disclaimer: that is NOT my DH, nor is it MY bra!!!!Hi everyone - it's time for a discussion. Please jump in and post.
Quilting - let's face it, it's a woman's world. Yes, we welcome those few men who create with fabric, but mostly its us girls. And, the history of quilting is women's work - let's call it "work of the home".... whether it was to create blankets for warmth or for art and beauty.
So - it is easy to type cast quilting as 'traditional' - when it need not be...
And it is easy to think of it as a 'craft' more than an art...
And people may assume quilters aremore likely to be stay-at-home moms than doctors or lawyers - or professors.
So - if you consider yourself either a feminist and/or a professional woman - have you ever found yourself covertly quilting? Or does your sewing machine happily coexist with your computer, your scalpel, your rolodex?
In the sixties - when you burned your bra - - were you simultaneously sewing nine-patches?
Leave a comment, - and let it all out... I'm curious if there are covert quilters out there...Tell us your profession and your relationship to quilting, quilt classes, and quilt guilds. Be warned, however, I may be researching for an article on quilter's profiles (no names, of course, without permission)
Kate
6 comments:
I learned to quilt in the '80s while I was going to college from a family friend. When I was doing an internship in New Orleans, a guild in a neighboring town was my monthly escape from work & study. In the 90s, the juggle of building a career as a Dietitian plus starting a family left little time for hobbies. But I still managed to squeeze in time to make about 1 quilt a year. As much as I loved quilt guilds, I had to quit attending them because of time. Now the girls are teens and I do consulting work, which allows me to build in a day or two a month just for quilting (and I get work done when waiting up for them at night). I always have handwork in my bag and have been known to complete applique blocks while attending all day educational workshops or meetings. And I have a stack of cards with my blog address that I give to the quilt curious.
So in answer to your question...I'm not a covert quilter. But I never burned a bra either.
Hi Kate,
I'm not a covert quilter in the least. . . .I've hand pieced on airplanes, trains, while on jury duty and through 1/2 of my lunch at work.
I'm in Credit & Collections (business, NOT personal [thank goodness]) and need to have the peace that I get from handwork.
While I use my sewing machines quite a bit I still find myself going back to handwork for the portability.
I've been a quilt instructor, quild speaker and officer over many years. . . I believe that my quilting life is more important that my 9-5 life --- but that 9-5 is the one that pays the bills at the moment!!
I'm a grad student/researcher/programmer, and a semi-covert quilter. I certainly don't talk about it at work, but then I'm not that chatty about personal stuff anyway. I did bring in a quilt as a going-away gift for someone, and had a bunch of people sign it with fabric markers. Most of them assumed I had bought it somewhere, and I didn't correct them. If I hide my hobby, it's more because I'm private in general, rather than because I think it would be looked down on. I kind of doubt people here would care that much.
My dad used to work at a law firm, and a bunch of the high-level female lawyers would get together and quilt during lunch. :)
By the way, welcome to California! I hope you like it here.
-Holly, in the SF Bay Area
Hi Kate-Well, I didn't wear a bra in the 60's, since I was a child then! LOL! But I have been sewing my own clothes since the 60's, and eventually I started playing with scraps to make doll blankets. In my teen years, I made one crazy quilt-a thing of not beauty! I never hid the fact that I love to quilt, sew, or knit. I am now an RN and there are actually many gals that are RN's that quilt! For some reason, RN's find they need a creative outlet!
Mary-thanks for an interesting topic!
Germaine Greer raised some quiltmakers' hackles when she wrote this essay:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2007/aug/13/art
I'm the convenor of the ALABiblioQuilters--librarians who quilt. We're not covert! Our group quilts are auctioned to fund library/information science scholarships.
I think quiltmaking is one of many choices for what to do with your time. If a feminist/professional (and how do you define professional?) were a sculptor or a dog-breeder or an amateur astronomer would the question come up?
I guess that is one area that I never worried about though now it seems that if you quilt they want to put you in the old lady stage. That's what bugs me! Also, I don't think people realize that this is a form of art and that when you make a quilt you are making a piece of art.
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