Patchwork and Quilting in Bampton

BAMPTON COMMUNITY ARCHIVE EXHIBITION CATALOGUE

£1

Patchwork & Quilting in Bampton BAMPTON COMMUNITY ARCHIVE PRESENTS

Patchwork & Quilting in Bampton

Monday January 13th - Thursday Feb 27th 2020 IN THE VESEY ROOM OF THE BAMPTON LIBRARY Monday - Saturday 10.30am - 12.30pm

2.00pm - 4.00pm

Sunday 2.00pm - 4.00pm

‘Patchwork’ and ‘Quilting’?

Grant aided by WODC

ADMISSION FREE

Scribble Cockerel - Julie Watson

This exhibition was organised for ‘Bampton Community Archive’ with the primary aim of recording the Quilters and Patchworkers, who in 2020, continue these traditional crafts in the village, and also to display examples of their work. Also by explaining a little about the history and techniques of the crafts it is also hoped the exhibition will encourage more ‘Bamptonians’ to take up a needle - either fixed to a machine or in their hand, and embark on their own voyage of discovery. Go on, have a try, because as quilters always say ‘It is only a running stitch!’

The terms Patchwork and Quilting are usually linked together as if they were one craft, whereas they are two quite separate crafts, each with their own history, and this exhibition contains examples of both. ‘Patchwork’ is the creation of a new piece of fabric, by hand or machine, and is usually achieved by cutting up pieces of material and ‘piecing’ them together, to form a decorative pattern, as in Jane Barnes very topical ‘Little Women’ quilt (2) or by ‘applying’ or appliquéing different colours of material to a backing to create a picture or pattern, as in the bright and bold ’Seaside Quilt’ (16) by Julie Watson, or it can be a combination of both, and other techniques. The resulting new piece of material may later be stitched to a warm batting material and backed with another piece of fabric - if so, it is the actual stitches that combine these layers together that constitute the separate craft of ‘Quilting’. These ‘quilting’ stitches can be just a few simple decorative hand stitches, as seen in the striking example of ‘Japanese Sashiko Wall-Hanging’ (3) by Pat Barratt, or they can be the many thousands of hand stitches in the exquisitely appliquéd and quilted ‘Love Entwined’ (8) quilt by Judith House. Daphne Stewart’s ‘Suo Gan Cot Cover’ (14) is an example of the craft of ‘Quilting’ without patchwork, . This is a charming example of a quilted ‘whole-cloth’, meaning it was made from a single piece of material, where the decorative quilting stitches alone provide the pattern. Jane Wallis (Jan 2020)