crafts for earning and learning
COUNTRY CABINS TO CYBERSPACE
In the bad old days, patchwork was often made from strips of worn cloth, torn from the soiled ends of blankets or hems of skirts. African American women especially carried on the strip patchwork tradition.
Basic Techniques
The photos to the right show the steps of assembling and reassembling patchwork strips.
For the last
step, I used striped fabric in a west African design to join two sections
of strip quilting. Notice
that the striped fabric covers most of the space in this piece. I'm
following these important profitability guidelines.
• Use lower-cost materials and less labor to cover large areas.
• Use higher-cost materials and more labor to cover small areas.
THREADS OF HISTORY! African American women used strip quilting for sending messages during the days of the Underground Railroad and the Civil War. Widen your view of American history by opening The Gifts Abolition and Suffrage Left Behind.
CULTURAL CONNECTIONS! You can study strip quilting in space and time through gorgeous color photos of traditional and contemporary African American quilters, in an online exhibit of Southern Quilting.
A BOOK THAT DAZZLES! It's SPIRITS OF THE CLOTH: Contemporary African American Quilts, by Carolyn Mazloomi. The preface was written by a quilt artist whose web site is well worth your visit, Faith Ringgold.
STRIPS IN THE CELESTIAL CITY! To see more strip quilting, please visit the Gallery section of this web site.
QUILTS ON PBS ! An exciting site for all kinds of quilting is the web site set up to accompany the program America Quilts. The site includes educational materials as well as great links. Go to PBS: America Quilts.
STEPS
Above:
Sew strips into stripes.
Below:
Cut sewn stripes into strips.
Sew striped strips to striped fabric.
Please read the Credits and Copyrights section for restrictions on reproducing this material.
