There are many reasons to commission a quilt: to celebrate, comfort, remember, hold. Births and deaths, birthdays, blessings, marriages and separations, moving out, coming out, moving in together, new homes, transitioning into care.
Quilts can incorporate meaningful pieces of fabric, specific geographies through choice of plants, symbolic colours or embroidered messages. Prices range from £300 to £3000 depending on the size and complexity of the commission.
A quilt commissioned for a ranch house wedding in California. A simple blue and white cotton patchwork is overlaid with hand-stitched ‘wedding ring’ circles. Emblems significant to the couple are appliqued into the squares, including oysters, California poppies and Japanese cherry blossom, with space for future parts of their story to be added. GOTS Organic EU Cotton dyed with responsibly sourced indigo, oak, alder and iron, with a cotton core.
Social Fabric is an art project commissioned by Libraries Unlimited, funded by Arts Council England. Social Fabric aimed to connect the four public libraries in the Torbay area through fabric sharing, sewing and story gathering to create a ‘patchwork’ of life in Torbay. Storytelling and stitching were used to uncover personal stories and local histories. The finished quilt, made by over fifty local residents, was exhibited at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham followed by a tour of libraries in Torbay.
A woman commissioned two quilts in 2024, to celebrate both her sisters' weddings that summer. One was requested in greens, to reflect her sisters’ role as a florist, and the other in blues as a favourite colour. I made a pair of lap quilts, each embroidered with the couples’ names and wedding dates.
