed.  Learn more about the design history of the bed in Going to Bed, by Eileen Harris, from the Victoria and Albert Museum's The Arts and Living series, ISBN 0112902871.

In bed we laugh, in bed we cry;
And, born in bed, in bed we die.
The near approach a bed may show
Of human bliss to human woe.
-- Isaac de Benserade (1612-1691)

Wide bed curtain, signed "A. P," 1674

Large scale works such as bed curtains were wonderful canvasses for bold, large-scale designs like this exuberant feathery motif.  This panel is worked in blue-green wool on twill-weave fustian. Fustian is a somewhat coarse, sturdy cloth composed of a  linen warp (lengthwise threads) and cotton weft (crosswise threads.)

Detail, wide bed curtain.

Detail, Fichu, Rachel Leonard, mid-18th century.

From the large scale to the minute - the above image is a detail of a triangular scarf called a fichu (FEE-shoo) typically tied around the shoulders. The fichu is made of muslin fabric embroidered with linen thread, in a style called Dresden work, which imitates lace. Do click on the image to enlarge it, and enjoy the almost microscopic detail of this masterpiece of craftsmanship.

The image below is from the website of Colonial Williamsburg; the fichu is tied with a brown bow.

Image source http://www.history.org/history/museums/clothingexhibit/museum_learn.cfm#accessories

Christening blanket, detail, Mary Fifield Adams, before 1713.

Mary's twelve children were christened in this blanket, including her son Samuel Adams, signer of the Declaration of Independence.  Sam Adams joined his family trade of fermenting malt, an essential ingredient for beer. Today there is a modern and quite successful beer company named after him.

Detail, Petticoat border, maker unknown, mid-18th c.

The border from which my detail image was taken is well over six feet long, which gives some idea of the circumference of those voluminous petticoats!