I know, you've seen and heard of these in bits and pieces for a while now. But I never did gather all my girls and my thoughts about them in one place before the show, so indulge me if you will, today.
The inspiration for this project came from this quilt and these vintage girls' sewing patterns. The quilt - an amazing piece of handwork - was beyond any kind of repair or even display, but too beautiful and precious to not do something special with. Cutting ever so carefully into it, it became the foundation of each of these six quilts. The embroidered dress on each quilt piece came next - each inspired by the pattern drawings on one of these vintage patterns. As I chose a dress pattern to work with, I dreamed up a girl - her name derived from the era of the pattern. And this girl? Well, I spent a lot of time thinking about her...and choosing just the right prints, design, and notions for her. All the pieces of the quilts are vintage materials - I even became insistent about the thread being old and 'found'. Did I really get into this project? Why yes, yes I did. These girls crept into my brain and my life, and I enjoyed making their quilts immensely. My thoughts while making them ranged from big to small - clothing, gender, eras...to "oh, this button is pretty!" and so forth. I dearly loved the time spent working on these.
I do wish I had photographed them before framing, as the glass really gets in the way in these photos. But the framing is so beautifully done (local peeps: Thomas at Artist & Craftsman is fabulous!), I wouldn't dare mess with it. So, anyway... the girls:
Margaret, 1945
Patricia, 1956
Susan, 1967
Jennifer, 1970
Lisa, 1971
Heather, 1975
Now that their time at Edith and Edna is over, one is staying with me (My favorite - Margaret), some are headed into their new homes here in Portland, and some are headed to The Shop right now.
Also in The Shop, you'll find a handful of the Embroidered Hoops that were a part of the Everyday Threads show as well.
These small quilts meant so much to me in the making, thanks for indulging me in one last little show and tell!
