New Quilting Techniques

Recently a group of 3 American visitors who are seamstresses taught some new quilting skills to 4 women on our HAFF staff. The first day included learning how to piece and sew placemats in a log cabin pattern.

Notice the faint lines of white thread and the pattern of squares they make on the back of the placemat. This introduced our women to the new concept of “quilting”.

Prior to this experience our ladies generally made quilts with randomly place squares of various colors and prints which were attached to the back fabric with tied yarn. New experiences this time included: cutting pieces with a “pizza cutter” as these cooks nicknamed the special rotary quilting blade; matching pieces for color and pattern; sandwiching batting in between the front and back; and “wasting” thread to sew (quilt) along several existing seams in order to attach the front to the back and make an attractive pattern on the back (right photo).

The group talked about the positive marketing advantage of using patterns that showed more artistic skill and were more familiar to American customers. They also recognized that when pricing this kind of placemat or quilt one needs to take into account: the price of brand new material that matches better, putting batting inside the quilt and using a lot more thread to make quilting patterns.

For the American women there were lessons in using treadle machines and “making do” with things like twisted material or a broken boot lace in the place of the normal leather belt that drives the machine. They learned to appreciate the small things in life like having a pair of bifocals or even reading glasses so that you can see to do the projects you love to do. Using the foot-pumped treadle for several hours causes severe back pain in some of our Haitian women, but if they have the materials to make products for their families or to sell for cash they feel it is worth it.

One of the joys of doing educational ministries is all the spontaneous learning opportunities that God provides along the way. Since we were working in a building on the HAFF school campus, a few of the more eager girls with dreams of becoming seamstresses came inside to watch and learn from these community women. We had both a Haitian and American man that came in to fix the machines at times and the son of one of the women drank in all the mechanics he could as he watched what makes a sewing machine work.

This device for pressing the new seams on the quilt pieces without an iron was a “Haimerican” invention conceived by the group. Pieces with new seams were stacked, covered with a book and a tea towel, then pressed for 20 minutes with a very heavy cement block. This passive ironing machine required no electricity or time consuming labor and was appreciated by all.

One of the most precious times came on the second day during devotions when we read Psalm 23 and other scriptures that talked about enjoying the bounty the Lord gives us even in the valley of the shadow of death or in the presence of our enemies. Both groups of women have lived long enough as mothers, grandmothers and leaders to have faced many spiritual and physical battles. There were tears as they shared stories of times when God had made his bounty known to them even during these tough times in life.

Both the Haitian and American women reflected on how these two days had offered them that same kind of restoration in the midst of stress. The American women were enjoying time in a new country with warm weather and patient new friends who laughed together and worked well as a team. The Haitian women have really enjoyed two days of creativity amongst friends (with no family interruptions), feasting on the colorful patterns of American quilters and brand new, color-coordinated materials they could choose from. (Many of them usually buy second-hand material from used clothing and sheets in order to make quilts.)