Patricia J. Cooper

The Quilters is a lovely book. It is filled with the reminiscences of elderly women who lived in Texas and in New Mexico during the early part of the 20th century. Back in the 1970s, the authors, Patricia Cooper and Norma Bradley Allen, interviewed women for whom quilting had been an important part of their life. Many of the women had grown up and spent their lives in isolated rural farms and ranches. Fabric and money were scarce, and quilts were a necessity for keeping warm in their show more unheated homes. Each quilter had a scrap bag where she kept pieces of cloth recycled from worn-out clothing or feedsacks. Often, family members, even farmer husbands, helped by cutting patches and helping piece quilt tops. While some of the women preferred to do all of their own quilting, others enjoyed the social interaction of quilting bees. All of these women took pride in quilting for their family and friends, though many also made quilts for charity, for school or church fundraising, or to sell for extra family income.

The authors have woven--or rather, pieced-- together the narratives and have interspersed them with color photos of quilts, and black and white pictures of farmsteads, churches, and the quilters themselves. It is humbling for a novice quilter like me to examine the beautiful color combinations and designs of their quilts. The book contains page after page of stories that bring to life the kindness, ingenuity, strength, and humor of these women. Rather than try to describe what they say, I offer these two memorable stories from The Quilters:

“Mama was a beautiful quilter. She done the best work in the county. Everybody knew it. She never let nobody else touch her quilts, and sometimes when she was through quiltin’ for the day on a job that she liked a lot herself, she would pin a cloth over the top of the quilt so nobody could look at it till she was done.
I always longed to work with her and I can tell you how plain I recall the day she said, ‘Sarah, you come quilt with me now if you want to.’
I was too short to sit in a chair and reach it, so I got my needle and thread and stood beside her. I put that needle through and pulled it back up again, then down, and my stitches were about three inches long. Papa come in about that time, he stepped back and said, ‘Florence, that child is flat ruinin’ your quilt.’
Mama said, ‘She’s doin’ no kind of a thing. She’s quiltin’ her first quilt.’
He said, ‘Well, you’re jest goin’ to have to rip it all out tonight.’
Mama smiled at me and said, ‘Them stitches is going to be in that quilt when it wears out.’
All the time they was talkin’ my stitches was gettin’ shorter.
That was my first quilt. I have it still to look at sometimes.”

And this:

“ When my mother was them last days in the county hospital, she said she was worried she hadn’t finished June’s quilt. ‘Well,’ I said, ‘don’t fret, Mama, I’ll do it right now.’ And I did. Went right over to her house where she had that frame up in the living room and I worked all night and into the next morning. Finished it by noon. I went right back to the hospital to tell Mama and she said she could rest easy now. That was the last good thing I was able to do for her.”

The Quilters is an older book, and may not be easy to find now. It’s not an oversized, gorgeous, full-color book like The Quilts of Gee’s Bend, but it’s still worth reading. You can practically hear those women’s voices speaking, and that is a treat all by itself. I recommend this book highly to anyone interested in quilting, women’s studies, and American oral history. show less

This book was first published in 1977, and was a pioneering work in quilt history books. It quickly became a classic. The stories here are basically oral transcriptions of quilters in New Mexico and Texas with back stories of their lives. It was the basis of a Broadway play later on. A fast read; there are many photos included (although mostly in B & W).

If making quilts is more than a chore for you, if it's something you love to do, then you will love reading this book. You will feel a kinship with the women whose stories are told here. Just remember to have tissues handy--I found my emotions overwhelmed me as I read it.
A classic, not to be missed.

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