An entry into the quilt universe

Closeup of baby quilt with thread motifs tottilu gowri

Chandrakala's quilt

The ‘gowramma seegamma’ motif, a pattern made with thread; Susheelamma and Chandrakala with a thottilu gowri, a quilt made for babies. Photos by author

Chandrakala's quilt

Kavudis

While Sunday mornings for most city dwellers begin with sleeping in or an unhurried walk in the park followed by breakfast, it is unfailingly washday for these women. They have left behind their fields and homes in North Karnataka to live in makeshift shacks beside the homes they construct.

One morning, the winter they arrived in the neighbourhood, the sight of patchwork quilts drying on compound walls caught my attention. They were clearly not the usual blankets or shawls. The striking blend of colours implied they were handmade. When I managed a closer look, I was impressed.

I stopped and spoke to two women. They hailed from Anabi village in Yadgir district. I asked to see their quilts or kavudis, as they were called. At close quarters, the handmade quilts had a rugged beauty. All the patches of the top layer came from used garments that had faded into pleasant pastels, though some stubborn primary colours shone bold and bright. There was no restriction on the size or shape of the patch. This created an effect that was stunning.

The women, Susheelamma and her daughter-in-law, Chandrakala, said they had more than thirty quilts back in the village. It was clearly a traditional technique in their community, passed on from older women to the younger ones.

Susheelamma explained that in their village, these quilts were used both as mattresses and duvets. It takes one woman about 15 to 20 days to complete one quilt when there was no farm work. I imagined the women sitting outside their huts in the afternoons, chores done, to work on their king or queen-sized spreads, quilting well into sundown.

Deconstructing the kavudi

Pointing out patterns comprised of small rectangles and squares, Susheelamma said that common patterns were basingas, pagadis, the gowramma and the gowramma-seegamma. A special type of quilt called thottilu gowri is made for babies. Since the baby quilt is smaller in size, many motifs are worked in thread instead of patches.

Susheelamma deconstructed her kavudi for me. A sari in good condition is used as the backing of the quilt. The border and pallu are removed, to be reattached later to embellish the finished quilt. The sari is then cut in half and sewn along the long sides. A sewing machine could be used for this, if available, though most women stitch it by hand.

The batting or insulation is comprised of worn saris. Since no clothing scraps are discarded, shirts, skirts and petticoats are also layered in the batting after hooks, buttons and piping are removed.

While sewing the centre of the quilt, the quilter brings a few grains of cooked rice, says a small prayer, and ‘feeds’ the quilt through a small opening and sews it shut. This ritual is a prayer for the user of the quilt to never go hungry.

I spoke to Savita Uday of BuDa Folklore, a unit of the Janapada Vishwa Pratishtana trust, which is striving to preserve the rich folklore traditions of the Uttara Kannada coastal belt. She said women from Bagalkot, Gulbarga, Angadibail and Haliyal used similar quilting techniques.

Nirmalakka, a traditional quilter in her organisation, teaches kavudi-making at workshops. A queen-sized quilt fetches up to Rs 10,000 in exhibitions.

Modern quilting

Quilting has gained great popularity. The internet bursts with a wealth of information in the form of blogs, YouTube videos and tutorials. There are online quilting groups devoted to encouraging newbies and long-term quilters. Quilt studios have sprung up in cities, selling the tools needed and holding in-house classes. Popular ones are The Square Inch in Chennai, Tsala Quilting Studio and Quilt Studios in Bengaluru, and Baani Quilts and MotherQuilts in Pune.

Today, piecing, binding and quilting can be done on sewing machines. Specialised machines are available to make quilting easier and efficient. Sourcing materials has improved thanks to e-commerce sites that sell everything from thread to fabric.

The women labourers would be astounded to see the quilting templates, rotary cutters, cutting mats, sewing machines and fabric that a modern quilter invests in.

Refined quilting techniques are used to create portrait quilts, in which a picture is realised in cloth. Thread painting and applique work can also embellish a quilt. Memory quilts are a wonderful way of creating quilts with the used clothes of a loved one. In other words, the possibilities are endless.

As more houses reach completion in my neighbourhood, the construction workers have moved on to where their work beckons. Their quilts will brighten Sunday winter mornings in other areas. Do keep a lookout for this understated travelling show of a unique kind. It opened a universe for me, and it will for you too.