FEMINISM AND LIVES CONFERENCE

ABSTRACT

Quilting in women’s lives: a hidden activity?

Quilting as a craft and as art is performed mainly but not exclusively by women however it is relatively hidden in British culture. Folk ideas of patchwork include bed quilts and baby quilts as utilitarian items made by mothers, or grandmothers. These are destined for domestic use. However there are art forms of quilting which are usually referred to as textile art rather than quilts.

Quilting, once regarded as a traditional craft, has broken through the barriers of history, art and commerce to become a global phenomenon, an international multi-billion dollar industry and means of gendered cultural production. In her book Quilting, sociologist and quilter Marybeth C. Stalp (2007) argues that women's lives can betransformed in often surprising ways by the activity and art of quilting. She found that some women who quilt as a leisure pastime are afraid to admit to being a quilter for fear of ridicule; others boldly identify themselves as quilters and regard it as part of theireveryday lives. There is also a growing group of (mainly) women who make quilts that are intended for public display and these are in theform of textile art.

Stalp (2007) argues the place of quilting in women's lives affects core family and personal identity issues such as marriage, childcare,friendship and ageing.  The book's accessible and intimate portrayal of real quilters' lives provides a fabric for the sociology, anthropology and textile student to understand more about wider issues of cultural production and identity that stem from this very personal pastime. It was this book that led me to begin an exploration of quilting in women’s lives in the UK.

Quilting as Having undertaken some informal interviews with women quilters in theperiod 2010/11 I have formulated a number of themes based on this evidence. These are:

Community and identity Harmony –v- competition Space to perform the quilting practice Quilting as an art or a craft Level of engagement in quilting activity:

meaning and importance. Layers of hiddenness

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This paper will address some of these themes.

Dr. Irene Selwayireneselway@btinternet.com

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QUILTING IN WOMEN’S LIVES

1.Introduction: Quilting as a sub-culture.

Quilting is a sub culture in the UK and in North America. Stengal, (2007.3) tells us that ‘Quilting is a North American subculture, with its own lexicon, hierarchical structure, and commodification system. There are stores dedicated to quilting, and large festivals put onwith the sole purpose of facilitating quilting needs.’ This is reflected in the growing trends in quilting in the UK but it is still not as extensive as in North America. The Quilters Guildof Great Britain is a national organisation that seeks to promote quilting and support its development as an art and a craft. There are local/regional groups affiliated to the Quilters Guild across the UK. These groups meet monthly, or weekly and are sometimes large and well organised or small and informal.

There are exhibition companies in the UK targeting quilters for organised national exhibitions and competitions. There is a large internet based industry supplying quilting fabricand associated equipment. Also there are quilt shops, although these are not as widespread as inthe USA. The Victoria and Albert Museum held theQuilts 1700-2010 Exhibition in London in June/July 2010 giving quilting an ‘art’ profile and there are many National Quilt Festivals across the UK with judging facilities for the best quilt in different categories. Quilting can be competitive and there are large prizes and

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status associated with some competitions. Conversely there are women who meet for years in small local quilting groups who may set their ownchallenges but never enter national competitions.

Quilting in the USA and the UK has a long historybut as a wider cultural pursuit it is the late19th

and 20th centuries that saw it flourish. It both cases it was originally associated with utilitarian purposes; quilts made for beds, usingrecycled scraps of fabric. This sometimes extended to making quilts for sale in the community with new fabric used and recognisable patterns and quilting designs employed.

For example, there are traditions linked to particular regions in the UK; Welsh quilts were often made of wool and had particular types of quilting patterns and designs; Northumberland whole cloth Durham quilts (one piece of material not patched pieces) made of cotton sateen and again with specific quilt patterns and styles across the whole quilt. Amy Ems was a famous Durham quilter, so named after the region in which the design developed. Other designs from the North East have easily recognised names within quilting culture e.g. Strippy Quilts made of strips of cotton sateen in toning colour plainmaterial with traditional hand quilted designs ineach strip. My mother made Strippy Quilts and there were women in Northumberland in the 1920s and 30s who made their living hand quilting thesetypes of quilt for their community. These types of quilts have acquired an historical status in terms of design. Quilters may emulate them saying

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‘I am making a strippy quilt’ and everyone in thequilting culture knows what that means

There are some excellent books on the history of quilting both in the USA and the UK which chart the way in which quilting designs evolved and aremade.

1.1Study focus

I aim to find out in what ways UK women define and understand their own quilter identity, and how this identity is influenced by the quilting subculture. I am also interested in how time to quilt is stolen from other elements of women’s expected roles and how relevant this stolen time is conceptualised by women themselves and others in relation to women’s other roles and activities. As part of this exploration I would like to pose questions about the art and craft distinction that many make about this kind of work, including women themselves. Art is seen asmore valuable than craft in this distinction. ‘Domestic art’, which quilting is often defined as, is a euphemism for craft.

There is a range of literature on quilts as cultural and historical objects (Kuchler, S & Were, G. 2005); but less concerning how quilting forms part of women’s lives and identity in UK. Stalp (2007:45) in her USA study points out that the ‘focus of many outsiders is quilt based or quilting based. In contrast women who quilted focussed far more on the process of quilting.’ Inother words the outside view of quilting is basedon the artefact of a quilt whereas women are

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concerned with how something is made. What women do when they quilt and how they organise it as part of their lives is the concern for this paperwhich at this stage is a work in progress.

2.Quilting and identity

Knowing many women quilters as I do as a member of several quilt groups, I undertook a series of informal interviews in the period 2010-1I. I knewmany of them were passionate about their quiltingendeavours. I therefore wanted to explore the meaning quilting had/has in the lives of women who undertake what is a skilled and painstaking craft involving considerable creativity. It can also develop into an engagement in textile art but this area is contentious in some parts of quilting culture and requires further exploration.

As a quilter who has practiced for over 20 years and as an academic I was interested in how quilting fitted into UK women’s sense of self andidentity. Personally I have compartmentalised myinterest in quilting to separate it from my academic self. There is an element of ‘hiding’ this activity. Only my immediate family knew I was a quilter; I never discussed it with academiccolleagues. Conversely, I rarely revealed what I did for a living in my quilting groups. On occasions when I did there was a kind of hush as the women seemed to see me as not quite of their kind. Not unfriendly but seemingly amazed that awomen with ‘such high qualifications’ could be intheir group, which in this example were of women who had mainly had focussed on domestic life and

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a few part time jobs, although this group was nota reflection of the social composition of all quilting groups. Why did I want to separate parts of myself in this way? Possibly because they did not sit easily together; after all I didnot have to hide my academic work away, nor snatch time to read or prepare lectures. These were seen as legitimate activities in my working life. Quilting however was seen as a hobby, by those who commented on it, not a serious activityand thus marginalised in importance. For me it was an oasis in an often hectic academic world.

However, now I am semi-retired the quilting spacein my life has grown and is replacing my academicidentity with a quilt related one. I have completed a City and Guilds two year Certificate in Patchwork and Quilting; Design and am now following a City and Guilds Certificate Embroiders course after completing part 1. I have not, of course, left behind the scholarly interest in auto/biographical study and this workin progress reveals how the academic and art workhave overlapped. What I am aware of is my sense of self and identity and changing. I now spend whole days working on my quilts or in quilt groups or on courses, whereas once I spent whole days reading and writing or teaching. The meaningof quilting in my life has taken precedence and is no longer marginalised.

Another example of the meaning of quilting in a woman’s life is drawn from Janet Berlo’s account Quilting Lessons; Notes from the scrap bag of a writer and quilter(2001) written after a period of time-out from

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academic life. It is about herself her identity and quilting as a process.

Janet is Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Rochester, USA. She had previously never published any work relating to quilting; her books were all art history books. However, she found herself with writers block in midlife when she came to write up her research manuscript about Native American art history. Sheturned to quilting, scorning the logic, planning,and order of scholarship and writing. She haltedher academic work and immersed herself in an 18 month long `quilt madness’ journey at the end of which she had learned a great deal about herself.Her book, covering the 18 month period, was one Berlo (2001:4) describes as a way of ‘piecing forcover’; not making a cover, but a hidden space where she could be enveloped in colour, pattern, sensuality, serendipity and creativity rather than the logic and order of scholarly life. She says quilting of this kind is a ‘space in women’slives’ that is often hidden. Quilting in these terms is an oasis from the arduous demands of professions, domestic work, and family life. The process of quilting is thus a refuge for some if not all women. It is also, as Berlo describes, a journey into another way of organising time and engagement.

As a result of Berlo’s year of ‘quilting madness’she has re-orientated the way in which she organises and uses her time

I’m finally finding it most satisfying – and nearly automatic – to embrace a model in

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which a morning’s work might, like today, include two hours at the writing table revising manuscripts, followed by an hour stitching the binding on the baby quilt I’m making for a friend, followed by an hour in which I put the slides in order for the lectures I’m giving in three distant cities at the end of the month. (Berlo, 2001:138-9)

does not have the quilt as text in thisversion - put in

3.Time and Space to perform quilting practice.

Many women I spoke to reported having to ‘fit quilting in’ to busy lives even though they were passionate about it as an activity. They also talked of hiding the money they spent on fabric and threads from their partners, or even deceiving themselves as to how much they actuallyspent on them. It is a cliché in the quilting groups about how much fabric or ‘stash’ (amount of fabric purchased and stored) each women has and it is commented upon if she buys more at fabric sales. For example ‘Where are you going tohide that?’ from quilting friends, or from the woman herself ‘I don’t need this fabric but it isso beautiful’.

Some of the women in the groups I am in have saidthey often go to sleep dreaming of quilt designs and get up very early, before their family, to begin work on a new idea as that is the only timeand bit of space they have to themselves. Quilting occupies more time in some women’s livesthan other leisure activities (Stalp, 2007) and

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yet as illustrated by the above anecdotes it sometimes a hidden aspect of a woman’s life, squeezed into a domestic life or paid work.

Some women I have informally interviewed spend long hours making quilts both by hand and machinebut few have dedicated space in the home for thiswork. Those who do are envied by the majority ofothers who do not. Mainly they use a corner of the dining room table or share room space with other members of the family. It is rare for womenwho quilt to have a dedicated room for creative work.

4. Level of engagement and meaning in quilting practice.

Women invest a great deal of meaning and effort in their quilting work as indicated by Berlo, (2001). A recent newspaper article illustrates this. One woman, Hazel, reported “I think I need to make quilts. Quilting to me is like breathing – it is what I do. It is my way of responding to the world…..each new quilt fills mewith excitement, like a journey – you don’t what you will encounter on the way. Sometimes a quilt doesn’t turn out the way you planned, just like life. I’m frightened of dying before I have made all the ones I’ve planned in my head.” (Burke, E, 2010). This quilter is now a City and Guilds tutor as well as a further education teacher amongst her myriad roles.

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Quilting is an activity that consumes time and ina busy life has to be squeezed in. Alison said “I wanted to make a quilt for my husband as a surprise 50th birthday present …I worried about whether I had time to make it so I would go to friend’s houses to do a bit of hasty sewing….In the last week I sewed through the night till 4 am.” (Burke, 2010)

Quilting is also an activity that can act as a comfort when things are not going right in a woman’s life. Burke’s (2010) article also cites Linda who says ‘Whenever I’m feeling low or depressed all I have to do is pick up a needle and I’m in another world. On a good day I will spend four of five hours quilting. Last weekend when my husband was away I had the time of my life. I quilted from morning till night – it wasfantastic. I couldn’t have been happier. I lovebeing surrounded by quilts. I have hundreds – mywalls and beds are covered in them.’ Many quilters have large numbers of quilts stored in trunks as well as the multitude they have given away.

Another woman told me recently that she goes to sleep working out designs and colours for quilts and dreams of them being made. Yeats' famous poem Cloths of gold springs to mind where he says'tread softly for you tread on my dreams'. It isevident that the creative processes that go into making quilts is very much part of the identity of women who quilt.

If quilting activity were being undertaken by women who were defined as artists then the

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activity would be seen as her ‘art work’ and as such allocated different meaning. The hidden nature, the furtive, rushed and squeezed in nature of quilting in women’s lives where it is most often seen as a hobby of a utilitarian nature does not seem to fully value their endeavour. Domestic endeavours of this kind are not valued publicly in the same way in which art can be.

The role of quilting in a woman’s life varies butStebbins (1996) outlines six criteria for a hobbythat transforms it into what he calls a serious leisure activity. Practitioners come to ‘identifystrongly with the activity…they find a connectionin a unique social world composed of special norms, beliefs, values, moral events, principles and traditions’. He goes on to say that ‘those who engage in a serious leisure activity derive various durable benefits from it, including self-actualisation, self-enrichment, and feelings of group accomplishment and enhancement of self-image.’

This is borne out in some of the comments from women quilters. It is important to women but theyhave to find space and time to pursue it.

It also holds considerable meaning as an artisticand representational endeavour for many women. Arecent comment to me by a woman who has quilted for 25 years suggests that each piece she made had an inherent meaning for her, which may or maynot be apparent to those who view the work. For example, she had made a quilt from her deceased husbands clothes, shirts and ties to commemorate

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him and has this quilt on her bed. Other quilts she has made for her family contain elements of their personality e.g. if a grandchild likes dogs, then a quilt will be made with that pattern. Work of a more free style embroidered cloth using hand and machine patterns represent to her aspects of the wind, nature and life but this is not immediately recognisable to those whoview the work. Textile art that represents meaning is similar to abstract art and other forms of art in that the viewer is invited to seemeaning in the work without it being labelled. This woman values her work very much, although her family do not. She intends to leave her extensive collection of quilted and embroidered work to a special Textile Museum to 'avoid it being put in a skip when I die'.

Once quilting becomes a serious leisure activity in a woman’s life it is then integrated into other aspects of life. Friendship, for example, comes from membership of quilting groups, and artistic inspiration is derived from visiting local and national exhibitions, as well as local group ‘show and tell’ events.

A recent article in The Quilter, No.127, Summer 2011, a Journal of the Quilters Guild published quarterly, illustrates another dimension of quilting engagement; quilting and well being. Atkinson and Burt from the University of Glasgow have undertaken a study with 29 quilters which sought to explore quilting and wellbeing. They divided the quilting into three different aspects; the practical process; the social side; and the end product. Most of the women in this

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study worked in a professional or skilled job. Some of the women made explicit reference to quilting as a form of rehabilitation from illness, or as a way of managing stress, depression or other problems.

This study echoes comments from another women from my informal interviews who told me she had to give up work due to heart disease and had taken up quilting to allow her to 'de-stress' after two heart attacks. She is now a most prolific and talented quilter in one of my groups, who sells her work regularly and is the life and soul of all activities. She makes quiltsfor charity, and organises and runs workshops, being very helpful to beginners. She told me 'quilting saved my life by giving me a new sense of purpose after my illness'. She is a beacon of friendship in the group.

Atkinson (2011.22) also illustrates very clearly the practical side of quilting and how it was a very important process in creating well being.

Participants describe being completely absorbed and detached from other things goingon in their lives whilst quilting. This state is referred to as `flow` in the psychology literature and is thought that the more we

experience 'flow' the happier we are. Additionally, during this state, participants forget worries troubling them in their outside lives, which helps them relax.

Quilting is also an important social activity. In Atkinson's (2011.23) study she reports on the

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strong friendships women formed with other quilters. The praise that participants received from other quilters was affirming and boosted self esteem. Whilst many entered competitions so their work could be exhibited rivalry did not arise. This contrasts with Stalp's (2007) USA study where competitive rivalry between quilters and between groups was quite considerable at times. This may be reflective of different cultural norms between Britain and USA. British culture is more self effacing than USA.

5. Quilting as art or craft

Thinking about quilting as an art is a difficult task as it is hard to make a distinction between art and craft. It seems that the more formalisedand organised quilting activities become the morescope there has been for some women to move from quilting as a small scale domestic leisure activity to a wider public endeavour involving exhibitions, gallery displays and definition as textile art.

Woods (1993.110), commenting on North American quilters, identifies late 20th and early 21st century quilters as ‘revivalists’ who have moved on from constructing quilts for utilitarian purposes. She says they are:

primarily middle class urban women, who buy new fabrics, use technologically advanced sewing machines and learn via quilting books and classes. Quilting is constructed by revival quilters as an expression of

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individuality and a way in which women consciously seek to define themselves.

'Revivalist' quilters organise specialist exhibitions, and their work is displayed in galleries much as fine art would be. Some even produce installations where quilted artefacts are3D and free standing and intended to represent a specific meaning.

Quilting has experienced a revival in the UK since its brief flowering from the l970’s to 1980s and there are a number of specialist Art Quilt groups that have formed who have exhibitions. However, there is less evidence to make judgements about whether it is a middle class urban women’s endeavour.

As an example of how women have used quilting to develop an art quilt identity it is interesting to look at how they have undertaken quite drasticsteps to find time and space to quilt. At a recent talk and presentation given by a well-regarded quilt artist (a term reserved for those in the quilting culture whose work has been recognised as textile art) the speaker told of a her quilt journey from completing a craft City and Guilds course in Patchwork and Quilting and Design to winning a prize to travel to Italy to produce designs for a major quilt commission thatwas a complex textile installation. She spoke interms of epiphany, revelation and total obsessionwith her work. The work she brought to show us ranged from wall hangings to installations depicting religious figures. She is an example of one kind of quilter who has moved from a

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domestic art quilting identity to that of textileartist. She is now teaching textile art in a university as well as doing talks and running workshops.

Listening to the above quilt artist description of the process she goes through to produce a finished quilt it seems she revisits, discards and reworks ideas, things, and feelings to produce a final piece that contains so much meaning. It evokes the words of Alberto Manguel (2010.140) A reader on reading, in the chapter Ontrying to find the meaning of things. He argues that our knowledge of the world is fragmentary; art, literature, textiles consist of fragments that are put together but rarely do we know the process.

Manguel 2011.140) goes on to relate this process to works of art, or literature that some may think are perfect, that portray things in a way that might be regarded as ultimate or a final masterpiece.

However, if we were just to value this final testamentary we would be missing

approximations, tentative versions, the variations, the changes of tone and perspective, the circuitous itineraries, the dealings in shadows…we would be missing the errors, the stillbirths, the censored snapshots,the trimmings, the less inspired creations…(we must) remember that under the pomp and circumstance there is a rustle and stirring, avast, dark, rich forest full of fallen or

discarded leaves.

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The art quilter above told a story illustrated ina number of sketches, journals, workbooks, samples.

These examples how women give meaning to their quilting illustrate the different ways in which women construe their craft/art. All seem to invest considerable meaning into their work. Thismeaning is complex and warrants further exploration. It is often hidden.

6. Layers of hiddenness

The above brief introduction illustrates several layers of hiddenness. Firstly, there is the relative lack of awareness of women's creative skills in quilting in our culture. In general ifasked many people would respond to the question 'what is quilting' with a vague notion of it being something to do with hand stitched hexagon shapes. Nothing is understood in such a responseabout the huge investment of time and energy and creative design and skill involved in quilting, nor its widespread presence in the cultural life of many women.

Next there is the lack of understanding of the artistic process and creative nature of these activities. Whether or not quilting is regarded as an art or a craft, in either case it in involves the production of incredibly varied and

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beautiful pieces of textile work. It seems that it is a form of women's work that is underrated and largely unsung.

Then there is the way in which women often hide and squeeze in the activity within their domesticsphere. A leisure activity that women largely undertake is squeezed into domestic space, and time devoted to it rationed and not seen as an essential part of a woman's identity and self; particularly when women work and have childcare responsibilities. It is thus a hidden art and craft, often only becoming more overt and flourishing in a woman's later life.

6. Informal interviews

The series of informal interviews with women quilters during 2010-11 and research using secondary data have led to the development a series of themes to explore in a more extensive study.

These are

Community and identity Harmony –v- competition Space to perform the quilting practice Quilting as an art or a craft Level of engagement in quilting activity

meaning and importance. Layers of hiddenness

I am continuing this investigation into Women’s Quilting Lives by undertaking further primary

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data collection in the form of more formal interviews with UK quilters to try to establish the range of ways in which quilting forms both a part of their identity and how they conceptualisetheir quilting work; art or craft? At this stage I have not planned the sample size or location but I plan to advertise for participants in the National Quilters Guild Journal publication, and the various quilt groups that exist across the UK. I would not anticipate interviewing more than25 quilters due to the time consuming nature of interviewing and transcribing. However, I shall interview those with a range of forms of engagement with quilting, as defined by the woman, that embraces both quilting for domestic purposes, as textile art and as a professional career as a tutor and/or nationally recognised practitioner. It is likely that I will seek out asmaller number of women for in depth interviews to produce a quilting auto/biography of each one.

The purpose of this study is to produce a book that explores the meaning of quilting in UK women's lives.

The theoretical research approach will be a phenomenological one, seeking to find out how thelived experience of quilting is woven into the identities of the women concerned and how they define themselves as quilters

Comments are very welcome. Please contact me via the email below.

Dr. Irene SelwayEmail: irenselway@btinternet.co.uk

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Bibliography

Atkinson, and Burt, E (2011) Quilting and well being in The Quilter, Journal No.127.Quilters Guild of the British Isles.

Burke, E. (2010 Cover Stories; Guardian 10.04.10

Janet Berlo (2001) Quilting Lessons; Notes from the scrap bag of a writer and quilter. University of Nebraska Press. Lincoln and London.

Manguel, Alberto (2010) A reader on Reading. USA. Yale University Press

Kuchler, S and Were, G (2005) Pacific patterns. New York. Thames and Hudson

Stebbins, R (1996) The Barbershop Singer: inside the social world of a musical hobby. Toronto. The University of Toronto Press.

Stengal, C (2007) The Quilter Identity: An exploration of West Coast Canadian Women’s Lived Experiences. (Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, University of Calgary)

Stalp, M.C. (2007) Tripping over the tulips; using feminist methods to study contemporary U.S. Quilters. in Stalp, M.C. 2007. Quilting; the fabric of everyday life. Oxford. Berg

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Stalp, M.C. 2007. Quilting; the fabric of everyday life. Oxford. Berg

Woolf, V (1929) A room of one’s own. San Diego. Harcourt Brace Jovanich.

Woods, M L (1993) The Canadian Quilting Revival 1970-1990: explaining the meaning of quilting in women’s lives. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. New York University.

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