This summer I have had the incredible opportunity of working in a small archive where I have been helping digitize the photo collection so that anyone looking for these photographs can find them on the online database. Archives work is an important part of keeping the memory of the past, and they are there for anyone to access, like a library. I have felt so honoured to be doing this work, and incredibly lucky to have the lovely boss that I have.
Last month, I was allowed to attend the Association of Canadian Archivists conference virtually as a part of my job, so I had the whole week to listen to archivists who are working to decolonize the field and make it more accessible from the comfort of my own home. Although I was kept very busy listening to the speakers and taking notes, I had to do something with my hands in order to concentrate through the long days. Since creating my scrap tote bag (I sewed this bag about 6 months ago, long before I posted about it), I have sewn many other projects and I have found myself with more fabric scraps. I decided to make something patchwork to use up some of these scraps, but I was not originally sure what to do with them. I thought about make an apron, a pillow cushion, or a quilted jacket, but I finally decided on making a patchwork skirt.
I have always loved patchwork and quilted items of clothing because they remind me so much of all of the ways that people, traditionally women, have used everything that they have to make beautiful items throughout history. It also makes me think of all of those people (once again, traditionally women and other people who have not been allowed to voice their thoughts including people of colour and queer people) who have used sewing, quilting, and embroidery to show their personality and opinions.
Last year while taking a class about gender history in Canada I was able to write a research paper about how women have used sewing and textile arts as a way to speak out and leave their mark. I was able to find the most incredible examples of this through embroidered undergarments and pockets in the 1700s, but my favourite examples were through the quilts and patchwork items that farm women have created over the past 300 years. Gender historians have argued that just by choosing which fabric prints are included and the patterns that they put them in shows character, individuality, and opinions that have not always been allowed to be expressed. People have used quilts to show their love for their home town, their favourite things (many embroider a family crest or favourite saying/bible verse/song lyric on a quilt or patchwork item), and their love for their friends and family. Doing this research had also made me think of the AIDs Quilt, which is an enormous art piece that spoke out against the way that people with AIDs were being treated and the lack of medical care, created by a gay activist from San Francisco, Cleve Jones.
Sewing has been used for so long as a symbol of the patriarchy (how many movies does the "cool, feminist" heroine say she hates sewing as a way to show that she is different?), but it has been used for centuries as a way to show love, to protect ones family, and to express ones opinions.
Although my little patchwork skirt is not particularly political in nature, I believe that it does show my personality! Each of the fabrics that I used in this skirt are fabrics that I chose because I love them and because they remind me of an interest of mine, and when you put them all together they give a pretty comprehensive story of my interests and passions.
This skirt has already had a pretty big transformation: from a project that was started because I needed something simple to do with my hands to an expression of love and joy. I am excited to wear this skirt and lecture anyone who asks about the importance of handicrafts through history!
Thank you so much for reading,
Katherine
