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Quilting is a philosophy

Updated: Apr 10, 2021

by Anouk



Quilting? You’ve said quilting?

I can hear you: “Quilting? What does it mean?” If I say “patchwork”, you will surely understand better. For a French speaker, a patchwork is the usual name for a coverlet made up with a variety of pieces of fabric stitched together. The harmonious blend of the pieces gives to the bedspread a unique originality on design and pattern.

Well, quilting means making a patchwork. Quilting is the name used in all the English-speaking countries for such a handcraft activity and used as well, by whoever practices it worldwide.

A quilt is therefore the name of this kind of thick blanket made of two layers with a soft wadding between. The three layers are sewed up together by a careful work of stitching forming drawings.

Actually, the patchwork is the first layer made by the joined pieces and to quilt denotes the padding work.



Lynette, an Australian quilter, explains clearly what the difference between patchwork and quilt is.







An Amish tradition


Even if the art of quilting exists in every country of the world, its practice has developed mainly in North America through the Amish tradition.

Unexpectedly, this very strict community concentrates on the most extraordinary pieces.

Amish woman at work and traditional Amish quilts

The women all dressed in black have produced the most colorful quilts we ever have seen. The pieces usually cut from plain fabrics are joined in a real explosion of colors. The tradition is carried out today through the same process.



A waste recycling concern


The art of patchwork find its source in a waste recycling concern. The colorful pieces were usually cut up from worn out clothing- at the Amish, from children clothing.






Quilt 19th century made with fabrics

from old garments.






This craft is not limited to the Amish tradition even if this community is a reference in the field of the art of patchwork . Each home has produced its own highly creative and refined quilts. Patchwork has provided a heritage of master pieces that is now displayed in museums.

American home quilt 19th century -Metropolitan Museum of Art


Quilting is a leisurely practice but not only for grannies


The utility function has disappeared in favor of a purely artistic interest.


The art of quilting counterpanes is still lasting today and offers a tremendous fund of creativity. Even if the technics have changed thanks to new tools brought by the modern technology, the three basic principles remain assembling pieces of different fabrics, softness, overstitching. But the utility function has disappeared in favor of a purely artistic interest. The art quilt has become a complete mean of artistic expression. Many contemporary artists, men and women, carry out master pieces. The American quilter, Erick Wolfmeyer is for me an iconic artist.

This video is about Erick Wolfmeyer's next exhibition which proves that quilting belongs to plastic art.


Museums and galleries organize rather often contemporary quilts exhibitions but every year, the Carrefour Européen du Patchwork which take place at Sainte Marie aux Mines in the East of France. This international event presents exhibitions of contemporary quilters from all the world. Its name of crossroad (carrefour) illustrates how quilting can have multiple faces: from traditional to contemporary with no limit neither border.

https://www.patchwork-europe.eu



Why quilting is my philosophy?


I have been making quilts for a long time now. Quilting for me is not a hobby but a philosophic experience because it is part of a complete artistic approach. I don’t target the usefulness of my work even if it will always achieve to be a counterpane.

When creating a quilt pattern, I always start from an intellectual step, a conceptual approach that involves deep feelings leading to the transcendence specific to any artistic process. Choosing material and colors is the second step, this is a decisive operation because it must precisely translate my idea, what I want to express, in this case: what I want to show.


Erick Wolfmeyer says exactly what I expect from the quilting practice:

“A quilt is a commitment, a physical and spiritual expedition, full of highs and lows. As with all good travel, I return a changed person. My desire to make quilts parallels my unrelenting desire to access that which is greater than myself. The act of creation is a kind of prayer and meditation, an exercise of faith in a theology of art. A finished quilt illustrates a metaphysical transformation of energy to thought, and thought to physical manifestation.”


Making a patchwork requires a great deal of patience and precision. It is a methodical and rigorous construction that admits no error or approximation. It is a discipline that constantly calls for the mastery of gesture and logic as well. The need for concentration is a kind of spiritual experience where occurs the union of mind and matter.

 

Quilting process










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