Kathleen Ware, Quiltmaker

In my research for making a Lone Star quilt I found this video again.  It’s a short film (33 minutes) about a quilter named Kathleen Ware (1920–2001).  The film was released in 1979, and follows Ware through making a Lone Star quilt.

The thing I find fascinating about this short film is that it’s before rotary cutting, before fancy plexiglass templates or rulers.  She makes a quilt armed with her sewing machine, a pattern book, and a template made from a heavy paper.  She also is seen doing the “snip and rip” on her fabric.  Once the top is done, she loads it in her frame and hand quilts it.  The price for a Queen size quilt that was machine pieced and hand quilted in 1979….$150.00.

It makes me wonder if I would have the same passion for quilting as Kathleen did, only being able to use the tools that were available to her.  I believe Kathleen was a wonderful artist, who happened to work with fabric.  She was always creating, and from all of the quilts around in the bins at her house, she had a wonderful body of work.

So if you have 30 minutes to spare, take a peek!