Sandra Gayle Reese interview with Mae Belle Lee Landress, Irene Atkinson, Sarah L. Perkins

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If you believe you are the copyright holder of any of the content published in this collection and do not want it publicly available, please contact the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center at 404-814-4040 or reference@atlantahistorycenter.com. This recording contains interviews with women from Gwinnett County, Georgia, about quilting. Mae Belle Lee Landress begins her interview by recalling collecting cotton for quilts in the fall. Next she describes the top quilt layer which they constructed out of clothing scraps cut into squares. Laundress then discusses designing quilt patterns that she traded with her neighbors. At 2:20 she recalls using feed sacks as quilting material and Georgia red clay as fabric dye. Then Landress explains the tossing the cat in the air tradition said to predict which woman in a group would marry first. Next she compares modern quilting to when she grew up. At 6:58 she demonstrates the broaching technique, used for the double wedding ring pattern, to Reese. Next she remembers quilting bees, neighborhood social gatherings where women quilted and men shucked corn or cut wood in the winter. Reeses grandmother, Irene Atkinson, starts her interview at 11:12 by recalling collecting and smoothing cotton with cotton cards. Then she describes quilt appliques and trading patterns. At 15:23 Atkinson talks about using tree bark as dye, her grandmother rolling cotton for quilts, and states that she never attended a quilting bee. Then at 18:20 Reese remembers quilting with Atkinson as a child, and Atkinson talks about a quilting club, the Oakland Goodwill Club, in which she participated. She describes quilting frames at 21:50, then differences between quilting by hand and by machine. At 24:43 Sarah Perkins describes square patterns and quilting with her mother. Next she details popular quilting patterns, including Dutch Doll Dress, Diamond and Bowtie, and Double Wedding Ring. There is a break in audio from 31:50 to 32:30, after which she talks about the briar stitching method her mother used. At 37:34 Perkins explains the shell pattern stitch, a freestyle method, then remembers quilting bees. Next she talks about finding quilt patterns from the Family Circle magazine and neighbors. Perkins discusses store bought versus home-made dyes that her mother made with elderberries and tree bark, as well as cotton cards. At the end of the interview, Perkins shows Reese popular bedding patterns. Mae Belle Lee Landress (1898-1995) was born in Gwinnett County, Georgia, to William A. Lee (1858-1923) and Altha Lee (1863-1956). In 1921 she married Chaney H. Landress (1894-1961) and had five children. Landress resided in Gwinnett County her entire life. Sandra Gayle Reese (1948- ) was born in Berkshire, Georgia, to Guy Reese Jr. (1925-1983) and Betty Ruth Atkinson Reese (1928-2015). She graduated from Georgia State University. Sarah L. Featherston Perkins (1908-1974) was born in Tennessee to Lillian Featherston Byrne (1891-1939). She married Hubert W. Perkins (1894-1971) and had several children. Perkins lived in Decatur, Georgia, for most of her life. Irene Hughes Atkinson (1909-1990) was born to John Frank Hughes (1880-1954) and Vieanna Hughes (1886-1958) in Martins, Georgia. Atkinson married George James W. Atkinson (1906-1997) and had four children. She had at least one grandchild, Sandra Gayle Reese. Additional biographical information has not been determined. GeOl'gia FOlklore John Burr.1non Goorgjt>. State UnivernHy M:>y 113, 1970 Of the marw folk crafts found in Georgia, q\lilting is one of the most popular in Gwinnett County. 'rhis craft, which was once a necessity, is the favodto pasttime of ma.ny women today. It 1'11),8 once the moti.vo for a social gathering within the community, not only for the women but for the men as well. 'rhe methdd of quilting ha.s ohangod little in tho past 1'01'1 deoades. Although the method of obtaining the cotton batting has changed, the .~~ materials for the{ and bottom are a.cquired in much the salue waj as they were in the old days. Mrs. C. H. Landress, better known to her friends and relatives as Grandm... Belle, talks about quilting in the old days and quilting today. 'rhis eighty-year-old lady lives alone in a. huge house in Luxonmi, Georgia. Her'e she is surrounded by memories of the past 1l.t3 she enjoys the constant visits from her grandchildren. Grandma Belle remembers. how it was in the old days before cotton batting was so plentiful. "Well, after the crop was gathered in the fall, you picked the scrap cotton 'wd you took it to the gin and had it ginned, brought it back and then you either carded your bats or you whipped the cotton fluffy and then put it on your' quilt on your linin'. Most of the time you made your linin' ouL of feedsacks, if you' s fortunate enough to have them or jlou bought cheap mat.erial and made your quilt linin I. And mostly you pieced your tops from [!Craps th",t wuz left from school clothes or anythi.ng of that type, 01' ;vou bought a scrap bundle and pi.ecod up ya qlults." 1"/ 2 Mrs. Landress wa.s asked if she ever made, appl:iqued quilts 01' if she onl;y made0 pieced qu:l.lts. She sLated that they usually mado pieced quilts. "You usually used v. pattern. Sornotimes if yrour scraps WUI': 1'1;:;11 small, y'ou could use illMuscydine Hull' which took up a.ll ya liUle pieces. Therl3 wuz no wast,age back in them days. You used everthing." A 'Muscydine Hull' is " a lii;3;;lo sma.ll scrap pieced in tho shape of iii. muscydino after you burst H, open. It'd be four pioses of it. And then you hadLo broacl1 it around all up to make it a square. Thero wuz fans and differont t,ypes of patternn, but JOu used a pa.ttern." "We made up our own patterns, or we borrowed from neighbors and swiLchU patterns backerd's and forwards among our friends." Most feedsacks were white or beige in color and had~o be dJed in order to have a bright qui.lt. "You could dye 'em. If you were forl;unate enough to buy dJ'e > you'd hll,)' the indigo hlue or '~urkey r(od- somethin/that, wouldn't; fade. O~herwise y'ou could use - coppers and broolUs Lraw lUe.de II yeller dye. And t.her" wuz so m<ll\y different. colors that you could use to change colors that you use that you gathered off of t,he farms or in your own cO(Jllllunity." SOllie people used red cla,y to give their quilt: bott.oma a redish oolor. Mr,9. Landress never used that mol;hod but has seen it done. "I've seen that done. I never did, but J've Sllen other's do. it" I'V(. helped quilt :i,he qUi.lts,a.nd it, wuz rough quilting, too." In the old da,ys quiltlng bEJes were a common occurrenoe. During thenf'. d'fuiI's, it wus a oonUilOn pr~.ctice for l;he women to toen G. mit in the atr. "J: didn't, go to too many JAuilting bOOB), but my' mother used ~o go to .. qult.o iii few. I've seen that [tossing a cat in the aifl.done too. Whon we'd 3 have. a quilt.ing bee, just. fOl' the fun of it, somebody'd throw a cat il:\ the quilt to see who it; went. towards. If it, went. towards any of the young girls, why then~hey were teased and sa>id they were next to get married. Yeah, I've seen it done." "I make a few rquilts J, onn or two a year. I give 'em away. I don't make 'em for I1\Y own utle anymore, be clause I've got enough a.lrelady made to do me o II II Well, ,you still use pieces left from ya sHwing ~ dresses or slipcovers or t.hings t.hat's good quilt. material and you don't I don't. quilt 'em such lit.Ue tin,V pieces like we used to either. It's not. fer a necessit.y now and it's not to use on top of the beds noW. You juot do it for a paottime. "You Clln QWlJ~ I)\(ltewd buyAor you can use feedswks .. I USG mostly feedsaclm. just the. same as new cloth. It is naw cloth. But it's .Just not: all alik(~ . (wert.lme~ III have my own frames. You P,ut your quilt up on it. Used to tl!ke you three or four days to qUilt. a quilt, bocmwG you quiltod it so tiny "..nd so neat, but .you ,jest don't go t,o that, trouble anymore; because it's. not worth it anymore. "I usually put up a quilt -like this mornin' , me and one morEl. By night we'd take i.t out. By 9:00 it's finished. So 1.t's not hard to lJlake 'Ella li.ke i'~ USElli to be. It's not the trouble i.t used to be, because you buy your eo'ttol1 al1l'eady t.o lay on top of ,your linin' now. H's lJluch si.lllp])er to qui.H. now than i.t used to be. 'You don't. take the same t:r'ouble 0 II 4 "'You made 'em pret,ty , because they wm'en I t very ll\lany people that used bedspreads. I can remember when the beds wuz made with one of them quilts on top, but now you put a spread on so you don't, see .your quilt no wa,y. You don't have to go to that worry. But I have seon some mighty pretty quilts '''luiUod. E:ver family practically, that. had young foJ./uJ in it would. have one or moro re",l nico quilts. ,And they went on top of the bad. And wher' you use .yoUI' counterpano a.s a bolster cover now, you used piller shams. 1'hoy ' s put on t,he head of ),{Qur bed and hung down over ,your pillors. I'vo I) done up a-many-a onB. One of the more popular pa tterns used in quilt.ing was the 'Dou.ble V/(~dding Ring'. This consisted of t,Y/o rings of pieced scraps entwined on a solid background. "I've got one of t,hose now. You broaoh it. You pieece your wedding ringj and then you put a broach. around the outsidee to mlitke it n.t, just like puttin l a dress togfJthrer. You got to cut i;he pa.ttern to fit tho ring in order t.o get a square. You sow it on thore just l:lke you's piecing a quilt. It.' s very sildple." In the old d,1ys it was very continon for lJoveral people to meet. and quilt a quilt. "It really took a good many people. I mean they would meet in different homeBj and they"d quUt. Maybe they'd quilt two quilts here, and then the next week thEW'd mGet at another ncighbors's;and theey'd qu11t there. And the ncighbors got together morA t.hen than they do now. And when they all got together, they'd havee what they cllll a qu11ting beA. Some't:lmofl they'd quilt all dll..Y. " As there is a sellS on for everyt.hing Oil a I'llI'm, thel'o was lit; neaBon foI' 5 quilting. Quilting was always done at this time of the year. "In the winter after the crops wuz gathered, then the quiHing was t,ook over. In a farm life they wuz a season for praeLically everthing you did. And the winter months wuz the quilt-making months." The men had their own social meetings while the ladies quilted. They had choref!' which could be shared with their nei ghbors. "Most of 'em wuz out keepin' up the firewood- keepin' firewood cut and doin' the farm chores. They had chores in the winter, too.,-. mostly cuttin I wood. "Quite a few times they I d get together and hl9.ve what they called a eorn ~) huskin'. That wuz shuckin' eorn;and while the men shue-ked corn,thf} women quilted. " When asked if she pr'oferred the old timen to the present. Grandma Belle ~mswered," I don't wanta go back. I really... It wuz more livin'. You really lived closer to people back in them dayB, because you didn t t, get with your neighbors much- only' when you did have somethin t like t.hat. When you did, you were so really glad to be with poople. One thing, the houses would be ... If you t s in a mile of a neighbor you t s lueky, because there just weren't very many homes that close around." Mrs. J. W. Atkinson, another la.dy of highsl,anding in her community, a.lso compared the quiltlng of tho old days and that of today. Mrs. Atkinson, or Mama R4TIe, is ll. sixty-year-old great-grandmot.her and the ov/rtfJr of sevfJral dogs and (Jats who want to be hfJardl too. Mr13. Atldnson rO(Jallod the picking of cotton to makfJ (Jotton batting for the quUts. "Viell, we always, after we finished up pickin t thfJ (Jotton and makin' 6 the bales, then we'd go back over the field and pick the snattern l cotton up, and that wuz our quilt,in' cotton, We'd take that to the gin and have it ginned. Then you'd j,ake tha'~ and nard bats. I guess most people nowadays don't know what you're talldn' about when you, say card, but card.s wuz two long flat boards with a handle on 'em ani! full of fine wires. And you'd take that and rake~he cotton over that til you got it. good' n'smooth, and then that's what you put on ya linin'- laid on your quilt linin' and used to quilt ya quilt with." 1'he bats were small rectangular pieces of cotton put side by side on the qUilt bo~tom to make the middle ,l0"le.h II I gues s they' s about four inches wide and about eight inct18s longsomethin' like that. You just. make those litl,le bats like that, and you placed them on your linin'. If you wanted a lightweight quilt, you'd lay a ll\Yer of bats on it. AJ1d if you wanted a heavier quilt, we,U,;you' d lay another lay'er of bats on it -just according to how heavy a quilt you want ou~ of it. II The bats were not sewed down. The top was used to secure the bats and keop thom from slipping. "You Just laid ;your top on top of them; then baste it down. And. you really had 'to do some nice work on that. And you'd take a chalk and layoff what we called :a shell. And you'd foller that to make :all rows :alike and ,just quilt i~ like that. You'd quHt down - go by ya chalk lines to make It even. You'd make lJ.ttle ti!\y sUtches, close together. Beo/Hlse th:at - a neat qunt - that,'s wbt,>.t they uBed for bedBpl'eads then. You'd put a quilt on top of y:a bed." ' 7 Mrs. Atkinson and her friends made both appliqued and pieced quilts. These were done in different patterns. "They made a lot, of !l.pplique quilts - out. out. flowers or flower baskets - lind llpplique 'em on II square of cloth and then flew those squlll:'eS together, bllt mostly use pieoed quilts ,just what. we o<\11ed a 'stra..ng quilt' and use up all the liUle pieoes. My f9Nol'i te, wuz the 'Spider Vieb'. You'd Cltyou a piece of cloth out, of a solid color and pin in ya middle of your pape:&,. You had a paper pattern. Then you'd take different colors of st.rips of all colors of scraps a..nd sew on each si.de of Ghllt. And when ya got all those sewed together, iVd look ,just. like a big spider web wHh a spider in the middle of it. "l'v'e saw "w mother piece a. 'Lon;t\'tar', what ya call a 'Lone Star' pattern. I can't remember now. ViE' 'd exchange patterns in the neighborhood. I don't know. I can't name 'em all now." Mrs. Atkinson remembered some interesting information about carding cotton. "'ralking about ca.rdin' bats, I \lseta set and watch my grandmother card. lnstid of the flat b,J;a, she'd mako rolls - jost roll the cO'Gton up in bi g rolls - t,hen she'd take her spinnin' wheel and spin that into thread; and then when she got sever!l.l big ballS of thread spinned, she'd knit socks out. of it. I've seen the cotton from 'Gime it wUjfl. picked out of the field til :Lt wu,;. _. hBr work wit.h it t11 BhB made it, into knit-tin' thread and then knit soclCfJ out of it for the men to weal' through the winter." Mrs. Atkinson' roeallB that, her grandmother talked about, wea.ving eloth, but. she never watched this procfBdure. The ladies of her generaGion uSBd foedsacks to make their' quilt bottoms. These were dyed unti.l the prinG 8 sacks became popular. "Mostly we used to dye the white sacks., unMl they sl,arted makin' pri!i-ted feedsacks. #rever did use anything but bought dye"~ '.lner I sta.rted makin' qUilts, but I saw my mother t"ke bark offa trees and boil it - red oak bark and different kinds of barks and make dye out of 'em te dye l,he qUllt Hnin's." Red oak bark made a purple dye: "kindly of a purplish - kindly a bluish purple - dark linin'." This bark was boiled oul;side in la.rgo iron !cettles and poured in wash pots in whtch the material wall dyed. "Dig it off and .you' d boil H. in a. kel>tle or llomO t.hin' nother and then poured th"t dye in yer wa.shpol;s and dyed your lining outside., Use a big !black washpol>. " When she was asked if she ever al>tended quilting bees, Mrs. Atkinson replied, "No. I never did, but I've heard my grandmother and I1\Y great grandmol>her talk about 'em. It wuz especially interestin' to heal' m,Y great- >(. grandmot.her talk about the.quiltin' boes. The mon'd gather the corn and plle it up,and they'd get together and ha\ife a corn shucking, and the women'd all get together and quilt. And then everbody'd take somethin' and have supper ~llld then have a barn dance after~vards. 'rhey' d have a fiddle and banjer - somebody to make music." " Most. of them wa.s bll.ck bofore wy time to get out and do things lili:e l>hat. I've got togo (;her w:Ll.h the neighbors qnd quilt(,d lots of timEls." "We used to git to[;etho:r and quilt in the wint.ert:iJne.We 'd.9'0 to one neighbor's house and quilt, and lIla.rbo next woek meet. at :li'ullther neighbor's 9 house and quilt. "Our Sunda,y School formed o. club, and we called it thr1 Oakland Goodwill ,y: Club. And we!d g:i.t together and quilt. We quilted for needy people, and we've also quilted and sold quilts to make moneJ fer our clull. All the ladies'd meet on club meetin' day llnd carry a covered dish, and we'd quilt and then have lunch. "Each one would make a (Jquare and then some would take 'em and now 'em tog13ther on th13 newin,' machine. And th13n wo'd glt together. Maybe the I day before, three or four would go and put the quilt in the frame wher w13'd be ready to star~ quiltin' And the orles who couldn't quilt would thread needles and do things while th13 other ladies would quilt. We mostly got together to have a good time and talk and have a neighborly vislt. "We didn't make a Iota money, but. it wuz a help to our club, and then too, we 13njoyed bein' together. "We used the old-timey quiltin' frames, but we'd pu't 'em on - set four chairs and lay the frames acrose the chairs, I cause in the buildin' we didn't have anywhere to hang 'em from the ceilin'. "We used to hang I em from the coilin'. We had our nails up in the loft. They'd hang ropes on and let 'em hang down and hang the frames. See in our home like that,when we'd haveta - when everbody'd come in at night, we'd haveta roll our quilts up. In o'ther words, you know, we'd haveta roll that ropc aroul1ri the framos and li.ft it up higher than their heads GO people could walk under It. And then when everbody got out of the hOllSe the next da,y, let our quilt back down and be ready to quilt. again. "Do you ever romember a walkin' under 't1rn'l WEl'd be a quiltin' , and, the IHtie kids: a runnin' around playin', and their heads run under and wad 10 up our oO'~'~on on the qUil~." The discussion Ulen turned to frames and hoVi they were )l~ed. Mamr,( Rene desoribed the prooedure of putting the quilt in the frame. "Well, two people oould plil~ 'em in the frame all right. We used to take a needle and thread and basto through t,he linin' and around the frame, but we learned to nail liUle taoks around the frame without any head,and you could stretch that linin'. One person got on one side and one on the other - across from each other and hook that, linin t. over these tacks. And then when ywu Ul id your cotton on there, ~hen you sprca.d your '~op on top of it and hooked it over there to stretch it t1.gh~ and then you's ready to quilt.'" A quilting frame consists of four long boards held together at the eihds with nails. These form a square the size of the quilt. 'I'hese boards have evenly spaeedholes along the side. Mrs. Atkinson explained why these holes are necesse.ry . "Well, you he.ve ~o have that. When you qui.lt a row all t,he wa,'f at'ound ya frame, you haveta [,un, t,hat frame over, roll i~. You know what I mean by' rollin it under wher' you can git the - whoI" you've not quilte~~ whoI" y'ou can reach over and quUt til ;\t0U git on to the cent.er of '~he qu:Ll.t, ~'hat,' s the way' you quilt t.he whele quilt. You have nails on each corm,r of them,and you jest. turn the frame over and that makes a roLl. And then yeu put ya nail back down through. That,l s why ,'fA haveta have that row of ho1ono "I have Cjui.ltod on the lIHwhine. If you:'re in tl. hurry to git, a. quilt out, you can Cjut.lt.'it on I,he machino. H's qui.ckor done, but ib's not as nico a work as quilt-in' it with ;'four hands. I'd rather quilt with my hands. 11 Now since you can buy the cotton in big rolls , you can la,y it on the linin 's, and you can quilt> 1,hat pretty well on the machine, because once you gil. it on yll. 1J.nin' and tho top on top of it, you roll that up and jest unroll it as ya. quilt it. "I lili:e tho handmade quilts botter. They're smoother,and you Can do a lot better job on i t." Mrs. Sarah L. Perk:lns of Decatur, Goorgla is able to recall many of tho pattorns used in quilting. Sho helped hor mother and gr.~ndmothor make their quilts. "'fhey'd take six or eijJht or twelve little squares may'be,no more than an inch squar(" and they'd sew each one of those together by hand with real Uny stitches. Then when 'It,oy got onough squares to maJw their quilt, they put it together usually with strips. Thesc would be of difforent color printlj'faybe. Then they'd take solid material and cut it in strips, and they would put one block thero of the print, and they would use the 801id mater:lal to put tho1W riquares together - whatever color curtains they had or llJedsproad. 'rhoy' didn I t have bedspreads mostly; they used these for bedspreads. Then all the little squares then were put together with these solid materiiHn 0 After they were Hewn togHthGr, then they were fastened. with ~"~. wmIJ.ll;}' unble 8.ched Jornt"., j,i c. They llOllld bll,Y I,h" wid til and all, and {,hey would fafJt,m to this f'r~Jne tho unblG'lchGd domestic. And they would tako cotton hatting,or people who gr(JVJ thGir own cotton would do their own cotl;on. And the cotton would be put :In. 'rho only ones I eVGr did wuz with cotton bat bing, and you ,just unrolled it and laid it down. And it \'IUZ laid daVin n'l top of' thB,t; domestic which wuz fastencel to the fnlJlle. 'rhen you took your 12 quilt top which had already been pieced together." :rtw, uixty...y;ear-old MrB. PerkinB recalled the popular 'Double Wedding " This was made up either of rit)gs of material, but more likelj of little square,s' pieced together Lo make a ring, and that was a "IVedd:ing Ri"g~pattet'J1' Or if you put two of 'em togo'I,her, Y'ou had a 'Double Wedding Ring'. And if they had big scraps, why they usually used the ring <}ll of one kind and cut it, in the ringB. Then that could be appliqued wi th briar ntitching onto a square. 'rhey unually was print,and this was solid material or the reverse. 'rhen those big squarv would be sewBd toget,hor, and you'd have your quIlt top. "lily mother made onG tha,t was a 'Dutch Doll' once. ThIs was the back of th,., doll with the al'm showinjg, or the sidB of the doll. Then that was put toget,bBr wi th one of th(~ colors Lhat was in the dresses. Usually the' dressos wero a prlnt;, ',and the hal, might be a solId c(Jlor~' Mrs. PeX'ldns remembered a pattorn called 'Diamond'. Th18 consistBd of small dlwtlm..khaped pieces of matedal fittod together in the shape of )'Then thexewun one called B, I Bowti.e, paLt,onl. And it was a liLtle , square w:Ll.h Lhe otllEll'S Hke that(IQ::O). And t,hml they were maybe put together like that ( #r )and were solid colon: f:iJled in. These wl'mld be of a prillt. "The p1'ettinn~ quilts and the best quilters were the ones who could take >f- Lhe tiniest stitches. And you had to use tiny needles, and you had Lo push H, through t,hose three pioces that you had there. And some of those WJ)rB so fine that you could hardly see the stitchea. 13 "Then they had tufte>d quilts. Thon t,hey lIi~(Ie> quiUs of what they called puffs. They'd cut a circle of mate>i'ial, and thl~y'd fill each one of thoGO wit,h cotton. And [,hese usually were made out of the satin and velvet scraps they would have, 'file eotton would be put in and they would turn under the> edges of the circle,and thon they would draw it up tight like a drawstring. And then thaI, would make a puff. And then those puffs would be there. And those were uHu8.11y tul'ted on and not quilted with the little stitches. Among \lrs. Perldns I qutlts is a 'Texas star'. gach squaro contatned a l'uge st,ar of print, nW.teI'io.l surround(;d by a so]id backgtound. She also has a quilt top made by her mother. 'lhis 'Cllazy Quilt'is made of dt fferent colors and pattertw of velvet amd sattn cut in various shapes and sewn together wUh an embroidery stitch caned 'briar stltehi.ng I. Mrs. Featherston embroidered various designs on the top. Thi,s W'lS origino.lly meant, to be a bedspread when it was started soms t,qirty yoal'S ago. 'rbe pat,terns were cut from paper before the material wa.s actually cut. Mrs. Parkins o)(pllilined that some of the doslgn of tho quilt was lilIso found in thG Ille'thod of quilting or thG pattern of quilting. "Thoro wa.S lil sholl pat.tG:rn -: what they call a. shell pattorn. And Mama mlildo a beautiful arlO. And it wasn't tho piecing of the shell pattern; it was t,he quiIting,you soe. It was., instclad of ,jUlJt ot,itching acraBs, i,hGy' would do it in tho shell littlo tiny stitch"B. And thehth"y would do anether. It would take weeks maybe w:i.t,h all the nGighbora." This shellstUc,hing was dono withotrtthe lilid of a plilttern 01' qhalk litlEls 'The qui1 tel'S made t.ho desi>gns lUi t.hcw went along. Not evcr,ybody could quilt, but thGre W8.fl aJ:waya 9. job for over,ybody. No one was idle when ther(o was quilting to be done. "Sometimes some people could quilt better than others, and they'd gHt those that, weren't, such good quiHers when they came to do something else. Mlaybe they'd get them to cut or to sew together or something like that" Most of 'em WOUl(lful:.patt(~rns out of the catla10g - Seal'S catalog maybe -- where the,Y were advertising flower seeds or soQthing liko that and had a flowor." Patterns could bo obtained from various places. In 1ator years all the littlo town newspapers beg&tI to earry qUilLing pattertls. During this time also children,atlimals, and flowers beoame tho popR'ial' patterns for quilts used on top of the bed. Those were used instead of bedspreads or counterpanes. These also had a' thinnor layer of' cotton batting in them, and were lightor weight 'Lhaf\those used, ,just for cover. Mrs. Perkins att,end~ew quilting be0)s" but she rememberod her mother talking about them. These were held all winter and took the place of X"ldio and telovis ion today. And Lho,Y usually, like I said, they kept' it up all wInter. Maybo in the "On a winter night the,Y didn I thave radio, Bnd they didn I t have television. ,o1f/ summer and sprlng l(l when they would cut their pieces out and nw.tbo sew aome of 'em. But most of their qpilt;lng was done in the wintertime., And in the swnmer they wero busy puttin' up vegetables and fruits and ",11. j3ut they'd :3 till maybe pieco their 'tops ,in Lhe sprlng lind fall. But usually ,it, was in the winter(,ime when the,Y would quil!;. "If they were makin' Ii spHcial ow,, maybe they didn't, w@,n(, anybody' to Vlork on bu t, themse1VHS. 'Lhey I d do (;ha t, by theml1e lves .'" 15 Mr'3:, P'3rkins: remembered her mother' Bold quilUng frame and the ladieB who gathered around it. These meetings were times of plelJ,SUre aB well as times for work. ".11..9 m:any' a'3 eiillht or twelve could get around one of ~hose big frames. And of course, they'd always h:ave nookies :and some~hing and gossip. Boy' ~hey could talk up a streaJ<, IIMama lived - remarried and went to the countr,V - oh, 'bout forty years .ago - back to the coun~ry. We never did live :Ln the country, but .she IillwtayB did handwork and qUilting, lind I had grandm.amas 11m] aunts that lived in the coun~ry. And I visited and saw !them working, But she had one of these frames,and maybe in the sWlUllertime they'd take that frame down and store it in tho smokehouse. But in the wintm'time it would always stay up; and when th 'y vmre ready to put a new quilt on, they'd hook 'em on i~. And like I said, one woman would put a quilt up andl,hey'cl como in in the afterlloorw. Because th'ly' had their dinner in the middle of the d",y. and then~he,v had I',heir aJf~ern()on free 0 They didn't do housework. They did their housework of a morni:o. t -(l~,rly in the mornK.1h' arid go~ it ole;;.n, and it st~'nd ule9,n. Then they had their dinner; and when they got thro)1gh with 12:00 dinmr a.nd the dishes, ~hey had the rest of the day unless they had litUe children that had siekness they had to take oare of. And thoy would invite the neighbors in. Everybody knew when Miss Lana or Miss Ruby or Miss .Jane was gonlla put up li quilt, lind they'd .jest oome in with their needles. And they'd ",lways b:rang their own noodlos. And they' would sot ",r'ound tha~ fr,ame and talk. "As I say, after they got. 'as far as they, could reaoh tn, it.would hav'e to be ,rolled up ~,nd movod up where the,V oould ge~ to l,he cerr~er. 11 ".f ~1" ,~, 16 The,\, c()uld move :i.t from both sides, and they would roll :Lt around the sides. It was f.:w tcned to begin with; but when they s tartBd movi.ng it., thBse nails would be taken out.. Some of 'em would tack 'am wi th t.hread; but some of 'em .- they wera jest put on with - maybe wooden pegs or maybe jest nails. And t.hen they would be t,aken out. and the quil.j:, wpuld be rolled up 1;0 whore M18Y ceuld get to the next. "They mi.ght do one in a week if all the nei.ghbora came in. It all depended on how they weT'e gonna whether they wore gonna use a fancy stitch or whether how many was gonna work on it, - all that." Another source of pattorns for the '1ui.lts was a magazd.ne. Tho ladies' magazines published q).lilt patterns. "That Iittle Famil.y C:i.ucle and those little women's magazines you get at the grOC(Hy s tore quite often have some." The ladies sometimes used only parts of 8. picture. An object was chosen and a pal;tern cut. These were cut from fabric and appliqued onto Ii .plain piece of dorneBtic or W(')l'e embroidered on the domestic. Man,v timAs feedsackB WHro used instead of the unbleached domest.ic. These were u8(~d b;\, peopl" who could not afford t.o buy' ms.teri.al as well as thosc) who could. Feoc\sHclm were tra.nsformed i.nto lovel.\' quilts, "ll,va JnHde many II t.ableelot,h out. of feedBaeks wH,h ell1br'oi.dery on i.t and appliq\lC~ on i. t. Now for quiUi.ng, if they were) gonna use it ,108t for' eover, t.hoy mlght take t.he fClodsaeks. Or people whe couldn't afford t.o b\~\" the unbleaehed domestic and had t.he feodBackB but noarly everbody uS(Jd their feedsaeks whether' they had money ho go bu,\, materials or not. A.nd many beautlful pieces of ombroidel;,\" and lunchan clot.hs and t.ablecloths .. M.T mothel' made one of the most beaut.i,ful t.ablElcloj;hs out of feedsaoks. 1'7 It was, a very pretty materB!!. It was kind of an ecru in color. It waa a Iittl" well if was a ,Iittle more open. And ahe put it toge ther the squares together with handmade crocheted lace in the ecru. The lace insert,ions, ahe called ii;, which was the lace that didn't have an edging on it was about three inches wide) and t,hen t,hat that sho put around the outside was about an inch and a half wide in tho swne p",ttern, but with a scallop .~l'OUlld it. She put these sacks together and then made a big banquet cloth that .I used fpr y'ears and years and year", " Sometimes these feedsa.cks were dyed, while at other times they were tlS"Q, in their S!1c!(, ..conditioll. Mrs. Perkins used bought dye to dye hers, but mal~ of her friends m;ade their own d,Ye. "A lots of the neighbors of hll,ma' s used to d'yo them Turkey red Imd forest green and colors like thn t. "I nevElr~mad(; m,Y own dye~. Now my mother did and my g"'andJnother. I remember watching my grandmoth(H', She uaod thHse boantiful purple from this elderberries. Made wine from elderborrles and mado jolly wi t,h eldorborrios 'md. Ol.pplos put together, Bu.t she unod the berries alBo to m~ko a boautiful purplo dJe. And I don't. romombol', Thoso are the only colors .I romembor. 300mB like t.hoy had a beautiful orangC3, but Hve forgotton what. they made it out. of." Mrs. Porkins romemberod carding eotton and v/()ol, She explainod how thill was done. "It' n two pioees of wood abou.t six or eight inchon long and ",bout I;hreo inches wido. And Uwn it I s got. - you' Vel Ileon wiro brushos t.hey uso for scrubbing or for suedH' sboes - won .it had wiros lik<) that all in thC3 insido. And then they put tho wool iu thor'o. And thC3Y had. handles HI, on 'em about six or eight or ten inches long. And than they pulled '~hem backfand forU{jliko that and corded that to where they got it to where they could spin the thread to weiave the m~.terial. They corded cotton, too,-- I think on thoBe same things. They corded tho cotton." Mrs. Perkins dillcUss(;d quitting on the sewing machi.no "'tld eompared H to quilting by hand. "I haven't seen th(~m quilt it, but I underHtiand they'do. I know nearly all or 'em now SElW tho pieceH togetherton the machine), but back thon they never. They would've been insultBd if anybody'd evor seen thorn. They wore too proud of their hal1diworlc to put machine stitches init. "I expoct th~,t the ones made by ha.nti mi,ght be stronger. However, of l;hoso women really made -- the stitches that they made was - a \. ", i ')j ,,) , j - \' , somo' 1 \V machine I don't believfJ could hardly Illake a stitch as mnall as some of 'elll., I don't believo you could get as pretty a quilt. I Think it would be impossible to quilt unless 11; VI'lS factory. But ,to piece it together doesn't show underneath there beliause see, it's all done undornea t,h. But I don't think a sewing machine could over duplicate i~. " I think evolybody ought to have ll,ome kind of hobby. I think every gll.'l ought to learn to dei at least one wh(othor it's, cook from scratch or sow or embl'oldery or quilt or hook rugs or do sOlllot,hin' like that for the satisfaction it gives ya. You get a certain satisfaction from making a cake from flour and shortening that you can't got f'l'om opening a box. I mean they're wonderful for a qulck and hurried thing, but Jllm sorry for any girl who doesn't have somebody to oncollr8,ge 'em t,o loarn to either ba)> or cook somothin' from scra Lch and nol; frozon or mixot1. The same thIng about sowing. I t.h1nk you g(ot a great deal. of satisfaction out, of something that's handmado." Although quilting is beHeyed to ge an old-timey chore, many qMilt todtly. This is done I<s@. pasttime and for the Batisfaction it gives. 19 : ,I [ I .:: I!I r ~ II II :1 f'! { I} 1. i ! ' 1I " 1,. " ;'< QuHt ]?rame Pieced quilt by ~~s. C. H. Landress Pieced quilt by Mrs. C. H. Landress Double Wegding Ring pieced by Mrs. C. H. Landress "., 'l 1 ;.' I ,;' Double Wegqing Ring pieced by MI's. C. H. Landress Windmill by Mrs:.--G. H. Landress Luxomni, Georgia ---~~ ~ --~-- Windmill by Mrs~-C. H. Landress Luxomni, Georgia Bo~tia pie oed by N~s. J. w. Atkinson Butterfi,Y appliqued by Mrs ,.J., W. Atkinson BowGie pieced by Mrs. J. w. Atkinson ButterflY appliqued by Mrs.J., W. Atkinson Mrs. J. W. Atkinson Route # 4 ,Lawrenceville, Georgia , Mrs. J. W. Atkinson Route # 4 ..Lawrenceville, Georgia This quilt top Vias done by the mother of Mrs. Sarah L. Perkins. It J.s of satJ.n and velvet scraps J.n the 'Crazy Quilt' pattern. There is no definite pattern,and the pieces have no partJ.cular shape. Mrs. Featherston has used briar stJ.tching around her pJ.eces and along the edges of her square5. She has also used other embroidery ~titches to make designs on the different colored scraps. Mrs. Sarah L. Perkins 2893 Toney DrJ.ve Decatur, Georgia J u~' This quilt top Vias done by the mother of Mrs. Sarah L. Perkins. It is of satin and velvet scraps i.n the 'Crazy Q,uilt' pattern. There is no defini.te pattern,and the pieces have no particular shape. Mrs. Featherston has used briar stitching around her pieoes and along the edges of her squares. She has also used other embroidery s;titches to make' designs on the different colored scraps. Mrs. Sarah L. Perkins 2893 Toney Drive Decatur, Georgia A PDF transcript exists for this recording. Please contact an archivist for access. Professor John Burrison founded the Atlanta Folklore Archive Project in 1967 at Georgia State University. He trained undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in his folklore curriculum to conduct oral history interviews. Students interviewed men, women, and children of various demographics in Georgia and across the southeast on crafts, storytelling, music, religion, rural life, and traditions. As archivists, we acknowledge our role as stewards of information, which places us inaposition to choose how individuals and organizations are represented and described in our archives. We are not neutral, andbias isreflected in our descriptions, whichmay not convey the racist or offensive aspects of collection materialsaccurately.Archivists make mistakes and might use poor judgment.We often re-use language used by the former owners and creators, which provides context but also includes bias and prejudices of the time it was created.Additionally,our work to use reparative languagewhereLibrary of Congress subject termsareinaccurate and obsolete isongoing. 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