CMA Quilt Stories Inspired by “Quilting a Future”
To go along with the theme of storytelling as presented in Quilting a Future, we wanted to hear about YOU and your experience with quilts, whether you create them, cherish them, or even if you were moved by a particular work in the exhibition.
Please continue to share your “Quilt Stories” here
Stitching Together a Community by Heather Coffman
“Heather! Who sews?” is a question I hear a lot. After a moment of figuring out what prompted it, I say, “Me…and my mom!” My mom and I have matching tattoos, with mine on my forearm, of a needle and thread creating a running stitch in a heart shape. Normally the conversation will be followed up with a story about how they sew, some relative of theirs sews, or that it’s cool my mom has a tattoo. The follow-up statements highlight why quilting has a long historic tradition of community that has been adopted in different cultures and social groups and an outlet for creative expression.
Historically, quilts had both the practical value of using up leftover scraps of fabric to create a warm blanket that holds sentimental value due to the memories attached to the fabrics and the opportunity for creative expression. Making the quilts, created a community for women and an occasion to socialize. Since the sewing and quilting took a lot of time, typically women would gather in a quilting bee to sit and talk about what was happening. Normally, it would be the news, sharing updates they heard, or just telling stories from their lives. Today, it would be like your favorite friend group chat, just in real life. Not only were the women creating an item that they needed but they were being entertained and informed on the important topics. These quilting bees started to form in local towns, churches, and in other types of communities to make quilts for people that needed them.
With the Industrial Age and the mass production of blankets, handmaking quilts became less about necessity. With machines being able to create products faster than ever before, handmaking a quilt for pure need became outdated. Quilting then transformed and became more of an artistic expression and craft. People began to make quilts as art and for personal expression. There was a mass revival of quilting in the 1970s because as people started to question sociality’s cultural norms and rebel against the industrial complex, there was a rise of crafts and the do-it-yourself methods.
Today quilting is still extremely popular with many different approaches being experimented with. There are still the tradition patterns that have been around since the nineteenth century, but there are now modern takes on traditional quilting with trendy colors and prints. Quilters are using fabric in unique ways and pushing levels of creativity.
The other aspect of quilting that has always been there is community. In today’s world you can join various quilting guilds for your personal style or location. You can also join groups and connect with other quilters over social media. This summer, I started to make a quilted jacket inspired by CMA’s quilt exhibition. At CMA, I am on the team that plans and installs the new exhibitions, so when we were deep in exhibition planning during the week, I would just so happen be at fabric stores on the weekend seeing patterns for quilting jackets. After deciding to make one, I was stuck on a step in the making of the pockets. Even with my mom patiently explaining what I needed to do, I just didn’t know where I had gone wrong. So, naturally, I jumped on Instagram, searched the hashtag printed on the cover of the pattern, to see if others had posted about. To my luck, I found a video that clearly showed me what I was doing wrong. In that moment, when I needed community, I found it one of the modern places, the internet. Our versions of community have grown from our neighbors and church members to anyone with access to the internet. Quilting can feel very traditional but it’s not. Quilting has always been ever changing throughout history.
I normally sew alone in my house with the sounds of some classic television going that I have seen twenty times so I know I will not miss anything when I am running the sewing machine, but the community that has gotten me to that moment is broad and deep. From my mom teaching me how to sew, from the people who wrote the books I have read about the subject, from the pattern maker, from the designer of the fabric, my quilting community runs deep with rich history and tradition so I can have the end product that I can run my hands all over, feeling the texture and a sense of comfort. When I gift quilts, not only am I giving my passion, but I am gifting the history with hopes that the receiver will use it to create their own history and memories.
Heather Coffman is the Assistant Registrar for the Columbus Museum of Art. Born and raised in Iowa, she has worked in a variety of museums. When not in a museum, she loves traveling, watching baseball and hockey, sewing, and running marathons. As a newer transplant to Ohio, she is exploring Columbus through food and drink and learning to appreciate square pizza.
