New Community Quilt Story Features Begin
One of my goals for Sew Worthy Mama is to nurture a community of quilty mamas. One way we are going to grow this community together is through Community Quilt Story Features.
Today, I’ll share an example of what this can look like by showing you a special quilt of mine and telling you the story it holds.
I can’t wait to start sharing some of your stories here, too. Please submit your story and photos here and I’ll be in touch about sharing your quilt feature! I’ll share stories here in the journal, in my email newsletter, and on socials.
The Dress Scraps Fan Quilt
This quilt actually belongs to my daughter, Pippa. My grandma, June Hannah, specifically wanted her to have it. Grandma gave it to Pippa in the last couple months of her life, earlier this year.
I was at my grandma’s house visiting. She had recently allowed me to choose a quilt from a few choices to have myself, but this time, she had a specific one in mind to give to Pippa. She told me to go back to her bedroom and find “the fan quilt.”
It was on a rack with a few other quilts, but it was the only one with fans. I brought it to her, and she told us its history.
Her mother, Helen Elder Sauder, had made it in the 1930s or ‘40s. The fabrics used were scrap fabrics left over from dresses Helen made for June. Helen gifted it to June as a wedding gift in 1952. June gave it to Pippa in 2022, 70 years later. It has moved through five generations.
When she gave it to Pippa, there was no label. She knew it was important to get the history recorded, so she dictated a label and asked me to print it and appliqué it to the back of the quilt. It reads: “Fan Quilt by Helen Elder Sauder ‘My mother crafted this quilt for me (c. 1930s or ‘40s) from scraps left over from the many dresses she made for me. I believe the Methodist ladies aide to which she belonged quilted it. After I married she gifted it to me.’ –June Sauder Hannah On January 19th, 2022, June gifted this quilt to her great granddaughter, Pippa June Chatham, who was 2 at the time.”
[See my post: How to Make Custom Printed Quilt Labels at Home]
Grandma said that she could still look at the fabrics and remember back to each of the dresses her mother made from them first.
I have strong memories like that with particular fabrics. There is a bold red Deco style print that sends me right back to sorting scraps at Grandma’s as a kid. There are yellow gingham scraps of the first dress I ever made myself. There is this swirly rainbow print that reminds me of the first purse I made and how ragged I wore it. So, I can imagine the way those prints took her back to the 30s and 40s. Perhaps this function of fabric memory holding is what drives my compulsive need to hold on to every little odd triangle, strip, and selvedge.
This is the most special quilt I have.
Be Featured in Community Quilt Stories
I am excited to invite you to share a story about a special quilt of yours. The only requirements are to provide a story and 1-5 high quality photos. You can submit your story here. I will be sharing stories periodically here in the Sew Worthy Mama Journal, in my email newsletter, and occasionally on social media.
And be sure you are signed up for my newsletter to hear all the future Community Quilt Stories.
2 comments
Such a wonderful quilt story! Looking at the fabrics, I am giddy that those are real feedsack prints and I see that many of the designs I have reproductions of. Thanks to your grandmother (RIP) and you for putting a label on this quilt. I learned early on to do so and just listened to a Textile Talk by the Quilt Alliance reminding us all to do so and why. What a lovely honor to your great grandmother that her work is still so cherished all these decades later!
I have a funny story concerning a quilt I made for a grandson who was about 17 at the time. He’s 26 now. I need to take pictures of the quilt first, or the story doesn’t make as much sense.