HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1991-07-03, Page 26Page 24 Times -Advocate, July 3,1991 SPFC [AL FE A T I IR F
Quilt display - Susan Hewett (left) and E/eahor Hayter of Grand Bend stand beside one of Haytgr's quilts
(a Lone Star) on display at the Lambton Museum this week. Hayter has several of her quilts at the
show.
Quilt show a celebraf3n
of a traditional art form
By Adrian Harte
GRAND BEND - What started
out as simply a way to hold stuffing
in place in a bed cover, eventually
evolved into a form of folk art, a
celebration of which is on display
at the Lambton County Museum
until this Thursday.
Susan Hewett at the museum ex-
plains that for the several years the
annual quilt show and sale has seen
no shortage of quilts to display.
This year's show brought 185 of the
homemade creations for competi-
tion and sale.
One particularly impressive item
is the quilt made as a fundraising
effort for the North Bay and Area
Museum. It took Doris Sanderson
three year's to complete the scenic
quilt, which is so precise in its de-
tails that it even uses deerskin for
the native costumes.
"It sort of takes quilt making to a
new level," observes Hewett.
The North Bay quilt also makes
use of the tradition of incorporating
donor's names into the border, as
was par 80 or so years ago.
While donor rs paid $25 each to have
their names sewn onto the quilt
raising some $14,000, the more
modest fundraising quilts which
survive from bygone eras are often
a testament to the people who lived
in small towns and villages.
"It was sort of a historical record
of a town," explained Hewett.
The rest of the quilts and wall -
hangings on display at the museum
are of a more conventional nature.
With names like Log Cabin,
Lone Star, Broken Star, Irish
Chain, Double Wedding Ring, and
Grandmother's Far, and dozens of
variations, they provide a more ob-
vious link to the quilt making of the
past.
Traditional pioneer quilts of rural
Canada were often pieced together
from scraps of fabric too precious
to throw away; and too small for
any other use. Sometimes the
scraps were extremely small.
"They used to do postage -stamp
quilts that were thousands of pieces
put together," said Hewett.
Quilts brought over from Europe
or made in the European styk did
not stress such economical use of
fabric and were able to simply use
a whole sheet of fabric that was
then decorated with appliqued
patches or simply stitched to hold
the stuffing in place.
Unlike the polyether stuffing
available to today's quilter, pioneer
quilts used wool as insulation and if
it weren't for the quilted compart-
ment, it would shift with time and
use.
"That was really the whole reason
for quilting," observed Hewett.
"To hold the wool in place."
While the elaborate and highly
organized designs were considered
the highest form of quilting, the
late 19th century saw the emer-
gence of the "crazy quilt" which
would make use of fancy fabrics
and different kinds of stitching in
random designs. One antique quilt
of this style is on display at the mu-
seum dated from the "1890s, when
people really went for gaudy
things", said Hewett.
Although quilting was a relaxing
pastime in the era before television,
radio, or Victrolas, there was also a
sense of urgency to it. Heweu ex-
plains that a young woman about to
be married was expected to have a
dozen good quilts in her hope chest
in order to set up her home. Young
girls would begin to help with quilt-
ing as early as five years of age and
would make and collect her quilts
over the years until perhaps a quilt-
ing bee during her engagement
would see the last one made - likely
in the Double Wedding Ring de-
; sign.
dozen quilts would last for
most of a woman's married life, un-
til her children and grandchildren
were able to help her make new
ones.
Toda , the situation is a little dif-
ferent. Although quilting is not an
essential art any more, the numbet
of quilts on display and for sale at
the museum attest to the numbers
who still practise it. Several are by
Mennonite women who hold onto
the traditions of quilting, others are
by those who pursue the hobby for
pleasure or profit.
A good traditional handmade
quilt can command a price between
$400 and S500. Those which test
the waters of new and original de- .
signs or show exceptional crafts-
manship can cost much more.
There is no shortage of customers
eager to purchase such items either.
Hewett said the annual Lambton
Museum sale usually sells about 60
quilts.
While quilts' usually require
hours and hours of work, in fact
Hewett says she has been working
on one for the past three years,
there are short cuts to getting start-
ed in the hobby.
Printed tops, which resemble
pieced fabric are available ready
for the fine stitching and are nearly
indistinguishable from original de-
signs when finished. And there are
quilt kits, which not only include
all the fabric, but also have patterns
ready -marked on them to show
where the stitches must follow.
But still, the purist will want to
design and lay out a pattern and de-
cide what colours will go where,
and then invest the many hours re-
quired to transform the thread and
fabric into an item that can eventu-
ally become a family heirloom.
Highly
unlqu• - This fundraising quilt from the North Bay Area Mu-
seum has to be seen to be believed. Stitched with the names of
500 donors, It also raises quilting to a new art form.
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