This weekend, the Crafty Ninja and I took a road trip down to the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky. As luck would have it, one of the exhibits currently running was Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt. And as super-duper luck would have it, the day we went down was Gee’s Bend day. The quilters were there signing books, talking to visitors, singing—very cool, indeed.

As we were walking through the exhibit, we turned a corner and there were the most beautiful quilts of all. To me anyway. They were green. And orange. And corduroy. All the things I love!

It turns out that during the 1970s, the Sears company hired the women of Gee’s Bend to sew pillow shams for the company, using the hip fabric of the time: burnt orange and avocado corduroy. The women saved the remnants, and created these warm and beautiful quilts. I love the weight of quilts, so I can’t imagine anything cozier than snuggling under a heavy corduroy quilt on the winter’s night.

So, now I need to find me some corduroy and start sewing. A corduroy skirt perhaps? If you have sewed corduroy before, please share your tips! I’d love to find a good resource for the fabric (especially green and orange, of course).

Until next time,

Christine