Gee's Bend Quilts

[Music] g's bend is a small remote black community in rural alabama surrounded on three sides by the alabama river descendants of slaves who had worked in the fields on the petway plantation quilting is a proud tradition for home and family from three to four generations in the same family the purpose of quilt making in the south was very important besides warmth that preserved memories and events told stories and it served as message boards for the underground railroad which guided slaves on their way north to freedom let's take a look at the beautiful quilts and the styles made in g's bend back in the 20th century and still today abstraction and improvisation these are sometimes called my way quilts they have unexpected patterns unusual colors and surprising rhythms [Music] the house top pattern of concentric squares is the most favored pattern and the design echoes traditional american call and response music patterns and geometry notice the repeating patches of triangles squares diamonds or hexagons [Music] sears corduroy these were reduced around the 70s when sears robux produced corduroy pillow covers in colors like gold avocado leaf and tangerine or cherry red the leftover fabric scraps were taken home by workers and shared with family and used to make these vibrant works of art work clothes using old clothes or otherwise useless materials and scraps of fabric became popular and very resourceful to make quilts out of [Music] in 2018 former first lady michelle obama had her portrait painted by african-american artist amy sherrold you can see how the artist put some of the patterns of geez ben's quilt in michelle obama's dress pattern some of the quilts have been featured in museums and galleries throughout the world and the women still continue today to sew their quilts in g's bend and pass down their tradition to their family members you

Channel: In The Studio with Mrs. Frobase

Views: 5,379

Rating: 4.6559138 out of 5

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Id: yOxzL1P85z0

Length: 3min 10sec (190 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 06 2021