Amazon Freedom Quilt
Nicola Sheerin
We researched how slaves used patterns on quilts to warn and guide escaped slaves who were making their way to freedom.
After using paper to create pattern blocks we then used fabric squares to make either a 9 or 16 block pattern.
We had to thread our needles, pin the fabric pieces together and then used back-stitch to sew the pieces together. When our team block was finished we moved as slaves to other teams to help them - some blocks required a lot more sewing than others. It was a tricky task because the quilting needles were very short, the eye of needle was small and we needed nimble fingers to manipulate the fabric - sewing isn’t easy!
Mrs Sheerin then used a sewing machine to sew our pieces together and then sandwich the batting between our blocks and a piece of backing fabric. The batting (the padding inside the quilt) is made out of recycled plastic bottles.
We were really pleased with the finished article!
