Register to Vote quilt with doily "O"

RegisterToVote.jpg
RegisterToVoteBraille.jpg
RegisterToVoteButtons.jpg

Identifier

2019.003

Title

Register to Vote quilt with doily "O"

Creator

Thompson, Suzann

Date

2019

Format

63 inches wide, 49 inches tall

Description

"Registering voters isn't the most visually exciting thing in the world, so I made this quilt to lure people close enough to ask them if they need to register. I had the perfect doily to make the O in VOTE. Yay, doilies!!" wrote maker Suzann Thompson on her Facebook page. The 17" doily trim dictated the size of the letters in the word VOTE, and the size of the quilt. The patchwork was pieced from scrap fabric, mostly cotton. Thompson composed the lettering on Adobe Photoshop Elements and printed them full-sized. She cut out each letter and used it as a pattern to cut the letters from fabric. The letters are attached to the quilt top with temporary spray adhesive, and Thompson zig-zag stitched around the raw edges to attach them permanently.

The O in VOTE is from a vintage doily with a cloth center. Thompson starched the doily, cut out the damaged center, turned under the cut edge, and finally machine-stitched the turned-under cloth and crocheted trim to the quilt top. After quilting she added mother-of-pearl buttons to the crocheted trim. The obvious message of the quilt is "Register to Vote." Semi-hidden letters in the patchwork change the message to "Register us to vote automatically." Button groupings in the border spell the word VOTE using the Braille alphabet.

Provenance

Suzann Thompson

Citation

suzannthompson, “Register to Vote quilt with doily "O",” Center for Knit and Crochet Digital Repository, accessed March 28, 2024, http://digital.centerforknitandcrochet.org/items/show/15775.

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