More from India

Dear quilting friends,

A last note from India! This country is a quilter’s paradise. Wherever you look, at the women’s clothing, the flowers in their hair, the many temples and even at the crazy traffic, there’s an abundance in color we don’t see in the US and Europe. The designs in the silks, the famous carpets, the cashmere wools, I have never seen such a richness in fibers and I think I have travelled a lot.

Kaffe Fassett has been in this country and I can see why he fell in love with it as well. The Indians are using colors everywhere and they mix and match it with a lot of creativity. I have admired all the women in their traditional saris and the variety in styles and color combinations was so beautiful! The few cottons you can find here are all what Kaffe would call shot cottons, the loosely woven solids and hazy stripes. There are some other, but not many more options in cotton. And most of the cotton is not suitable for quilting. Prints are extremely hard to find in cotton. I have met a few quilters and they told me the Indians are very proud of their textures and find the idea of cutting a beautiful piece of textile into smaller pieces and sewing it again into a bigger piece a little weird! There are some quilts and they have been born with the same idea as the first American quilts: utility.

However I also found some quilting and patchwork techniques here that are very close to what we would call art quilts. Intense use of beads, different threads… I have purchased 2 more gorgeous quilts from local artists and also 3 quilts from the Kashmir region (Northern India), all made out of wedding dresses. Next week the pictures will finally be online and the quilts will be for sale….. Wait for the show and tell!