Catalogue Number
NMLH.2015.14
Object Name
Quilt
Place
Gorton, Manchester, UK
Events
International Women's Day
Date
2010
Creator(s) Description
A multi-coloured, highly textured quilt.
The Manchester International Women's Day (MIWD) quilt was made in March 2010 when over 300 people came together at The Monastery in Gorton to celebrate International Womenâs Day. The key themes of that day were that small actions can make bigger things happen, and that everyone has their own story. These ideas were brought together in the form of this quilt which was stitched with the assistance of students from Manchester Metropolitan University BA (Honours) Embroidery textile design course and the contributions from the 300+ delegates. Throughout the day all the delegates contributed snippets of fabric to the quilt which were then stitched onto the front panel by the students. Oral history recordings were also made with each contributor explaining the story behind their fabric. Textile maker Lisa Watson co-ordinated the quilt's creation. The quilt was displayed at People's History Museum as part of International Women's Day 2011, and at the Quilt Museum and Gallery in York for IWD
2012 before being donated to People's History Museum in 2015.
Lisa Watson explains how the quilt's creation proceeded:
"Photographs were taken of everyone with their fabric and we also recorded their thoughts on why their scrap of fabric was special to them. [...] Hearing everyoneâs stories about their snippet of fabric, everything from a childâs swimming costume (my daughter brings colour to my life) through to a vintage silk scarf (style is really important to me, I always wore vintage) really fulfilled the original impetus to make a quilt to celebrate MIWD10 and bring all these amazing stories together stitching them into one artwork.The fabric all the snippets were stitched onto as well as the backing cloth of the quilt appropriately also has a rich Manchester heritage. We used ABC Wax fabrics which are designed in Hyde for the Guyanese market. ABC Wax fabric incorporate the most fabulous colourful combinations of African prints, so our MIWD10 quilt is truly eye catching, as well as evocative."
Multimedia
