I have always loved antique textiles, and vintage pieces of all kinds, but quilts... they have a special place in my heart.
My grandmother was a quilter. She met with her quilting group every week, and I loved hearing about each special pieces they were working on. Each Christmas, she gave one very lucky family member a quilt. It was a ceremony, really: love made into an object that took countless hours to create. The whole family would marvel at the choices, and she would tell the story of how this quilt came together and why it was made just for that person.
Quilts are stories.
I’ve been reimagining vintage clothing, unfinished antique quilts and quilt blocks, and vintage tea sets with missing pieces for the POLKA DOT CLUB, reworking them into something new. I love to think of time, care, and another maker from the past as my collaborators. Every piece arrives with someone else’s decisions already in it, and my job is to listen and answer back.
We’ll see where it leads, but for now I have a handful of pieces in the works, the first of which came from that beautiful quilt top: MINI QUILTS AND QUILTED VESTS. They are not fast or thrown together. They are made with respect for the maker who put so much time, so long ago, into something special. I hope I’ve done just that.
Some of the many steps that went into making each of these pieces: hand washing, repairing stitches, trimming and adding 100% cotton batting, stitching- by hand for the mini quilts and LOTS of top stitching for the Vests... the joy, work, and beauties is all in the details.
