The Patchwork Quilt Kit
Patch
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Creator
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Clare
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Story
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The Patchwork Quilt Kit
When I was a child my mother had a large drawer full of fabric scraps: offcuts from sewing projects, outgrown and worn out garments. I loved rummaging through the drawer, finding bits which my mother would help me make into dolls' clothes, teaching me to sew in the process.
When I was about twelve I got more ambitious, and decided to make my parents a patchwork quilt for Christmas. I raided the drawer and cut out a lot of hexagons from assorted fabrics, spread them out on the floor and planned a pattern. I told my school sewing teacher about my project, and she explained how I would have to tack all the hexagons onto paper and sew them together by hand. Clearly that would take years! I listened politely, but had no intention of doing it like that; I was sure I could make the quilt much quicker on our old Singer sewing machine. But having stitched together the first row of hexagons I ran out of time, and presented my parents with a 'Do-it-yourself Patchwork Quilt Kit' for Christmas, arranged in a box with my design and instructions. They recieved it graciously, but somehow it never got made, and I still have the hexagons.
This piece is made from some of them (the original hexagons were much bigger). For me this works as a time capsule, as I know that all these fabrics were in my mother's drawer in the mid 1960s. Many of them I remember as dresses worn by myself or my mother. I used paper hexagons cut from old letters, with the handwriting of my mother, grandmother, brother, friends and relations. Antique patchwork quilts often include pieces of old letters; paper was a valuable resource, not to be wasted. I used thread from old wooden cotton reels, and have deliberately left in the tacking.
My parents always encouraged me to be creative; homemade gifts were always valued, even if incomplete (I once gave my father a single slipper!) In our family making, mending and recycling were a way of life.
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Rights Holder
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Clare
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Rights
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All rights reserved.