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Gees Bend Postage Stamp Quilt

8/13/2022

 
Have you heard of the Gees Bend quilts and their quilt makers?  Many of the leaders in the Modern Quilt movement, have considered their quilts a significant  influence on their work. 

Did you know that you can create a Gees Bend-like quilt using Electric Quilt?  Check out the video tutorial on a Gees Bend Postage Stamp Quilt.  And then be amazed by the latest designs from those in the Tech Know Quilters EQ8 Membership Studio.

Gees Bend Background

Information from:
http://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/gees-bend-quiltmakers
 
 “The women of Gee’s Bend—a small, remote, black community in Alabama—have created hundreds of quilt masterpieces dating from the early twentieth century to the present. Resembling an inland island, Gee’s Bend is surrounded on three sides by the Alabama River. The seven hundred or so inhabitants of this small, rural community are mostly descendants of slaves, and for generations they worked the fields belonging to the local Pettway plantation. Quilt makers there have produced countless patchwork masterpieces beginning as far back as the mid-nineteenth century, with the oldest existing examples dating from the 1920s. Enlivened by a visual imagination that extends the expressive boundaries of the quilt genre, these astounding creations constitute a crucial chapter in the history of African American art.
 
Gee’s Bend quilts carry forward an old and proud tradition of textiles made for home and family. They represent only a part of the rich body of African American quilts. But they are in a league by themselves. Few other places can boast the extent of Gee’s Bend’s artistic achievement, the result of both geographical isolation and an unusual degree of cultural continuity. In few places elsewhere have works been found by three and sometimes four generations of women in the same family, or works that bear witness to visual conversations among community quilting groups and lineages. Gee’s Bend’s art also stands out for its flair—quilts composed boldly and improvisationally, in geometries that transform recycled work clothes and dresses, feed sacks, and fabric remnants.”

Gees Bend Postage Stamp Quilt Tutorial

In 2006, the United States Postal Service issued Quilts of Gee's Bend commemorative stamps, which featured ten designs chosen by USPS art director Derry Noyes. These same designs would be featured in the Gee's Bend Quilt Mural Trail, which was created in 2007.
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I selected one of the designs to draft using Electric Quilt 8.  The biggest challenge is the different sized patches in these quilts -- including those for the border.  As a result I decided to draft the entire quilt as a single block.

I did the coloring of the block in the quilt worktable as it allowed me to place a copy of the picture right next to the quilt.  The quilt appeared to be pieced with solids, so I chose to work with colors rather than fabrics for the quilt.  Although I could have drawn curved lines, I decided to stick with straight lines when drafting.

When I went to color the block, I did find a couple of errors in my original drafting.  The video also includes the process of fixing those errors.
Check out the final quilt along with my inspirational photo.
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Tech Know Quilter's Gees Bend-like Quilts

In the Modern Quilt class, Tech Know Quilter members were challenged to create their own quilt in the spirit of Gees Bend using Electric Quilt. This was a chance for them to think outside the box along with stretch their own EQ drawing skills.   

I did a blog post in 2018 where I shared a number of their quilts.  But as users have continued to take the class, I thought I would share some of their newer designs with you.  I think after looking at the quilts you will agree that they did an amazing job.

​And can you believe they did this without a formal "how to" video.
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Madeline Brown I had seen them on display and the starkness and darkness of them is what I remember.
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Debbi Treusch Inspired by Marrisia Pettway.
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Wanda Jewell
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Mary Landon A copy of Martha jane Pettway's quilt. The challenge was trying to make the lines wonky.
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Rick Danner My experiment was to create fabric from fabric--ie, utilizing every scrap of fabric to create larger pieces of fabric from which patches are cut and then sewn together. I fabricated 12X18 pieces of "fabric" from "scraps" in a polydraw block then translated those images into fabric and used them to color the block in Easy Draw. I think this honors the ethic of the women of Gee's bend who did not have whole yard goods with which to work.
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Suzanne Kehm Golden
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Suzanne Kehm Golden
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Joan Marie
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Joan Marie (another coloration)
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Nancy Messuri What a fascinating and rich history. I loved these quilts and all the different styles. I drafted a couple of my own designs with whatever inspiration came to me after viewing all the quilts on the website you shared. The first...
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Nancy Messuri And the second...
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Curryanne Hostetler
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Curryanne Hostetler
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Carol Mallozzi
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Carole Fox
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Carole Fox (with the block outline)
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Pam Varner
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Rhonda Goss
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Marlu Allan
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Maureen Feron Pinwill (inspired by Nettie Pettway Young)
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Tina Rohde I recreated my version of the Gees Bend quilt done by Nettie Young. Learned to make a half circle and succeeded to layout in custom layout.
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Helen Hicks
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Tina Rohde - Improv Block Quilt
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Tina Rohde - Recolored and removed quilt lines.
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Lisa Ward
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Collien Kaseberg (made with jeans, gray sweatshirts and pillow ticking)
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Cathy Yule Norris I was inspired by Rita Mae Pettway's "Housetop" quilt. I found it in the link you provided. I redrew my version of the quilt in EQ8 and then set the block into a star setting. Fun!
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Charmaine Devaney
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Rosemarie Hanus I'm working on the H variation by Nettie Young. Here is one block; that's my progress so far. I wanted the half circles to not be perfectly rounded - that was harder than I thought. The off centered placement of the other circles was also on purpose. I think that the original was applique, but I started down the piecing path, and kept going.
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Rosemarie Hanus I also got inspired by circles and non straight lines, so I did this.
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Karen Humphrey I was inspired by Susie Willie Seltzer. Her blocks reminded me of a log cabin block.
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Carmen Sidlaruk I was inspired by quilts by Mertlene Perkins, Addie Pearl Nicholson, and Gertrude Milller for this first quilt
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Carmen Sidlaruk This second quilt was inspired by Gertrude Millers quilt.
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Carmen Sidlaruk This one was inspired by Addie Peral Nicholson's quilt
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Connie Fairbrother Herbert
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Connie Fairbrother Herbert - another option
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Linda Crawford Scott
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Irene Floyd My first quilt was inspired by Sue Willie Seltzer. I was drawn to the "pointy" lines in the blocks.
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Irene Floyd Henrietta Pettway's quilt was my inspiration for this one.
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Alice Hertel How liberating!!!
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Sharon Kazel I was inspired by Lucy Mingo and the housetop log cabin block.
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Eva Jones My inspiration by Margaret Bennett, Housetop - Nine Block Variation.
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Moira Hewitt
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Margo Reppert I started with the default blocks, converted some of them to guides and drew them wonky.
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Lynne Maramieri
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Edith Craig I typically call these "crumb quilts" and usually work freehand with whatever strikes my fancy.
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Betty Kotoriy I was inspired by the long abstract lines I found in some of the Gees Bend examples.
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Edith Craig - updated coloration
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Mari Stenger
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Mari Stenger
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Brigitte Lee Thank you for this lesson, Kari. First I thought, what? no video? How to manage? But looking at a few of the Gees Bend Quilts I got carried away.
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Brigitte Lee - another coloration
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Helen Clark Boland I used a simple block and then used clip and flip to make a new block.
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Roxanna Khoury
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Anne Hurlburt
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Patricia Hansen I looked up the Gee's Bend quilts and really liked the ones by Minnie Sue Coleman and Ruby Gamble, both of which were reminiscent of log cabins, so I designed mine in a similar fashion.
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Patricia Hansen (another coloration)
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Gloria Worthen Jacobs - version 1
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Gloria Worthen Jacobs - version 2
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Gloria Worthen Jacobs - version 3
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Gloria Worthen Jacobs Flower Power
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Gloria Worthen Jacobs
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Dianna Carter
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Katherine Martin Geometrics at Gee's Bend.
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Zdenka Nemoethova
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Dawn Wilson Low I got to see the Gees Bend Quilt several years ago when they toured and admired Annie Mae Young's quilt using denim work clothes. I tried to reproduce the general look of her quilt and then randomized the color choices.
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Dawn Wilson Low Randomized
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Gabriella Palmieri I loved Jessie Pettway's story and wanted to try making her own quilt. I love geometric shapes.
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Lee Wiencki
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Christel Frischmuth
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Ann Cornett Horsley
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Shawn Spjut Started out as a table runner.....way too much fun to stop there.
Learn more about Tech Know Quilters and sign up for the wait list to join this amazing group of designers and quilters.

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Happy quilting.

​Kari
​
​Join the On Point Quilter weekly newsletter and receive regular tips and inspiration on using Electric Quilt 8 along with the  Free 12 Top Tips for EQ8 video guide.
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Frauke
8/13/2022 03:56:31 pm

What a great contribution! I am very enthusiastic and a big fan of the Gees Band. Thank you so much Kari:)))) Frauke

Jackie Tucker
8/14/2022 11:37:17 pm

What a great Quilt Show.. Spot on as always.


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    Kari Schell

    Electric Quilt Expert and Educator and Pattern Designer.

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  • Blog
  • About
  • EQ Training
    • Tech Know Quilters Electric Quilt 8 Membership Training
    • Shoot for the Stars with EQ8
    • Electric Quilt 8 Sneak Peek
    • Scheduling a Workshop or Lecture
  • Store
  • Card Making
  • Contact
  • Free Stuff
    • Other Video Tutorials