Stitching Stories

By Mike Porter

VCU students, faculty and staff will soon share personal stories about the impact of the Civil War and Emancipation through a striking visual means.

As part of VCU’s Year of Freedom  celebration, members of the university community have been asked to create panels that will be stitched together as a “North Star Freedom Quilt.”

“The North Star pattern is among the most popular quilt patterns and is the easiest for people who don’t know how to sew,” said Holly Price Alford, assistant professor of fashion in the VCU School of the Arts and chair of the freedom quilt committee. “And really we want everyone to participate in this – even if they don’t know how to sew.”

The pattern allows for artwork or photos to be placed in the middle of the star.

“Freedom means so many different things to so many different people,” Alford said. “This pattern allows people to creatively share their ideas about freedom on each of the individual panels.”

Some ideas for those images in the middle of the star include: an ancestor who fought in the Civil War, a person who has inspired the quilter or meant a great deal to the quilter’s family or images relating to the meaning of freedom.

“The quilt provides the opportunity for people to memorialize their own family heritage or to visually demonstrate how the past is shaping their lives today,” said John Kneebone, Ph.D., chair of the Department of History in the College of Humanities and Sciences and chair of the Year of Freedom Committee. “It’s also a way of grounding ourselves because, in a small way, the panels may help us talk about things that are hard to talk about and live together in harmony more fully.”

Each quilt will consist of 36 panels.

“I’m hoping that we have enough panels to represent every school, unit or department within the university,” Alford said. “I would love for there to be so many panels that we could put them up at a library or museum. It will be a display of the rich history and diversity that we have at VCU.”    

Panels should be turned in by March 28. Place the panel in a 14-by-18-inch manila envelope and include the quilter’s name, school, department or unit and a description of what the panel represents.

Finished quilts may be turned in to the School of the Arts Dean’s Suite, second floor of the Pollak building, 325 N. Harrison St.

Here are some additional tips for those interested in making a panel:

Soft felt is good to use for those less experienced in sewing. If the panel includes fabric in the middle, purchase quarter-inch ribbon to glue around the middle piece. Leather can be used but not for the base. Use beads, sequins, trims, etc., which are available at crafts and hobby stores.

Do not use Elmers or craft glue; use fabric or leather glue, which can be found at fabric stores. Those who sew should back the fabric base on quarter-inch batting.

Contact Holly Price Alford at hpalford@vcu.edu for additional information.

Here are step-by-step instructions for beginners:

Freedom Quilt panel project instructions

(You can use a paper bag or cardboard for all three of your pattern pieces.)

1.  Cut out a square 12.5 inches by 12.5 inches. This will be your pattern for the base of the North Star. We will call this pattern number one.

2.  Next, you will cut out a square that is 8 inches by 8 inches. If you are sewing your project, remember to add seam allowance to the pattern. If you are gluing your project, then leave as 8 inches by 8 inches. This is pattern number two.

3.  Next, cut a square pattern that is 2 inches by 2 inches. Take the square and cut it diagonally. Each piece should look like a right angle triangle. If you are sewing, add seam allowance. If not, leave as instructed. The right angle triangle is pattern number three.

4.  Take the three patterns and cut out of felt, fabric, etc., your pieces to your quilt. Cut one piece out of pattern number one, one piece out of pattern number two and eight pieces out of pattern number three. If you are using fabric or leather, make sure to fold the piece in half or have right sides touching each other. Then cut four. This will make eight pieces.

5.  Place pattern number two in the middle of number one. There should be 2.5 inches on the top, bottom and sides of the middle piece.

6.  Place the stars (number three) as shown by the picture around the 8-by-8-inch square (number two.)

7.  Decorate the middle however you wish. If you want to place an image or a picture of someone there, you can purchase copy fabric, which allows you to print from a home printer a picture on fabric. Please make sure the image is sized down to at least 7 inches by 7 inches. If you are gluing the image, glue a quarter-inch ribbon border around the fabric so it will not fray.

8. Please make sure nothing is sewn or glued on at least a half inch all around your 12.5-by-12.5-inch piece. This is seam allowance and allows us to sew all of the panels together.

9. Please make sure if you are sewing or quilting this that you place item on a quarter-inch batting or soft felt.

10. Before turning in, please make sure you have your name, school and department and meaning of panel typed. Place the North Star panel and typed information in a 14-by-18-inch envelope.

Panel should look like this with an additional half inch all around.

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