Some might say to toss quilts with dozens of tears in them, but each quilt, just like each life, has its own story. Woody and Janet, our cousins, made one of them for me when I was undergoing chemo. Then they sent the quilt to people in our Jewish community so that they could knot the ties in the center of each square while adding their wishes for my recovery. I made several the other quilts over long stretches, the oldest one when Forest, now 22, was a newborn, and I was teaching at Haskell Indian Nations University. I carried cut pieces of fabric with me to long meetings where I listened and sewed, the voices of people from many native nations piercing my heart and the heart of the quilt too.
So how to mend a broken quilt? After a little research, I considered the options of cutting the quilts up to make pillows or even a lampshade or two, but I never wanted to violate the quilts I had spent hours making and dreaming under, washing after an animal or kid threw up on them, or unfurling from the linen closet for the first truly cold night each November. Yet the directions I read for repairing them seemed unduly complicated and beyond my patience and ability.
Then it occurred to me: I could mend the quilts the same way I make quilts (and do most things), with my usual sewing repertoire of trial and error (and a seam ripper nearby). At the same time, I suddenly got hungry to re-organize my years of fabric, which gave me lots of good ideas on what to put aside for which quilt. Lucky for me, I tend toward batik fabric which tends to look okay next to itself in many variations.
My technique was simple: cut out a square or rectangle of fabric that somewhat matches (or at least doesn’t
The results may not be pretty, especially since I’m not all that skilled at sewing straight lines or prone to map out things too carefully. Basically, I sew like I write: fast and sloppy first drafts with lots of revisions. Yet in the end, the repaired quilt (as well as the revised text) blankets me into new dreams. It also feels really good to take something ripped and worn, and give it some new life, reminding me that even in what’s far from perfect or somewhat-falling-apart, when it comes to eeking out a Wabi-Sabi solution, I have all I need right on hand.
If this writing speaks to you, get a copy of Caryn’s new book, Everyday Magic: Fieldnotes on the Mundane and Miraculous, based on over 10 years of this blog. Details here.
