How To Post A Shop Update On Etsy
Discover the rare gamble to own a one-of-a-kind patchwork piece from the women of Gee's Bend—a rural, Black community of Alabama quilting legends.
Deep in the south is a small, rural community, surrounded past the Alabama River and steeped in history. The 700 or so residents of Gee'due south Bend—at present named Boykin—are by and large descendants of slaves; for generations, they worked the fields belonging to the local Pettway plantation. Since the early 1920s, the women have quilted hundreds of patchwork masterpieces, passing their expertise and patterns downward through the years. Known worldwide as The Gee's Bend Quilters, their renowned works have been featured in over 20 museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Philadelphia Museum of Art. And for the first fourth dimension, these expressive tapestries are available for buy online.
The Gee'due south Curve Quilters and their quilts embody storytelling, resilience, and beauty. At Etsy, we're big believers in connecting through creativity and in the undeniable magic of owning a piece of history. In partnership with Nest (a nonprofit focused on equity in the Makers Movement) and Souls Grown Deep (a foundation focused on elevating Blackness artists), we are proud to back up these incredible artisans, showcasing their one-of-a-kind colorful creations.
The following story features the quiltmakers in their ain words. Read on to come across a few of these talented makers and shop their beautiful wares.
Mary Margaret Pettway
"At the end of the quilting procedure, y'all can rub your hand over information technology—you tin can experience the fabric come to life."
Shop Mary Margaret Pettway's quilts from Etsy store Lunky's Baby
The daughter of Lucy T. Pettway, Mary Margaret Pettway is a third generation Gee'due south Bend Quilter; her children are the fourth. Growing upward surrounded by all the talent and bulldoze of the women in her mother'due south quilting circle made a big impression on her. "[She] used to take a little clique." Mary Margaret says. "Information technology would be about five or six of them sitting around, just quilting and talking. They would finish either that day or early morning the solar day afterward." These days, Mary Margaret loves to work by herself; "I'm what my mother used to call, 'particular about my stitches.'" That precision is something y'all can see and feel in her finished products. "When you're washed, when yous hang that quilt up or spread it out on a bed, it looks so pretty!" she says. "Y'all simply want to touch it."
Sharon Williams
"I quilt because it makes me happy! My favorite thing is when people like them."
Shop Sharon Williams's quilts from Etsy shop Sha's Store Gee's Curve
Sharon Williams remembers the exact moment she started making. "I used to become and sit under the quilt with my momma (Rosalee Pettway), watching her," Sharon says. "I day, when she had her back turned, I tried to become and sew that quilt myself—and she saw I could make a stitch or two! So, she put me on the quilt." Partial to bold colors and a fan of freestyling, Sharon has perfected her quilting technique. "There are many unlike patterns, but I like doing my own thing, just coming up with an idea and going for it. It'southward very relaxing for me. I get out in that location, turn my radio on, and I tin sew up a storm!"
Caster Pettway
"When people look at my work, they know me, the person that I am."
Store Pulley Pettway'due south quilts from Etsy shop Quilts past Pulley
To spark inspiration, Caster Pettway goes on walks. "That's like the best matter ever," she says, "finding beauty in myself and all around me." The girl of Gee'south Bend quilter Indiana Bendolph, and the 2nd youngest of 10 children, Caster chop-chop jumped into crafting and helping around the house. "Everything my momma did, I wanted to do," she remembers, "and so I learned to quilt. At six years old, I was cooking cornbread and pulling cotton in the field—the smallest one out there!" Today, Pulley enjoys making time for herself and her favorite hobby, preferring to piece of work with a Grandmother's Dream pattern. Her favorite matter about making quilts? "Giving them away!"
Doris Pettway Mosely
"Quilting is my life right now, I dear information technology!"
Shop Doris Pettway Mosely'southward quilts from Etsy Shop Kiara'south Quilt Bazaar
Born and raised in Boykin, Alabama, Doris Mosely learned to sew from her mother, Leola Pettway. Though she used to quilt for loved ones ("I love that it helps me provide—making for my family, my friends," she says), sitting down to run up has become a joyful pastime, ane that Doris loves. "I find beauty in fabrics, colors, different patterns," she says. "I brand my patterns up, and when I take piffling $.25 of materials left, I but quilt them together and see how it comes out."
Emma Mooney Pettway
"It's the love of the quilt. Looking at the pretty material makes me want to do something exciting."
Shop Emma Mooney Pettway's quilts from Etsy Store Match Made Quilts
For Emma Mooney Pettway, creativity is a part of her family unit'due south heritage. Her female parent, Tanzy Mooney, is a Gee'due south Curve Quilter, as are her grandmothers, Mary Major and Lottie Mooney—the latter whose quilt was i of x designs featured on a U.s. postage stamp in 2006. "They taught me how to stitch at a young age," Emma remembers. "I institute inspiration just sitting under the quilt, threading the needle." And then it'due south no surprise that her penchant for patchwork comes naturally. "Information technology just pops in my head when I piece up textile," she says. "I love matching all the colors together."
Kristin Pettway
"I'grand inspired to keep quilting to keep the legacy going."
Shop Kristin Pettway's quilts from Etsy Shop At the Door Quilts
It'due south safe to say that sewing has dramatically shaped Kristin Pettway—her great-grandmother is Delia Bennett, the matriarch of one of the largest families of quilters in Gee's Bend. "All my life, I've been around quilts," she says. "My grandmother was Georgianna Pettway—she was a quilter. Stella Pettway'southward my aunt and she's likewise a quilter. My mom quilts a little scrap, and now it'south down to me." A truthful artist at heart, Kristin is drawn to unique forms of expression—when not quilting, she loves to play the piano! "I find beauty everywhere—I think songs are beautiful, I recall flowers are gorgeous," Kristin says. "I make quilts to express myself, to evidence this is how I'chiliad feeling."
Loretta Pettway Bennett
"My mother, her female parent, and my aunts have sewn the foundation; all I have to do now is thread my own needle."
Shop Loretta Pettway Bennett's quilted masks from Etsy Shop Stitch Lolo Store
Loretta Pettway Bennett was first introduced to quilting at historic period vi; her mother, Qunnie Pettway, worked for the Freedom Quilting Bee. "At that historic period, we were only allowed to thread the needles for the quilters," she recalls. "Since quilting was such a part of [our] lives, I believe the seed of creativity was planted into my genes." After traveling and living in a multitude of places, including Germany, Loretta'south family has settled in Due north Alabama, and frequently visits Gee's Curve. In 2001, she received a fellowship grant from the Alabama State Archive Council on the Arts. "With it, my mother was able to officially teach me the art of quilting," Loretta says. The quilt they made currently hangs on brandish in the Alabama Department of Archives and History. "It's very likely that moving around so much influenced my style, only I will permit you be the gauge of that!"
Doris Pettway Hacketts
"I want my quilts to show my personality!"
Shop Doris Pettway Hacketts's quilts from Etsy shop Yard and K Quilted Treasure
Equally the seventh of 13 children, Doris Pettway Hacketts has perfected balancing independence and community. "Growing up, I worked in the cotton fields and helped around the house," she says, but and so? "I left the cotton fields to get to college! I've always been determined." Post-graduation, however, she returned to her roots, and her passion for quilting was apace piqued. "It's like therapy for me. You lot go such joy out of information technology because you apply your hands to brand it work." For Doris, quilting is also an apt metaphor for finding your way. "Sometimes your life is going to be colorful, and sometimes, it's going to be night. It's never the aforementioned. Then when you're piecing that quilt together, sometimes information technology doesn't work. Just you lot don't throw it away. Yous only take information technology apart and put it back together."
Lue Ida McCloud
"I make quilts for peace of mind, information technology gives me joy."
Shop Lue Ida McCloud's quilts from Etsy Store Quilts past Lue
Lue Ida McCloud comes from a large family unit of quilters. "My grandmother, Delia Bennett, and her sister, Menda Coleman, were quilters. My female parent was a quilter, Ella Mae Irby. My sis was a quilter, Linda Diane Bennett. And my sister is Mary Margaret Pettway. All of us are quilters!" At 17, Lue Ida moved to Brooklyn, NY, and worked at JP Morgan for 10 years before returning to Gee's Bend to help raise her sisters' children. It was so that she really began to craft. "My grandmother and my mother taught me," Lue Ida recalls. "My sister, Mary Margaret, too. I used to sit down around and detect them." Her favorite quilt to make is a symbol of all those generations of give and take. "The Robbing Peter to Pay Paul design: It'due south when you take one color and add information technology to some other color, and have some other color and add information technology to the colour before. Information technology's but Iike life."
Delia Pettway Thibodeaux
"There'south something inherent in the women of Gee's Bend. Regardless of when we learned to quilt, we're able to suit the style and make our own 'imperfectly perfect' creations."
Store Delia Pettway Thibodeaux's quilts from Etsy store Reap What You Sew Dainty
A third-generation quilter, Delia Pettway Thibodeaux made her first quilt at 13. "I remember it similar it was simply yesterday," she says, "it was a 2-toned browned stonemason made of corduroy." Today, Delia saves every bit of textile possible, ("I don't like to waste matter annihilation," she explains), and uses them to pass down the family unit tradition—something that's incredibly important to her. "Information technology makes me so happy when my granddaughter sits past me and puts pieces together and makes her own little creations."
Joeann Pettway West
"Yous blueprint around what yous have or what's going on in your life. Even with all the stuff happening in the world, you lot can notwithstanding have peace."
Shop Joeann Pettway W'southward quilts from Etsy Shop Just Stitch Joe
As a child, Joeann Pettway West's house was bursting with creativity. "Both sides of the family are passionate virtually cooking," she says. "My mom used to make sweet potato pies, and if you ever had ane of them, you would not forget it." Today, Joeann continues the tradition of both cooking and quilting—after living away in West Germany for three years, she returned and worked with her mother at the Freedom Quilting Bee in Gee'southward Bend. "When I sew, information technology's similar I'm continuing what my mom and grandmother were doing," she says. "At present that I am getting dorsum to it, I am finding that joy once again."
Stella Mae Pettway
"I brand quilts because I love doing it, and I want to do it."
Shop Stella Mae Pettway'due south from Etsy shop Georgie'due south Way Quilts
Born, raised, and currently living in Gee'southward Bend, Stella Mae Pettway's first source of inspiration was her mother. "Georgianna Pettway or Georgie taught me how to quilt," she says. "I would expect at what my mother was doing and work on the corner of her quilts because I couldn't sew skilful. But I liked it, and then I kept at it!" These days, Stella Mae's inspiration is all effectually her. "I find beauty in only about anything—looking at different fabrics, imagining how different colors will blend. I like making quilts by myself—that way I can talk to them, I can sing, I can even pray!"
Katie Mae Pettway
"For me, inspiration is unproblematic—an idea forms, I see it in my head, and I make it."
Shop Katie Mae Pettway's quilts from Etsy shop Quilted past Katie Mae
The tenth of 15 children, Katie Mae Pettway has always enjoyed making. "I was ever doing and trying new things," she says. "I taught myself to quilt by watching my momma. I love to stitch, e'er have, piddling textile dolls and different things." Her favorite quilting material? Corduroy! In her reanimation, Katie Mae is happiest when in nature. "I love to garden, raise chickens, and relax."
Mary Elizabeth Pettway
"When I work, I like to discover dazzler in unlike shapes, the way I quilt information technology, the print of the fabric."
Shop Mary Elizabeth Pettway's quilts from Etsy shop Limps Quilt Store
Mary Elizabeth Pettway first learned to quilt from her aunt. "My mom, Flora Pettway, used to quilt when I was young, and she taught me a lot, only I didn't learn to sew until after she passed," she says. "When I made my outset one, Aunt Ollie helped me quilt information technology and showed me how. She taught me how to hem it on the sewing machine. And then she taught me how to do information technology by mitt!" Inspired by other quilters in her family, Mary Elizabeth sews to relax. "I sew to go with the menses and savor the process. It helps to clear my heed and allow me call up."
Cassandra Ann Pettway
"I want the tradition to stay alive in our family."
Shop Cassandra Ann Pettway'southward quilts from Etsy shop and Nook and Shug
The girl of Sharon'due south Williams (owner of Sha's Shop Gee'south Bend!), Cassandra Ann Pettway runs her Etsy store with her own girl. "I learned quilting from my Mom, and now I'k working to pass it on to Rachael, who is now starting," she says. Family is Cassandra's biggest influence when it comes to making. "Mom inspired me to brand quilts, and now, my inspiration comes from my daughter," she says. "She is and then artistic! We find dazzler in the quilts, the craft of it. And I dear the fourth dimension we—me, my mom, and my girl—spend together."
Cathy Michelle Mooney
"It amazes me how you go the needle and thread to work to brand those stitches, so those stitches come up together to make a complete something!"
Shop Cathy Michelle Mooney'due south quilts from Etsy store three Thimbles and a Needle
For Cathy Michelle Mooney, sewing is a relaxing way to connect with her family history. "I make quilts to show the earth that no matter where y'all reside, whether it's in the Deep South or the big metropolis, your passion and talent can be shared with the world," she says. Cathy credits her mom for inspiring her to sew. "The more than I watched her, the more I got information technology down. Later on I got out of loftier school, I took a little break. Just every time I'd get abode, I would see my sister, momma, and all of them quilting. Soon I said, 'Well, I think I want to get back into sewing!'"
Veronica Lavette Saulsberry
"I savor letting my hands create what my listen sees—and the freedom it gives me to express myself."
Shop Veronica Lavette Saulsberry's quilts from Etsy shop Oh Lula's Creations
For Veronica Lavette Saulsberry, sewing is a hazard to larn more than about loved ones. "Spending a lot of time with family unit got me into making quilts," she says. "I learned from my mom, grandmother, aunt, and my mother from another mother—my inspiration comes from all the people I grew up around, listening to all the stories they told behind the meaning of the designs." Each quilt Veronica crafts is a link to her ancestry. " I am proud of who I am and where I come from," she says. "The beauty of my quilts comes from all the ones I've seen and helped make over the years."
Mensie Lee Pettway
"What I practise is what they telephone call 'patchwork.' I call it 'this and that.'"
Shop Mensie Lee Pettway's quilts from Etsy shop America'southward Way Quilts
Mensie Lee Pettway was 1 of the original makers in the Freedom Quilting Bee. "It was about twenty or xx-five of us," she says. "I worked at The Bee the whole time, upwards to now. My task was mostly to cut the patterns. I would cutting three or four quilts a 24-hour interval." Subsequently a cursory break from quilting, Mensie is dorsum and more inspired than e'er. "I make my own designs," she says. "I take this, take that, take patches, blocks, strips, laying my design equally I become. Sometimes I make a bunch of blocks and put them together. Sometimes I start information technology at the bottom and go upwards similar a stepladder. But I never seem to practice it the same style twice!"
Claudia Pettway Charley
"My heart guides my work, and each quilt tells a different story."
Store Claudia Pettway Charley's quilts from Etsy shop Gee'southward Bend Place
Gee's Curve Quilter Claudia Pettway Charley'due south biggest inspiration is her family unit. "I would play underneath my grandmother's quilting frame—which covered virtually of the living room," she says. "Today, I go along to quilt alongside my mom." The 4th-generation maker also taps into creativity by allowing herself to be present. "It unremarkably comes from my emotions or my surroundings. Beauty is all around if we pay attending!"
Francesca Charley
"Everything my family has made leaves me happy considering of the beauty behind each slice."
Shop Francesa Charley'southward quilted creations from Etsy shop Gee'southward Bend Way
For Francesca DeNae Charley, heritage and craft are intertwined—the fifth-generation maker's family has been quilting for over a century! "It all started with my peachy-grandmother Malissa Pettway," Francesca recalls. "My mom would bring me over to my grandmother's house, and my grandma would slowly show me how to run up without pricking myself." Now, Francesca enjoys building on her family'due south legacy in her ain creative way. "I dearest having the liberty to cull my colors, and no two pieces are alike. I know I'm not repeating something from the by."
Every bit role of this partnership, Etsy will brand a $50,000 grant to Nest, supporting continued efforts to provide the quilters with the resource and pedagogy they need to open up, maintain, and grow their Etsy shops. All transaction fees will also be covered by Etsy for a period of time.
To learn more almost The Gee'due south Bend Quilters and store their one-of-a-kind works of art, please check out The Gee's Bend Quilters page, and be on the lookout for the official Gee'due south Bend Quilts badge. Yous can also visit their Instagram page.
Photographed by Stacy Thou. Allen. Boosted photographs by Steve Pitkin, in partnership with Nest and Souls Grown Deep.
Source: https://www.etsy.com/blog/gees-bend-quilts
Posted by: holtthea1980.blogspot.com
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