Where do the saris come from?

For the last three years I've made quilts for the Sari Bari auctions. The saris are sent to the US quilters and we sew them into quilts that are auctioned for the benefit of Sari Bari. Those quilts are some of my most favorite of the ones I've made in these last few years.

In October, this article was posted on the Sari Bari blog. I loved reading about the process of buying, sorting, and using the saris in the Kantha quilts that the women make.

I have a stash of saris from three years of quilt auctions. I'm feeling the draw to pull them out and work with those fabrics again ...

This year's quilt ... in process back in March/April

Sari Bari Quilt auction going on now ...

Click here if you want to bid on Kokata Meets Provence. Let me warn you that when I try to go to that link in Internet Explorer, it doesn't work. Chrome and Firefox seem to be fine, but in Explorer, I get a message that the quilt is unavailable. It is still there, but only til Wednesday. There's just one bid so far, so it's at a very low price for the quality and beauty of the quilt, if I do say so myself.  And forgive me, but I'm afraid I don't think the pictures on the auction site do the quilt justice.

There are many, many other gorgeous quilts being offered. Here's the link for the general auction site. Go buy a beautiful quilt and give hope to women who are being freed from the sex trade in India!

Round 2 of the auction should be online by this evening. Even more beautiful quilts, including Kandyce's.

Lots going on around here these days.  Make Welcome classes, quilt sewing, triathlon training, and a backyard project. More later, friends ...

"Kolkata Meets Provence"

It's all done and on its way - this quilt I'm calling "Kolkata Meets Provence." Why the name, you ask? (And even if you aren't asking, I'm going to tell you if you read on)  It was like this ...

The quilt design evolved in the making. I described that process here. One day when the squares were being assembled on my design wall a friend came over. Her immediate comment upon seeing them was, "It looks like French Country."  I hadn't made such a connection but as soon as she said it, I pictured tablecloths I'd seen in specialty shops imported from France, linens and fabrics that evoke a particular place and design style.

I embarked on a little quilt related research project into just what we mean by French Country when we are referring to textiles? What is it about those sari fabrics that call to mind Provence?

First, color. Blues, a certain rich golden yellow, and white. Of course, there are other color combinations in fabrics from Provence, but these are very signature colors.

Second, pattern. Small florals, paisleys, stylized flowers, intricate borders.

Here are some examples from the web:

from Provence Soleil

 

 

from Provence Decoration

 

from A Touch of Provence

 

 



 

 

 

and these last four from a store right here in North Carolina that I had the pleasure of visiting in my quest to learn more about the fabrics of Provence. French Connections, in Pittsboro, is a delightful shop with a mix of French and African fabrics, African baskets, carvings, antiques, and more. I could have spent much longer there than I did. (I was on my way to Chapel Hill and didn't plan nearly enough time to spend in the shop before I was scheduled to meet Joel). It was a feast for the eyes and also a nostalgic journey, bringing to mind shopping in markets in Cameroon and Kenya. I will definitely be going back and would love to meet the shop owners and learn more about their NC/France/African connections. 

 

Scroll up and down and then look back at the picture of the quilt. See what I mean about the French country/Provence design colors and motifs? And how they show up in the sari fabrics I received for this year's auction quilt?

 

But there's more ... there's a history here that is represented by these fabrics and I've started to understand a bit of that, too.  In the pre-industrial era, India was well known for the quality and beauty of its handwoven and hand-dyed and stamped textiles. By the early 17th century, these textiles began arriving in France, via the port of Marseilles. Known as Les Indiennes, they became quite popular among both the common folks and the royal court and a copycat French fabric industry sprang up. The design motifs, Indian in origin, became the signature style of Provence.

 

You can read more of this history, here and here. I've also read a bit about Indian fabric production and importation into France in a book Coty received for his birthday.



 

In reading about Indian textile production, my mind has wandered back to the day in the summer of 2009 when we visited a small Indian handloom and hand block-printing fabric factory. If I can find those pictures, I'll post some of them.

So many connections in the making of this quilt, probably much more than you wanted to know, but I have not only enjoyed the process of making this time around, but found the making greatly enriched by the recollections, online and in person fabric design search, and history study its making has prompted.

Sari quilt process

I am endlessly fascinated by the process of making quilts. This latest quilt for the upcoming Sari Bari 2015 Quilt Auction is no exception. I received my saris in the mail and was less than impressed with the selection of recycled saris that had come my way. They were dark, mostly navy and white plus two that were mustard orange yellow. The prints were mostly large, except for one small floral print. The only thing I could think to do was ditch the yellows and go with blue and white. Like Delft.  Like my lovely blue and white plates, collected over time and hung on the wall in our big room. Surely, with perhaps a tone on tone white fabric and the blues, I could make a go of it. Perhaps, but I felt a bit skeptical.

Thankfully, the Sari Bari Quilt Auction quilters are a generous lot. On our facebook group, several women offered me saris in different colors and then to my great delight, I found out that three other women from my quilt guild, The Charlotte Modern Quilt Guild, were also making sari quilts this year. We arranged to bring our fabrics to the guild meeting and we made some trades. I ended up with some lighter blues as well as some smaller florals and interesting designs.

My idea began to change. I started seeing photos on said facebook group page of some of the quilt blocks that were being made. I was inspired by the ways in which women were highlighting the design elements of the saris by isolating them with fancy cutting and surrounding them with border fabrics. Hmmm???

Next, I started thinking about plates. As I said, I have a small collection of blue and white plates. Some of them have borders around the edges. The saris have borders around the edges. Hmmmm? Another design option. Highlight the sari borders by using them around central squares.

I started cutting. Fancy cutting interesting shapes within the saris and strip cutting borders. I cut out a couple of larger design elements and framed them in white. And then the quilt started to take shape.

The quilt now has a central medallion which was one of the larger shapes that I cut and framed. I started placing my "plates," some with plain centers and interesting borders, others with white borders and interesting centers, around the medallion. My friend, Amber, came over and helped me move blocks around. We turned them on point. We played with color and design arrangement. And I kept making blocks.

In the process, I posted some pictures and asked about setting the blocks on point around the center medallion. I was beginning to think this was the way to go. I've never done anything on point, so I had to learn. I read some tutorials, watched some videos, and learned about the math of side and corner setting triangles. This, my friends, is truly amazing. Anyone who knows me knows that I am NOT a math person. But dabbling in the math of the quilt was fun. Hypotenuses, formulas to determine triangle sizes, and the like.

At one point, I pulled out graph paper and colored pencils. Drawing a picture helped me get a better handle on what I wanted to do. It also helped me understand the math. And coloring. Who doesn't like coloring. It's been far too long since I've done any coloring and it was fun.

I am closing in on finishing the quilt now. I have decided on block arrangement. I've cut and interfaced and starched. I've stitched and trimmed and pressed. I have one more row of blocks to complete so that the center medallion isn't exactly center from top to bottom. That way, as it drapes on a bed, it can hang a little below the edge. You know what I mean, right?

Then I have those side and corner setting triangles to do, but they will not be as hard as I thought. So, I'm closing in on finishing the top. And then there are the backing fabric and quilting decisions to be made. The process continues ...

On their way

I unfolded and carefully refolded and packaged 25 quilts today.  The shipping labels will get printed and then they will be on their way to the auction high bidders.  I am sad to see them go.  I got to know these quilts.  I looked at them over and over again, spread them on the beds here, felt the softness of those made from recycled saris, admired the master work of several of them, was inspired by the colorwork of some.  There were so many different styles of piecing and quilting this year.

So much beauty.

So much work.

So much love with every stitch.

I sometimes wonder if the bidders realize all that goes into a handmade quilt.  The thinking and dreaming about design and color, the cutting, the piecing, the careful layering of top, batting, and back, and then the quilting - by hand, on a home machine, or by a  long arm quilter. So many decisions each step of the way and the delightful ah hah! moments when it starts to be more than an idea or a few blocks; the day when it is all sewn together and you stand back and look at it and marvel at something that is at once a work of art and a humble bedcover.

I love quilts because they supply a basic need - staying warm - in ways that are artistically limitless.  Of course, this can be said of many things; knitted socks, houses, a good meal.

I'm hoping the recipients of this year's quilts will cherish them and that the women of Sari Bari will be deeply blessed by the work of the hands of many loving women.

More thanks

I continue to be grateful for the many people who are helping this year to let folks know about the Sari Bari Quilt Auction and Raffle.

Thanks to Lindsay at Craft Buds and to Katie at Sew Katie Did for alerting your readers to this wonderful and worthy event.

Bidding is underway and raffle tickets are being sold.  I hope, friends, that you will take some time to look over the quilts and bid on your favorite or purchase a raffle ticket.  All proceeds from the auction will go toward:

-purchasing a property in the Kalighat red light area of Kolkata so Sari Bari can employ more women, thereby giving them the opportunity to escape a life in the sex trade.

-opening a second prevention unit in 2014 in an area that is notorious for trafficking young girls and women into the sex trade.

-training at least 50 more women who are waiting to choose freedom

The Sari Bari Quilt Auction Preview is Up!

Update:  The Sari Bari 2013 Auction and Raffle have begun.  Please make a little cup of tea and sit down for 4 minutes to gaze at these gorgeous quilts!  Then go make a bid or buy a raffle ticket (or ten or twelve!)

Auction page here, Raffle pages here.

Photo credits: Kay Pinckney, Amber Benton, and yours truly!  With huge, huge thanks to Chandra Ozment for the use of her beautiful farm for our photoshoot location and Annette Conrad, Carla Stout, and Andrea Cunningham for props and encouragement!

Sneak Peak

The photo editing is almost done.  The pictures should go up on the Sari Bari website soon.  Would you like a little sneak peak?

This is the quilt we made.

This quilt has the most stunning color work and detail.  Really, really incredible

 

This is one of the 11 quilts made from recycled saris by the women of Sari Bari.  So soft and beautiful.

Get excited.  The auction starts in two weeks!

Needle and ThREAD #29 in which many, many fabric related happenings ... happen

Happening #1:  Our Sari quilt gets bound

Some people think I am crazy.  Others totally understand this love of hand sewing the binding on a quilt.  I dearly love doing this final task by hand, putting in the tiny stitches to secure the binding to the back of the quilt, moving slowly around it until I finally meet up with my starting place and the quilt is done!  I am very happy with the green sari fabric we used to bind this one.  Just perfect!

Happening #2:  Our refugee sewing class continued this week with a new student.

 She had never sewn before and went from learning how to thread the machine and control the speed with the foot pedal to sewing and then wearing her first headband!  (Thank you, Elizabeth!)

After three weeks of work, M finished this little quilt.  It is backed with a waterproof fabric and can be used as a changing pad.  More of these to come!

Happening #3: The Sari Bari 2013 Quilt Auction photoshoot 

in which ...

Kay goes to great heights to get just the right shot ...

and I apparently need someone to hand me some scissors (they did).

Wow!  I have never done anything quite like that photoshoot before.  It look us 9 nine hours the first day and 5 hours the second day, not counting all the time after the shooting was done to take everything down, load up the car with 40 quilts, unload the 40 quilts at home, and then go to load up all the props and deliver them to the gracious people who loaned them to us.  When I finally got home this afternoon, I did not want to move.  I'm quite sure I will sleep really, really well tonight.

I'm so very thankful for my hard-working, creative, generous friends and daughter-in-love, Kay, who graciously gave of their time, talents, and energy to pull off this photoshoot.  I could NOT have done it without them.  

I can't wait to show you the pictures.  Once they're up on the Sari Bari auction site, I'll give you the link.

Reading this week - which has not happened except for a very few minutes before I sack out at night ...

Little Daughter by Zoya Phan.  Continuing this memoir of a Burmese refugee woman ...

and 

The Language of Sparrows by Rachel Phifer, a first novel, recommended by Pen Wilcock, author of the Hawk and Dove series, which I love.

That's all.  Now I'm taking my photoshoot weary self to bed.  Good night.

Quilt paparazzi

That's what Kay, Amber and I were today.  We spent this entire glorious fall day at the Ozment farm taking pictures of sari quilts.  Tonight I am bone tired!  That's a lot of work, people.  But also a whole, whole lot of fun.  

Lots of moving props around, climbing up and down step ladders, unfolding and refolding quilts, arranging pillows, cowboy boots, nightstands, lamps, candles, flowers, plants, chairs, dolls, lanterns, books, and more as we styled the shots.

I loved working with Kay, Amber, and Chandra.  Each woman brought her personality, creative flair, and design sense to the day.

We've got more to do tomorrow, but after today we have a better understanding of our setting, lighting, and shot possibilities.

Kay styling a shot

The wind picked up so we had to use clothespins to hold the quilt on the bed.

Lots of up and down steplaadders.

Our system for keeping quilts organized - finished quilts in the front, quilts yet to shoot in the back.

Love my d-i-l, Kay.  She's a trip!

It was a great day, y'all.  

Sari quilts arriving!

It feels like Christmas at my house right now.  Everyday the mailman delivers 2 or 3 packages.  One day last week, it was 5!  Some days the postal service, FedEx, and UPS all make stops at my house.  It's pretty exciting.

Inside these boxes that have come from Washington, Oklahoma, Maryland, and several other states, as well as one package from England, are quilts!  The quilts for this year's Sari Bari quilt auction.

Last Thursday, I took some of the quilts and showed them off at my guild, the Charlotte Modern Quilt Guild. Thanks, Karen, for the photos!  These quilts really are stunning and there are more to come.  I'm expecting a shipment from India today.

Stay tuned for more information on the auction, which runs from November 1-10.  Once the auction is online, I'll have a link in the sidebar to the auction site. There are going to be so many beautiful quilts!  You won't want to miss it!

Doing what I love today

Well, I love doing many things, but today's work is sewing - finishing the quilt top for this year's Sari Bari quilt.  

I'm particularly happy to have a big design wall today.  It makes putting it all together so much easier.

We were not so sure about this quilt back when we got our saris, but I'm loving how this has all come together.

And here's a sneak peak at some of the other quilts that will be auctioned off in November.  

I have the happy job of receiving, photographing, and then eventually sending the quilts out to their new owners.  Wow!  There are some gorgeous quilts that have come already!  Please do stay tuned and join us for the auction and raffle, November 1-10.  

Needle and ThREAD #26: More sari sewing

After a month of not much progress, a lot has been done on this year's Sari Bari Quilt Auction quilt in the last week.  You can tell by the mess on the sewing table and the piles of fabric on the floor!

The fabric strips are all pieced, measured, trimmed, and labeled.  The Kona bone background fabric is in the wash just now and the quilt should come together in the next few days!

Can't wait to see it completed.  It such a different design from last year's quilt. 

And reading this week ...

I finally finished The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard.  Thank you, t and k, for reading it with me and for all the fruitful conversations.  There is so much to chew on in this book, so much to go back and read again and again.  It will stay in my devotional reading basket for a looong time and be tasted again and again.

I did get that stack of books from the library the other day and quickly finished Death Comes to Pemberly by P.D. James.  Makes me want to go back and re-read Pride and Prejudice.  

Next up is So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger.  This is a page turner, a real yarn and I've laughed out loud several times already.  I have a feeling that as we get further into the adventure, it's going to get less funny and perhaps sad.  I hope there will be redemption for outlaw, Glendon. I hope Monte Becket gets back home.  I don't know ... but Enger's writing makes hanging on for the ride well worth it.  Reading this second novel of his makes me want to go back and re-read his first, Peace Like a River.

Goodness, I've got lots of re-reading to do, don't I?!

Also in the stack a couple of sewing books: 

Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross which I am hoping will spark some ideas for projects with our Burmese women in the sewing class.

And for my own quilt inspiriation, Denyse Schmidt's Modern Quilts Traditional Inspiriation: 20 New Designs with Historic Roots.  I really gravitate toward her style. Quilting is so much about history and tradition but she has given these timeless patterns and designs a fresh, modern take with new fabrics and color combinations that I love.

That's it for this week ...Hopefully, I'll have a finished quilt top by next Thursday!

Quilt design thoughts

One of the things I love about making a quilt with other women is corroborating on the design.  Last year, I had made most of the early decisions regarding color and pattern, but when it came to putting it all together, it was definitely an artistic collaboration.  I was happy at that point to listen a lot to the ideas and suggestions of my talented friends, most of whom have way more design sense than me.

This year, I asked them ahead of time for thoughts on color choice.  As you heard, we didn't really get what we were expecting, but it's already been fun spreading sarees across Amber's clean porch floor, to scrutinize colors and patterns together, to see what changes when you move one saree out of the bunch and replace it with another of a completely different color.  And fun the other day to pull them out and show them to Carla, to see if her thoughts meshed with what Amber and I were playing with or went in a completely different and wonderful direction.

I love the creative energy of these women.  They inspire me and push me to try things I might not have thought of.  A splash of orange amidst the green, the possibility of altering the color of one saree by bleaching.  It's going to be interesting, the saree quilt making this summer.  I can't wait to see what we come up with.

Looking at other's ideas jumpstarts my own, at times.  Right now, we are all loving Modern Minimal and thinking that though Alissa Haight Carlson's designs are mostly based on solids, the colors and busy-ness of our prints would lend themselves well to a simple design.

But then there's this quilt that uses larger blocks and strips.  There's that orange.

What we end up doing will reflect the individual talents, sensibilities, aesthetics, and skill of the women that work together to make this quilt.  This morning while I was thinking about that, I clicked over to the Sari Bari website to remind myself of why we are making the quilt this year.  It's for these women,, women who have been offered the chance to leave a life of degradation in the sex trade and step into a life of freedom and dignity through the community of the Sari Bari sewing business.  To read more about the history of their work, go here.

We're hoping to have a little quilt design pow-wow next week and make some decisions, so we can begin cutting and stitching.  I'm eager to get going.  Eager to see this year's quilt ideas become a tangible piece of useful beauty.

Needle and ThREAD #23

It's that time again - Sari Bari Quilt Auction sewing time.  Last year was my first year to participate in sewing for the auction and I'm excited to be making a quilt again this year.  

The sarees arrived last Friday and I have to say that it was not love at first sight like last year.  My quilting buddies and I had chosen a set of sarees from a photograph, but what we received did not resemble the picture at all.  Too dark, too much of the same scale in patterns, colors that seemed dull.

After washing the fabrics several times to remove the heavy starch that is applied to them at the factory in India, and after spreading them out and looking at the pattern variations within each saree, I'm seeing more possibilities. 

I'm also quite encouraged by my quilting buddies, two of whom are artists.  We've talked about how limitations often spur creativity more than abundance.  We're imagining, looking at quilt patterns, and looking forward to playing with these fabrics to see what develops.  

We will probably not use all of the fabrics we received - or at least not use them all in one quilt.  Perhaps, in this batch of sarees there are two or three quilts that will be very different from each other. 

I do LOVE the green saree above, my very favorite in the whole bunch.  I want to make a sundress out of it and since the saree is about 9 yards of fabric, there's plenty of fabric for that!

If you are interested in learning more about Sari Bari or seeing the quilts from last year, go here and here.

I finally finished a couple of books.

Outcasts United by Warren St. John is the story of a refugee soccer program in Clarkston, Georgia started by Luma Mufleh, a young Jordanian woman, who was herself, an outcast from her own family because of her decision not to return to Jordan after college in the US.  Her gritty dedication to the refugee boys she coached and her love for their families is encouragement and inspiration to anyone who works with refugees. For anyone who knows little about the plight of refugees from around the world who arrive in the US seeking peace and security, it is an eye opening story.  We've had this book for awhile and I've been meaning to read it.  So, so glad Kandyce urged me to do it right away!

My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse is just fun to read.  Dry British humor.  Who doesn't love the always impeccable, always tasteful, always able to get Bertie out of a scrape butler, Jeeves.

The Art of Tasha Tudor by Harry Davis is an insider's look at the life and work of one of my favorite illustrators.  I enjoyed learning more about Tudor and the development of her art and its interconnection with her life.

I've got a few other books going including 52 Loaves: One Man's Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning, and a Perfect Crust, recommended by my friend, Amber.  I laughed out loud last night when I read this chapter heading quote:

"How can a nation be great if its bread tastes like Kleenex?"   - Julia Child

Alrighty ... time to go fold sarees, water the garden, and then go out to breakfast with my boy.  His Mother's Day gift to me.  I'm pretty sure we won't be eating any kleenex tasting bread at Zada Janes!