Controversy in the Quilt World

Written by Diane Harris on February 4, 2022. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Quilt Lifestyle, Uncategorized

There’s a hubbub in our part of the universe, have you heard?

About a week ago, on Jan. 28, Mary Fons posted a YouTube video called “Stop Cutting Up Quilts to Make Clothes.” A graphic image (below) was used on Instagram to publicize the video.

And the graphic did its job. Not only did it entice me to watch the video, almost 15 thousand other people watched it too. Many of those watched after this became news in the quilt world, but still. For the sake of comparison, Mary has about 8000 subscribers and her videos mostly garner a few hundred views each on YouTube/Twitch.

So here’s a little background if you need it.

Mary Fons is the 40-something daughter of quilting superstar Marianne Fons. Marianne and her business partner Liz Porter created an empire of sorts selling magazines, books, videos and tools for quilters, among other things. They became widely known before selling the business.

Mary Fons

Mary Fons has long been inside the quilt industry. She hosted Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting television program on PBS, she founded a magazine for beginning modern-leaning sewists called Quilty, she wrote a long-running column for Quilts Inc. (the organization that gives us International Quilt Festival), she more recently served as editor-in-chief of Quiltfolk magazine and she’s an active live-streamer on various quilt topics via YouTube and Twitch. (There’s much, much more to her quilting resume.)

The internet has not always been kind to Mary Fons.

And that’s an understatement. There were quilters at every turn who did not like her and they weren’t shy about saying so. They made awful comments and personal attacks. Mary called them out and forged ahead.

There was a time when I wondered if it wasn’t convenient to ride (into the industry) on her mother’s coattails, but then I heard Mary speak at QuiltCon and she was eloquent. She is smart, she generally does her homework and she isn’t afraid to take a stand.

Part of her background is in theatre and so she is…theatrical. She’s very expressive and it seems like many of her detractors have taken issue with that. But it’s how she communicates—her way of being in the world.

Now back to Mary’s recent video.

Mary spoke passionately about famous designers like Emily Bode and regular quilters like you and me cutting up quilts to make garments. She strongly opposes the practice and she tells us why.

But a lot of people have told Mary that she is…

…wrong, privileged, dramatic, clickbait, condescending, gatekeeping girl boss and more. So much more. The general idea among these folks is “how dare you tell me how I can make art.”

Fashion designer Emily Bode and one of her jackets

On the other hand, many people agree with Mary

and have applauded her bold stand.

There are plenty of knickers in knots over this controversy. Learn more and decide for yourself:

Mary’s YouTube video: What started this storm

Lots of opinions via Reddit: Mostly negative comments

Passion for patchwork: make-do-and-mend hits the Paris catwalk: More about Emily Bode and her fashion designs made from old quilts

Bode’s homepage for lots more quilted clothing: See the weird and wonderful here

I’d like to know what you think. Is it all right for someone to use an old quilt to make something else? Does it matter if they’re a famous designer or a regular quilter?

I can’t wait to hear what you think.

Quilt on,

One more thing: International Quilt Museum has a Fons & Porter exhibit hanging through Feb. 26. Learn more.

Visit International Quilt Museum through Feb. 26 to see the Fons & Porter exhibit.

Introducing Father & Farmer

Written by Diane Harris on January 20, 2021. Posted in How-tos and Ideas

My latest design for Fons & Porter’s Quick + Easy Quilts was inspired by two things.

Father & Farmer, designed and made by Diane Harris, quilted by Julie Lechner.
Appears in Fons & Porter’s Quick + Easy Quilts Feb/March 2021

The first was a vintage quilt I saw on the auction site eBay. Tiny red triangles sparkled against dusty old tones, and I was smitten.

The second inspiration was my father.

His name was John Volk and he was a farmer here in Nebraska. He loved agriculture and he loved us. I could write a book about him, but for now let me tell you about his everyday attire.

My dad with two of his great-granddaughters

My dad wore denim overalls and a blue chambray shirt. And he carried a bandana-patterned handkerchief in either bright red or navy blue. For all or our lives, day in and day out, we could count on this one thing. (Unless it was Sunday, but that’s another post.)

John Volk with one of his great-grandsons

He died in 2011 at age 91, but I still have a pair of his overalls. I’d like to make something from them, but in the meantime, there is this quilt:

Father & Farmer

All of the blues and creams are from my stash, and they echo the colors I associate with Dad. And sewing from what I already have? That’s significant too, because my father was a child of the Depression. Born in 1920, he lived through some very lean times in the ’30s.

There’s a story about one of my brothers chiding him for saving what seemed like an excess of scrap wood behind a small building on the farm. And Dad went on a little rant about that, declaring that until we had lived through a time when you could not get the things you needed, we’d better zip it.

My parents and my four brothers several years before I was born.
Same overalls and blue shirt. 😍

So I like to think that he’d approve of me pulling fabrics from my stash to make a quilt in his honor.

I made the quilt for a king-size bed, which is why it has a wider border at the bottom. Another row of blocks would have made it too large; this border brought it to just the size I wanted.

This issue is on newsstands now so I hope you’ll pick it up when you see it. I love the cover quilt by Nancy Mahoney called Weaving Stars. There’s an easy veteran-appropriate Quilt of Valor pattern, a nice baby quilt, a fabulous modern design called Tweens by Dodi Poulsen and much more.

If you prefer a digital issue (save the trees!) you can order it from Quilting Daily for $7.99. I’m always amazed by what a great value a magazine is. When a pattern costs at least $10 or $12, less than eight for a dozen projects is a steal.

Thank you for letting me think happy thoughts about my father today. He was a keeper.