Curl said part of the problem is that the national interest in the quilters has caused the price of land to increase sharply in and around Gee’s Bend, making it too expensive for some to consider opening stores or other businesses.

The quilts of Gee’s Bend reflect a collective history and deep sense of place. And they register the bold individual voices of the women who made them.

When enslaved women from the rural, isolated community of Boykin, Alabama—better known as Gee’s Bend—began quilting in the 19th century, it arose from a physical need for warmth rather than a quest to reinvent an art form. As awareness grew, so did acclaim, and the quilts entered the lexicon of homegrown American art.

With the help of Arnett and the Tinwood Alliance (a nonprofit organization that he and his four sons formed in 2002), fifty local women founded the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective in 2003 to market their quilts, some of which now sell for more than $20,000.

When slaves made their escape, they used their memory of the quilts as a mnemonic device to guide them safely along their journey, according to McDaniel. The historians believe the first quilt the seamstress would display had a wrench pattern.

Etsy

Steps to Making a Quilt (by hand)

1. Decide on your quilt pattern. If this is your first quilt, go for a simple pattern for a small quilt.
2. Collect your materials and tools.
3. Prewash your fabric.
4. Iron your fabric.
5. Measure and cut your patchwork.
6. Lay your quilt out.
7. Sew your patchwork into rows.
8. Iron your rows.

Joseph Gee