Boro repair stitching on torn jeans. Jeans pockets on back. Completed Mar 11, 2018. Size 9" x 6"
This quilt was made for the week 5 challenge in Project Quilting season 9 - A Stitch in Time Saves Nine.
The anti-immigrant drumbeat in the United States is frightening, and so ill informed. Our country is a nation of immigrants, and each wave brings a richness to the texture of the American culture.
There is a technique of clothing repair from Japan called Boro Stitching recently explored in my local quilt guild. In it, patches of fabric are sewn behind and on top of areas to be mended, and the patches are secured with a long stitch, which may be decorative like Sashiko, or simply straight lines.
I purchased a pair of tiny jeans from a local Goodwill shop, with a hole in the knee, and then repaired the hole with fabric from various countries.
The red behind the hole is from Iran (given to me by a coworker who travelled home for a visit a few years ago. The other fabric patches represent central America, African nations and Indonesia.
My concept was to show that this quintessential American fabric (blue jeans) are made whole by the inclusion of various immigrant communities, stitched together using a technique that is at once foreign, and recognizable.
For the back, I was charmed by the tiny back pocket and side pocket of these small jeans, so I kept that as whole as possible and used them as is. The pockets still function.
This piece is rather wonky, due to the thickness of the denim fabric, and those very cumbersome seams. I think this represents the shaky ground we are on at this time. As a Jew, I know the danger of xenophobia (fear of people from other countries). Jews in the diaspora have often been blamed and then persecuted for trouble in foreign lands, and we are admonished to watch for the downward slide that begins by blaming 'others' (not your group) and not standing up in protest.
The very real economic hardships suffered by so many citizens in our central and southern states, are being blamed on immigrants taking the jobs. This is simply not true; the traditional jobs and industries have vanished due to automation and globalization.
Immigrants from all countries have the same goal: safety and prosperity for their families.
I am an immigrant.
Peace,
Paula
There is a technique of clothing repair from Japan called Boro Stitching recently explored in my local quilt guild. In it, patches of fabric are sewn behind and on top of areas to be mended, and the patches are secured with a long stitch, which may be decorative like Sashiko, or simply straight lines.
The red behind the hole is from Iran (given to me by a coworker who travelled home for a visit a few years ago. The other fabric patches represent central America, African nations and Indonesia.
My concept was to show that this quintessential American fabric (blue jeans) are made whole by the inclusion of various immigrant communities, stitched together using a technique that is at once foreign, and recognizable.
For the back, I was charmed by the tiny back pocket and side pocket of these small jeans, so I kept that as whole as possible and used them as is. The pockets still function.
This piece is rather wonky, due to the thickness of the denim fabric, and those very cumbersome seams. I think this represents the shaky ground we are on at this time. As a Jew, I know the danger of xenophobia (fear of people from other countries). Jews in the diaspora have often been blamed and then persecuted for trouble in foreign lands, and we are admonished to watch for the downward slide that begins by blaming 'others' (not your group) and not standing up in protest.
The very real economic hardships suffered by so many citizens in our central and southern states, are being blamed on immigrants taking the jobs. This is simply not true; the traditional jobs and industries have vanished due to automation and globalization.
Immigrants from all countries have the same goal: safety and prosperity for their families.
I am an immigrant.
Peace,
Paula
I enjoy your pieces so much. I love how I learn something each challenge and the end result is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kim!
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