Gees Bend Quilts

I have just spent the last couple of hours watching youtube video's about Gees Bend quilters and their history.

Wow!  I truly connected with their approach and use of all fabrics they came across, with no plan in sight except to use what they had.  Clothing, bits of fabric found along the road from God knows where, all used to create quilts that began as simply a means to keep themselves and their families warm.

And to this day, they still quilt in that way.  It seems to start as a simple thought, and builds to a finished quilt based on the fabrics they have at hand.  It's just amazing to look at these quilts and know that every piece is placed based on what they see in their minds eye.  

They are not concerned with perfection or even balance as we 'modern' day quilters are.  We get caught up in following someone else's pattern and are dismayed if it doesn't achieve perfection.  We are so very, very wrong in our approach.

I've always had a penchant for throwing no piece of fabric that could be used in even the smallest way, their use of fabric by happenstance so appealed to me!

But their skill level is way beyond my mental meanderings.  I don't have their gift to create in the mind and then put it to a physical use as they do.  I found myself looking at their quilts and trying to 'figure out' what plan they used.  As a result, I struggled to appreciate that their plan wasn't a plan at all.  It's what moves them to put a piece of fabric here or there and in the end they have created something so unique and so beautiful!

It's horrible to realize that today's quilting has become so structured, so binding in the approach that we can't freely create as they do.

I want to figure out how to deprogram my process of quilting.  I don't know where to begin but, begin I will.  

They mostly use hand sewing.  They hand sew pieces of fabric together, then they hand quilt it all.  Some do piece with old machines, but still hand stitch the quilting.
Those of you that know me, know that picking up a needle causes me to shudder at the thought!  So hand quilting won't be part of my quest at all.

But it's the overall mental process I admire the most.  The innate ability to create from their mind, totally freeform in their approach that has me spellbound!  

It seems some of their quilts came about by simply looking at the world around them, their own community.  Buildings, night skies, water, fields, even the newspaper covered walls of some of their homes from childhood.  The patterns resemble some of that structure found around them.  How they interpret it into pieces of fabric is truly unique and can't be copied.  Nothing can duplicate what they create as each one is so particular to that person and their thoughts.

Can you imagine the joy of creating a quilt that is totally our of your own mind, your interpretation of whatever it is that motivates you to lay pieces of fabric together to represent that?  

That is what the women, generations of women, of Gees Bend Alabama have done for decades.  And the skill of making these quilts, the physical requirements, are handed down one generation to another.  The creations however, are as unique as each person who makes them.  That isn't something that can be taught, but seen and felt and generated in a way that only that person can do.

When I think I've made a pretty quilt, I'm basing that on how close to the 'pattern' the person who created it envisioned.  And while it is a creative process it is only conforming to someone else's creation.  It is so far removed from what the women of Gees Bend do. 

I don't include photos of these quilts as they are each unique and too many to add.  My hope is that you will find the youtube videos simply by typing in the search on youtube for "Gees Bend quilts" and spend some time listening and watching to hear and see their history. 

There can be little doubt that they will inspire you in ways you can't fathom.  I certainly never expected to be so moved by their history and their talents.  Found myself laughing with them and crying with them and felt connected in ways that were unimagined. 

To me, they are simply the purest and truest form of what I would define as a quilter you would ever find, anywhere. Ever.