Last night, I stumbled across the “” website. This is the web presence for the only African-American Quilting Guild in New England. We attended several of their shows, in the past, and were not disappointed.

They have another one coming up this year, in Roxbury. The details are available on their website. I wish I could attend, but we find it too confusing and upsetting to try to drive through Boston, a maze of one way streets, and where one has to be the correct lane for turns, etc. It’s easy to get lost. For “old people,” like us, we just can’t handle it. If you don’t already know, Roxbury is more or less a suburb of Boston.

A great quilt, taken at a lousy angle, at one of the “Sister in Stitches” shows. To learn more about this quilt, visit our show reviews, linked below.

I wondered if there was a stated list of attributes of African-American quilts online. The Sisters in Stitches’ site provides a nice overview of typical design elements as well as the parts of Africa from where African-American people came. One has only to look at one of the books that feature photos of Gee’s Bends quilts to understand some of the qualities of quilts that are listed.

Design elements can include, but are not limited to, the use of African hand-woven, or African commercially-produced fabrics, asymmetry, large shapes and strong colors, appliqué (as in former slave, ), inclusion of religious symbols and protective charms. The great tradition of storytelling by town griots (wise keepers of oral history in African towns) may be reflected in some quilts. Certainly, the storytelling tradition is present in Harriet Powers’ Bible quilts. Lists are fine for brief explanations but not if they lead to a superimposed aesthetic.

Can someone who is not African-American make an African-American quilt? No, but that quilter can make an “African-American style quilt.”

Vest designed by Patricia Cummings that includes fabric with African Masks

In my opinion, it is a cop-out when someone makes a sloppy quilt in garish colors and calls it an “African-American” quilt. That person has just not bothered to learn the rudimentary steps of quiltmaking. I have seen this happen. Like Dave Barry, “I am not making this up.”

It is equally strange, when a quilt shop run by a Caucasian women offers classes in “How to Make an African-American Quilt.” Again, I am not making this up, although this situation did happen quite a while ago.

Being informed about another culture, cultivates a better appreciation of their needlework and quilt traditions. You know something? When we attended the shows mounted by this very creative group, “Sisters in Stitches,” the quilt patterns were innovative, but also strongly-grounded in traditional quilt designs. I remember a quilt based on “Tumbling Blocks,” but with a humorous twist!

You might like to visit the two show reviews we have on our website – ; and the .

I have a problem with others trying to pigeonhole groups of people and make them seem as homogenized as milk. We cannot make sweeping generalizations. I would hate to think that my quilts are what they are because I am an aging, Caucasian, female. Stereotypes just don’t work. We don’t all fit into any given mold, whether we are White or Black or Green. Quilters are always innovative, no matter what color their skin. We can find more that is alike, rather than more that is different. In the end, we are all “Sisters” – “Joined by the Cloth.”

Patricia Cummings

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