03 Quilt Square

I have always felt very connected to the craft of quiltmaking. While I don’t really have much experience I grew up sewing which has made me learn to appreciate the craft. Additionally, I can think of many times as a kid when our family was given homeade quilts and always thinking about what a gift they were because of the work they required.

When I graduated highschool, my mom gave me a quilt made up of all the tshirts that I grew up wearing. This taught me the nostalgia that can be associated with quilting and how it preserves memory.

In this project, I wanted to try commemorating a different important part of my childhood - the snacks I grew up eating. I worked with my siblings to brainstorm the foods we ate most and turned them into textiles in Adobe Illustrator. I then created a quilt square pattern with these textiles that I printed onto faric and then sewed together with a decorative top stitch.

I decided to make this my quilt because growing up my parents worked very late, so a way I found my own independence was my siblings and I had to find our own ways to feed ourselves after school. While I sort of resented the limited snacks in our pantry or that there was never any food waiting for me when I got home. Looking back, I am grateful for this because it taught me independence and resilliency.

I made three different iterations of this quilt square because I had to experiment with what fabric was best to print with. I found the first two fabrics I used to be too stretchy. This lead to the pattern getting stretched out and the geometry not working together. Finally, on attempt #3 I was able to use a fabric with less stretch and I printed in a way to minimize how many stitches I would have to do.

First iteration which was much smaller and falling apart.

Bibliography

“Gee’s Bend ” Souls Grown Deep. Accessed April 1st, 2024. https://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/gees-bend-quiltmakers We looked at these quiltmakers in my curating for the collection class. I really like their mindset of making quilts their own way and utilizing scraps to make beautiful quilts.

Haynes, Luke. Luke Haynes Art Projects .Accessed April 2nd, 2024. https://www.luke.art/projects Haynes also experiments by putting unfamiliar objects into quilt squares to spark new ideas, like I did in my quilt square.

“Quilts ” Advocacy Project .Accessed April 1st, 2024. https://Advocacyproject.net Orginization I worked with that uses quilts to allow people to express their stories and experiences through embroidery.

El, Anatsui. Artwork. Accessed April 1st, 2024.https://elanatsui.art Artist creates textile like works using materials he associates with home. My work explores similar ideas and also leans into the sculptural qualities coming from hung fabrics.

Warhol , Andy. MoMA. Metropolitan Museum of Art.Accessed April 1st, 2024.https://www.moma.org/artists/6246 His prints that take common objects, particulalrly like the soup cans and changes the colors to and makes patterns directly relates to make each of my different textiles.

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