Evolution Of Quilting

In “The Century Quilt”, the speaker illustrates the importance of the family quilt in which determines her future heritage to pass on. The speaker states “My sister and I were in love with Meema’s Indian blanket.” to create nostalgic tone and to relive a sentimental moment in her life. The blanket provided peace, love, and safety to the speaker during the times she spent underneath it. “I remembered how I’d planned to inherit that blanket, how we used to wrap ourselves at play in its folds and be chieftains and

Guatemala is home to a centuries-old weaving tradition through which indigenous women assert a sense of “belongingness” to family and community. The women and their families are descendants of the ancient Maya Indians, and the tools of their trade are cotton yarn, the backstrap loom, and time-proven patterns and techniques. Each village and region is identifiable for its own weaving design and colors. Techniques and designs are passed from mother to daughter and traditional clothes are still preferred by most. Some believe that the different patterns existed before the Spaniards arrived. Others believe they were brought from Europe. It is known that the conquistadors used the clothing to label people and control the populations. The traditional technique was to wrap the threads on a warping board, and then mount them on back-strap loom where a panel was woven. Panels were decorated with brocade designs depending on the textile tradition of the weaver’s community as well as her personal taste and skills. Finally, the woven panels were sewn together to make a garment (Guatemalan Culture).

On viewing her work, I am reminded of the traditional art of quilt making, an art once dismissed as “women’s work” but reevaluated by the Pattern and Decoration movement during the second wave of feminism during the 1970’s. Historically quilt makers have used its qualities to communicate political and social messages. For example, the Abolition quilts made during the US Civil war era were inscribed with messages decrying the evils of slavery. However, Gower uses the repetitions of the motifs and tessellations of quilt making practice to draw attention to the excesses of mass

In the poem “The Century Quilt” by Marilyn Nelson Waniek the “Century Quilt” is a nostalgic necessity of the narrator. The upbringing of nostalgia throughout the poem is the telling of an Odyssey, a journey home though not physical but emotional. Through the constant use of pragmatic imagery that is erupting with allusions to the past and the unusual use of form that gives the poem a platform to project itself Waniek is able to produce a stunning display of emotion and nostalgia that displays the complex meanings of the quilt and the vital importance of it to the narrator.

physically and mentally, quilting has acted as an art that transcends racial barriers and to bring

The days of living off the land have long since passed. Junior says, “… my mother stood in line to get us commodities. We carried them home, happy to have food, and opened the canned beef that even the dogs wouldn’t eat” (Alexie2). The Spokane reservation doesn’t provide any means for them to provide for their families on their own. They rely in large part on the government to supply their basic living necessities. This type of reliance doesn’t allow for other traditions such as the quilting Junior references or other traditions such as basket weaving. Perhaps the lack of traditions that are left is what brings us full circle to why the class reunions are held in the local

Quilting can also be used for expression of oneself or for social commentary. Back in the 1800’s when there were many wars women would usually make quilts because they were what was needed in those times and the fabric was often hard to come by and it was usually saved for clothes making.” It was a means to escape from the isolation of their lifestyle and it allowed them the artistic freedom to express themselves. The quilts produced by our ancestors told stories about their lifestyles that could not be captured by pen and paper. Every quilt we see today, regardless of when the quilt was made, relates a story. The types of fabrics, the design of the quilt, the signature of the quilter, all reveal an intimate story of the woman or man who made the quilt.” (Meeske,Quilt Me a Story) They used quilting to get out of the bleakness and horrible things that were going on in their lives at the moment and put how they felt in the quilts. Around the mid-1800’s women quilted a lot more to show artistic talent, political views, and even their emotions. “Prior to a woman’s ability to vote, some women used their artistic talents and expressed their political views through a quilt. The issue of slavery in the United States in the mid-1800s led to quilt patterns called Slave Chain

The quilts are used in the representation of what heritage means to Mama and Maggie versus Dee’s view of them. Mama describes that:

The natives altered this technique by changing how the quilt was represented; Natives’ quilts represented their culture and where they

The “Native American Masterpieces from the Charles and Valerie Diker Collection” exhibition is a selection of extraordinary Native American works of art that is drawn entirely from the New York’s Charles and Valerie Diker Collection. The collection celebrates the Native North American legacy and the artist’s attainments from culturally diverse indigenous civilizations across the North American region.

Similar to the Navajo, the Lakota are a matriarchal society. The Lakota people practice similar traditions to the Navajo in that direction matters. Whether is be East or West the direction is important to their religion the same way east is important to the Navajo's belief of the rising sun. To the Lakota people directions have a unique color associated with it and certain characteristics as well. North is white and is portrayed as cold, South is yellow and known for its full-days, East is red for its sunrise, and West is black as that is where the sky becomes dark. However, there are two additional directions, up and down, up is blue because of the sky, and down is green because of the earth. This is the backbone of the Lakota people. Another tradition in which the Lakota people are unique to is the Sun Dance. During the hottest day of the year, men, and men only, pierce their chest with a hook tied to a rope and connect to a pole to dance. This is done as a vision quest for the individual dancing as they do so until they collapse or the day is done. One last tradition that both Hopi and Navajo people can relate to are sweat lodges. However, in Lakota people they are referred to as Rock Lodges or Inipi. The reason for this is because it is for their ancestors (the rocks) who are being focused on, not the individuals within. The rock lodge is seen as the womb of the earth. This is why

The archetype in this story which appears to hold the most symbolic value is the quilts that were sewn by her late mother. The struggle the character has in the story is that she holds culturally symbolic value with the quilts her mother sewed and sees that their use was representative to the lifestyle of the post American Slavery culture she and all of her ancestors were apart of and accustomed to. However, her daughter Dee seems to have an extreme level of narcissism towards these

What Dee failed to realize was that the quilts she wanted were in fact a part of their family’s heritage. Each quilt was made with with parts of clothing from different family members and sown together to show their importance in the family and also for remembrance of who they all

Culturally, the symbolism of a quilt is understood to be an heirloom piece that is closely guarded and highly prized. The ownership of the quilt and the generational lines it passes down is known before the piecing is begun. Stitching the pieces together is done by groups of women. The tiny bits of cloth each carry a memory, one from grandpa's shirt, one square from an aunt's Christmas dress, a piece from the flannel nightgown a mother wore as she pulled her sick child close to her bosom. The pieces are carefully and artistically pieced together into a collage of

The Flower cloth is intriguingly designed by hand. Hmong women were responsible for sewing the cloth and the beautiful embroideries. Several Hmong women use a rare method of reverse appliqué, "designs made by sewing on a patch to the underside of a fabric and then cutting away and turning under the edge of the top fabric" (Fadiman ). The design is extremely difficult and takes years to acquire this skill. Hmong dresses are elaborated with trimmings, coins, and a variety of colorful yarns. The dresses were highly decorative and added bulk to the man or woman wearing the dress. However, the Rooster hat is a modernized tradition when the Hmong people came to the United States. The base of the hat was normally purchased and decorated with the coins and trimmings.