Strip Piecing

In the evenings lately I have been perusing Souls Grown Deep, specifically their Gee's Bend quilters archive. Gee's Bend quilts were some of the first quilts I saw that made me want to make quilts as a teenager because I had never seen quilts look like that before- they broke so many rules that I didn't know were up for the breaking. I'm sure a lot of quilt makers today can say the same thing :) Since first person story telling is like candy to me I've been methodically working through the quilters' profiles and reading each of their stories. Word to the wise- if you hover over the quilts some of them have a second photo of the back or close-up details available. I realized that about 20 quilters in and had to start over to make sure I didn't miss a single thing because that's how Virgos live. 

As you're soaking up those gorgeous quilts from Gee's Bend, remember that it is never just about beauty and skill disconnected entirely from context.  Gee's Bend quilt makers were and are activists, organizers and change makers fighting for Black Liberation. Their quilts tell stories of life as poor Black women in rural Alabama. Many of the quilters belonged to one of the few cooperatives of Black Women in the US- The Freedom Quilting Bee. I thought this quote from Father Francis X. Walter, a White priest involved in the Bee, could just as easily be applied to quilt making as to activism:

And I like his fashion response to those thoughts:

Through composition and materials we can and should strive to tell our own stories. I believe that the Gee's Bend quilt makers are artistic geniuses. But there is more to learn from their work than just how to copy their specific and culturally honed aesthetic- there is story telling and identity wrapped up in those quilts at a magnitude that I want to see in all quilts! While I don't think it's actually possible to copy someone else's quilt and make the same impact with it (I mean, you can try, but good luck and why not make your own quilt?), I do think that if you're a White person gleaning inspiration from Gee's Bend quilts it also wouldn't be a bad idea to deepen both your understanding of your own cultural background and your support of Black Liberation work happening today (use google, start locally)- and to do so quietly from the back seat in honor of Father Walter's work. 

I'm not sure if I learned to strip piece from studying Gee's Bend quilts specifically, but I am sure that seeing those images early on helped my understanding of the practice. I like strip piecing because it's an effective way to make a quilt with very little waste and a lot of room for play. When I strip piece I feel a kinship with other quilt makers current and past because I know we're playing some of the same brain games. The way I like to approach it reminds me of knitting with variegated yarn- where colors can stripe or pool on you by adjusting the length or width of your piece. If you use a plain wide strip the resulting top can be pretty unfussy seam-wise, lending itself well to new quilters who are hand quilting for the first time or to those who want to practice more refined quilting stitches (like a fan pattern, etc.). It's also nice for heartier fabric, denim (as seen in many Gee's Bend quilts) but also upholstery fabric samples, cloth from wool suits, canvas from bags and futon covers... because of how few "intersections" there can be in a strip top if you wiggle things around. Personally I am fond of any quilting (or drawing, or cooking, or, or, or...) method that can create both humbly simple compositions like mine above and staggering feats of compositional genius (see also: Bojagi, a sock quilt (!?!), and these two contemporary pieces, all utilizing variations of strip piecing).

Note: this piece was originally published on Patreon on March 22nd, 2021. Included there was a downloadable PDF illustrating my method of strip piecing. If you are interested in such a thing you can join me on Patreon for a month or email me for a copy ($5 either way).