Dorothy Stapleton
Photos
Title
Dorothy Stapleton
Identifier
QSOS-104
Format
audio
Type
Oral History
Interviewee
Dorothy Stapleton
Interviewer
Ellen Menefee
Interview Date
11/4/00
Interview sponsor
The Nat'l Quilting Assn
Location
Houston, Texas
Transcriber
Heather Gibson
Transcription
Ellen Menefee (EM): My name is Ellen Menefee. I'm here interviewing Dorothy Stapleton at the Houston International Quilt Festival. This is the Q.S.O.S. It's November 4, 2000, and it is 4:50 p.m. So where are you from?
Dorothy Stapleton (DS): I'm from Surrey in England in a town called Leatherhead. And it's about 20 miles south of London and about 40 minutes from either airport.
EM: Is this your first time coming to the Houston Quilt Festival?
DS: Yes, my first time.
EM: Wonderful. Well, you have this marvelous quilt here. I want you to tell us about it in great detail.
DS: It's called "Who Would Marry a Quilter?" Would you like to know the inspiration for it?
EM: Very much so.
DS: Alright. Now it doesn't look like my husband because my husband's got more hair than that but all the ladies who see it say, 'No, but it looks like my husband.' And I belong to a quilt group and every two years we have a big exhibition. We do it for charity. And one of the ladies' husbands has a car mechanic business so he has a van. So, he's always asked if he will take all the quilt frames, wooden quilt frames, backwards and forwards. And the last time we did it he was sitting in the restaurant, and he was just looking so sad. And I just thought, 'I'm going to make a quilt about these poor men who have to walk around these quilt shows looking sad and their wives are spending money.' And so that was the initial idea for it.
EM: Describe the quilt for us.
DS: Well, I make lots of amusing quilts because I just think it's rather nice to share these funny things with people. And so, it's mainly appliquéd onto a backing. Now I cut the man's head rather too large to begin with so it's actually a rather bigger quilt than I envisioned it was going to be. The idea of it is this poor man is sitting in this very over-the-top quilter's house- his house. On the top of the wall there's a cross-stitch sampler with "Home Sweet Home." Now I never throw anything out. These are all past teaching samples from a long time ago so that's what we call 'binker.' It's what you use for small children with big holes in it. In the middle is a sort-of plate like you would hang on the wall. But it's actually an old piece of lace doily with some ribbon embroidery on it. It was a little sample from my book that I've written "Quirky Quilts." Then there's a little portion of miniature log-cabin which is when I made a video. It's one of the samples from that. And these are "Liberty of London" prints. They're very fine lawn so to give them more body. I do them on a background of a gridded fabric to keep it all nice and even. And then there's calendar of the wife's quilting events so the top's got some hand embroidered flowers and it says, 'Calendar.' And then Monday it says, 'Me out at quilt group.' Tuesday, 'Me out at committee meeting.' Wednesday, 'Sewing evening here.' Thursday, 'Area Day ten to four.' That's the thing we have where a whole lot of guilds get together. Friday, 'Set up exhibition.' Saturday, 'Quilt Exhibition.' And then, Sunday, 'My mother to lunch.' And then the man himself, his face is appliquéd on with freezer paper, and I have done all the wrinkles on his bald head and his mouth and all the other bits with just a quilting stitch in, I think you call it floss. I think it's stranded embroidery cotton. And then the hair and the eyebrows are some waste-fabric that somebody gave me. I tend to hardly ever buy fabric for my quilts. I just use what people give me or I get them from thrift shops. And it's some kind of--it has elasticy things. I think it's stretchy so that when I fringed; it it's fringed. And then he's got buttons for his eyes. I'm going through a series at the moment of making quilts with button eyes. And then his collar is all frayed-up because his wife doesn't take any care of him. And he's got bits of cotton all over the place. And then the tie is actually a real tie. It's the underneath bit of one of my husband's ties, with cottons on them. And then the buttons are all sewn on with either different colored thread or there's bits hanging off. There's one button that's one of the kind that men in England have on their tweed suits. And it's hanging off on a thread. He's got a safety-pin holding a tear in the suit together with stitching over it. And then on the table there's a label, a note from the wife which says, 'Darling, see you later. Tea in fridge.' Now that, to me being English, means your meal is in the fridge but I gather to Americans it would mean a cup of tea is in the fridge. Then there's a mug with 'I -heart (love) - Q, with just half a Q, and the "quilting's" meant to be around the back. And there's a teapot cozy, and that's crazy quilting with velvets and hand-stitchery and silks in the Victorian tradition of crazy quilting. And I've actually embroidered little flowers on as well. And this has got a little velvet loop on the top. And then the cup is actually on a little doily, which is quite a modern bit of lace. But the edge of the tablecloth, which is in just a piece of gingham, is some old lace that I inherited from my grandmother. Now I haven't cut it up because it was actually ripped in other places, so I haven't defaced it in any way. I think it's called crochet lace because it's quite fine and it's got sort of a lily pattern on it and it goes round in a circle. And then I superimposed--now I call these cotton reels, but I think you call them bobbins, do you?
EM: Spools.
DS: Spools, okay. Now the reason for this was actually a mistake. I've made some rather nasty mistakes in the machine quilting that's holding it together. And I thought, 'I've got to cover this up with something.' So, I made a spool and then I couched on some floss. Do you call it floss? I call it stranded embroidery cotton. And I made pattern. And I thought it actually improved the quilt, so I then put more spools on and various bits of cotton. The final spool comes round, and I couched on, 'Who would marry a quilter?' And that was actually quite difficult to actually do the writing in thread. And then the border is, I think, it's a Jinny Beyer print that I've knocking around for a while. The main body of the quilt is mainly machine quilted, but the border is heavily hand quilted. I've got a label on the back which I've actually written in bleach with an old-fashioned school nib pen, and then stopped the bleaching reaction with some hydrogen peroxide. And I've sewn the label on with hand herringbone stitch in floss. I think that's all I have to say about this [laughter.]
EM: When did you make this quilt?
DS: I made this quilt last year in 1999.
EM: And has it been exhibited?
DS: Yes, it's been exhibited in the National Patchwork Championships which is the annual event in England. And it got a second prize in the Pictorial category. And it's been exhibited with the Bernina "World Art Quilt and Textiles" in Salem, North Carolina and somewhere else--I can't remember where--this summer so that was in 2000.
EM: So, what are your plans for this quilt? What will happen to it?
DS: Well usually I never sell my quilts because I go around in England and now other places giving lectures on quilts. And I find that people like to see the real thing. So, if possible, I just take lots and lots of quilts and people could enjoy them and handle them and see them. So basically, what I do at home is I have a big wall in my dining room, and I have like a moving exhibition. Sometimes I put one up, and sometimes another so it will live with me.
EM: Approximately how many quilts have you made? Do you know?
DS: I really can't remember because I've got three sisters, and we've got thirteen children. And they've got twenty-eight children. And I've made and given away each of those children a twenty-first birthday quilt, a wedding quilt, and baby quilts. And they're still being born. [laughter.] I try to make one big sort of amusing piece a year. I make probably about three or four quilts a year. It's an addiction.
EM: Wow, wonderful. Now do you do hand quilting or machine quilting solely or do both?
DS: I do both. I love hand quilting because I find it very relaxing but on a big piece like this is would sometimes do machine quilting. And on the baby quilt that's in the show, I've actually done machine quilting for the names. I do a lot of drawing with the machine, so I don't do a traditional pattern. I make it up as I go along.
EM: Would you like to say something about your quilt that's in the show? I've seen it but the people listening to this tape have not.
DS: Yes. Well, the quilt in the show is called "What Shall We Call It?" And it's a repetitive freezer paper pattern row of pregnant ladies, very simply drawn with a circle for their faces and a sort-of rounded stomach. They've all got buttons for their eyes. And the reason I made it was for an exhibition called "Great Expectations." And I immediately thought of a row of pregnant ladies holding their aching backs. And so, just as I started it they rang me up and said, 'You don't have to adhere to the subject. You can put in any quilt.' But I thought, 'Well I've started making this.' It was a quilt that I probably wouldn't have made so I've made it in the method that I call the envelope method which is like making a table mat. So, I've got a front, back and a wadding and then I sew round three sides, take it round the right side, so it's completely neat as if it were a table mat. And then what I do, I then jiggle the blocks about and decide where they go best. And then I've joined them all together with herringbone stitch to make it more interesting. So, the quilt's actually called "What Shall We Call It" because I've got three boys who were all going to be called Sophie. So, the writing on the outside is all the proposed names the baby might be called then in the mother's womb, which is just a sort-of egg shape, part of a bit of curtain fabric, the actual baby's name. And so, it's totally different. There's one portion with all flower names, and the baby's a boy and it's called Tom. And then there's all biblical names and the baby's called Fifi. I've got one lady with quads and so it was foursomes. It was "Mathew, Mark, Luke and John" and "John, Paul, Ringo, and whatever." Then "Groucho, Harpo--" and whatever the other Marx brothers are. I'm trying to think what the other ones are. And then the triplets were a nightmare because I couldn't think of threesomes, so I've got "Snap, Crackle and Pop" which is on the corn flakes thing. And some of them I don't think translate well for America. One of them is "Freeman, Hardy, Willis," which is the name of a well-known shoe shop in England. And "Mary, Mongo and Midge," who are people on children's television. And "Tiny, Tilly and Tom" are another one. One of the foursomes is "Tinky- Winky, La-La, whatever it is and Poe," the Teletubbies. And then one of them is twins. The actual ones are "Pip and Estella" because in the book "Great Expectations" that's the name of the people. And so then it's twosomes, so it's things like "Barbie and Ken," and "Victoria and Albert." Some of them won't translate to Americans because it's "Ronnie and Reggie," who were the Kray brothers who were well-known criminals, sort of Al Capone-type people. And "Eric and Ernie" who are comedy characters. There are some that don't translate, and some do. I've actually included two colored ladies, and one of them's got plaited hair with beads in it. And when I was exhibiting this at the knitting and stitching show in England, this lady came up to me with this little boy and she had this plaited hair and I was slightly worried that she was going to say, 'Are you making fun of me?' or something. But the little boy said, 'Excuse me. I'm on your quilt. My name is Rock.' Because this lady's portion, all the names are jewel names like "Sapphire and Topaz" and so then the baby then is a boy called Rock. And one of the things that has pleased me most about my visit here is that I saw a colored lady walk up and take a picture of the other colored lady. And I felt that was nice because coming from another country I notice that there don't seem to be many colored ladies who are doing quilting, for what reason I don't know. But I was glad I'd included them on my quilt.
EM: Wonderful. Back to this quilt. This just begs the question: How about your own home? How do you live with quilts?
DS: I have quilts all over the place. I have them on the beds. I have them on the walls. I've got a big crack on the wall in my dining room and it's very useful to hand a quilt to cover the crack. Yes, I do have a lot of quilts. I think my husband--no, he's not quite as pathetic as this. One of the influences as well as this other man, I've just remembered what it was. He had a sweater with a hole under the arm. And every time we had a visitor, he used to put his hands behind his head and say, 'You think she'd mend the hole in my sweater when she does this much sewing.' [laughter.] So, I think in a way I think that was one of the influences. Yes, but I do have a lot of quilts in the house.
EM: The quilts you make, are they utilitarian? Are they wall hangings? Or both?
DS: Some are wall hangings. I tend to make quilts out of ridiculous things, like cleaning cloths. I made a quilt which is the one I'm best known for in England called "I Hate Housework;" made out of cleaning cloths and dusters and that sort of thing. And also, I'm known for writing silly little quotes on quilts. So that's got all different of quotes about housework. Things like, 'Only spring clean when granny's due to visit,' and 'Be Creative, Make a Mess,' and things like that.
EM: Where did you learn to quilt?
DS: I went to art school, and I did pottery, but I've always done handy-craft things. I taught at evening classes, and I taught macramé and batik and various things. And then I suddenly found quilting, and I felt it was useful. You could use it, and you could do things with it so I then went to a beginner's class, and then eventually I taught classes myself.
EM: How old were you when you started quilting?
DS: I think I was probably about--I'm 57 now and I started in '81 seriously, so I don't know. I can't do the math on that.
EM: Okay. Do any other members of your family quilt?
DS: Well one of my sisters, my second oldest sister, is very artistic. And she did actually make a quilt because there was a big quilt show in her town. She didn't really know anything about it and she never thought to ask me. And she made a lovely white whole-cloth quilt, but she didn't know that you shouldn't have the knots hanging out of the back. But it's a lovely quilt, and she does some stuffed-work, and embroidered stuffed-work but my other sisters don't. And I've got boys who don't quilt.
EM: So, tell me about your first quilt memory, your first contact with quilts.
DS: We didn't have quilts on our bed because we had--well I suppose we'd call them eiderdowns which was satiny things. Oh, I know. Yes, they had a lovely exhibition in London of Irish quilts. And they were very, very primitive. They weren't sophisticated in any way. And the one that I absolutely loved was a log-cabin quilt. And the light bits were shirts, and the dark bits were suits. And so, it all hung really wonkily, and I thought, 'Well, I've got to do this.'
EM: How many hours a week do you quilt?
DS: It's more a case of how many hours don't I quilt. I quilt very day. I quilt every evening. I always have something on the go I can do by hand while I'm watching television. My husband's office- it at home in the house. So, I have to pretend I'm answering the phone and typing and things but actually I'm sewing. [laughter.] And luckily, they can't see. So, I probably do about four hours a day in the day, and then every evening. It's a sort of therapy to me. You know, it calms me down.
EM: Your quilts tend to be very whimsical and fun. Have you ever used quilting therapeutically to get through a difficult time?
DS: Yes, I have actually because I had a father who was very elderly. He was in his nineties. And he went blind and was very deaf, and he needed lots of hospital appointments. And I made a log cabin double-bed quilt in sizes this size, which is about two-inch squares in Liberty Lawns on a foundation. And it was my sanity sewing. I would take it to the hospital, or I'd take it to visit him. He'd say, 'I'm sorry I'm taking up all your time,' but it didn't matter because I had my sewing. So yes, I have used it as a crutch.
EM: You're a wonderful craftsperson in your quilts. A lot of us have learned to quilt but we will never reach this stage. How have you developed your skills?
DS: Well, seeing these quilts here, I don't think I have that many skills. [laughter.] But I really don't know. I don't actually even have many books. I just sort of--an idea hits me and then I work out how I'm going to make it. I really don't know. I'm afraid. I bought a better sewing machine which I felt very guilty about. It was a Bernina machine and I came home and said, 'I spent a thousand pounds on a sewing machine.' And my husband said, 'Good for you. You use it every single day.' I suppose that did improve my skill slightly.
EM: What's your favorite part of quilting?
DS: Could I tell you what I don't like?
EM: That's the next question. [laughter.] So that's fine. You just go right ahead.
DS: Well I realized that I didn't like putting blocks together. I think I've got spatial dyslexia. I really can't get them. And I thought, 'Why do I have to do it? Nobody's making me. It's fun.' So now I just make silly quilts. I mean, these are blocks I suppose, but they're on a foundation. And I love log cabin, partly because I'm very mean. I mean, I don't like wasting anything. I'm very thrifty so I will use tiny bits. I will go to the rubbish bin and get out other people's tiny bits. I feel that I don't want to be buying designer fabric. I feel I want to be making quilts out of stuff I've got or stuff that I can actually preserve on a quilt, like the lace on this which would have been in a cupboard or maybe thrown away. I don't know. That's how I use quilts.
EM: Your quilts just marvelously reflect your personality. It's just great. Do they reflect where you're from, your community?
DS: No, I think I'm a bit of a one-off. Now I don't know. I'm a very gregarious person and when I came here I said, 'Oh, I'm too frightened to go to Houston.' And my sister said, 'Oh, don't worry. You'll make friends with the telephone box.' [laughter.]
EM: What do you think makes a great quilt?
DS: I think probably balance of color and probably an idea. Yes.
EM: What draws you to a quilt? As you walk through the festival, what grabs you?
DS: Something a bit unusual. I mean the ones that have really grabbed me are the ones by the lady from Baton Rouge [Louisiana.] with the wild colors and the stripes, you know. Those really appeal to me. And I can see the absolute artistry in some of the very traditional, beautifully done quilts, but to me I want something that's a bit more off the wall. A bit sort of--I don't know.
EM: What do you think makes a great quilter?
DS: There's a lot of patience and a sense of humor. [laughter.] No, a lot of patience I think, really.
EM: Now I already asked you about machine quilting and hand quilting, and you use both. How do you feel about the long-arm machine?
DS: Well personally I'm very against it. I don't know why. I know nothing about them, but I feel that I'm a bit of a Luddite. I'm a person that wants to start a slow-food society because I don't even like fast food. I've had my first McDonalds in my life when I've been here so I don't know. There's no hurry. You don't have to finish it. I mean, I can't see the point of trying to get all of these things done but then I'm not making quilts commercially. I'm making them for my own enjoyment and for other people to enjoy so it's not really an issue with me.
EM: Do you collect other people's quilts?
DS: No, I don't think I do. I have now considered what I might try and do is maybe with other quilters who I know in England, maybe swap a quilt. You know, I'll make them a quilt and they'll make me a quilt but I did buy an old quilt and I thought it was really pretty in the shop. And it was quite inexpensive but when I got it home my children said, 'Have you bought Hitler's personal quilt?' because when saw the pattern it looked like a swastika. And I hadn't realized it. It's a traditional pattern so it's actually now used as an undersheet. I mean under the sheets before the mattress because it really put me off it.
EM: Why is quilting important to your life?
DS: It more or less is my life because I've met such lovely people. I mean not in my wildest dreams did I think I'd come to Houston on my own. And most quilters are really nice people. You've got something in common. And the nice thing, I think, is you've got different ages. So in our quilt group some ladies are eighty, some ladies are thirty. And yet we've all got something in common and we can all relate to each other.
EM: So you're involved with a quilting group?
DS: Yes, and a quilting guild, The Quilters' Guild of Britain.
EM: Do you sleep under a quilt?
DS: Yes. I sleep under two in the summer. [laughter.]
EM: In the summer?
DS: Yes, because we have a duvet, a big padded thing, and then the quilt in the winter. And then in the summer we have a Dresden Plate quilt I made and another one I made for our silver wedding with different bits of fabric and things.
EM: Your husband didn't come with you on this trip?
DS: No. It wasn't that I didn't invite him, but I felt that--what was he going to do while I was talking quilts, you know? I left him enough food to keep him going. I think it probably has done him good that after thirty-seven years he's got to do without me for a week.
EM: And what ways do you think quilts have special meaning for women and women's history?
DS: Well, I suppose that they had to make these quilts as a need to keep warm. I don't know really. I think it's wonderful now that people are now taking care of quilts and documenting quilts which would be lost and encouraging people to put labels on quilts. And also, I suppose, it would be a record of the clothes we wore because my mother-in-law made a hexagon quilt when I first got married. And I used to make all my own clothes so I gave her bits of stuff. And now when I look at it I think, 'How did I wear this thing?' These absolutely ridiculous things, but they're of an era. And so I think in a way it's wonderful that--you know, those clothes will be thrown away but because it's in the quilt it will be a historic record at the same time.
EM: So you've made some quilts that you've given away as gifts?
DS: I've made lots of quilts that I've given away, yes. But they're more traditional quilts. They're not like this. They're the traditional Dresden Plates, log cabins--what are the ones where you start in the middle and work out--Medallion. Yeah that kind of thing so they're normal quilts.
EM: Are they being used as utilitarian quilts?
DS: Oh, they're using them on the beds, yes.
EM: Wonderful, wonderful.
DS: In fact, the one I made for my oldest son; they were eating curry in bed and spilled it on the quilt which is a very pale one but luckily my daughter-in-law's got a good relation with me and she rang up. And I said, 'Put it in the bath with cold water. And then it all came off with Vanish soap.' Do you have Vanish soap? It's a soap that's meant to get stains off. So it's back on the bed again.
EM: Do things like that upset you? Do you go, "Oh my--"
DS: No, no. I've given it away. And if needs be, I just make another patch on top or something.
EM: Wonderful. So do you see any new trends in quilting since you've been doing it?
DS: Yes, I think there's now a trend--well there is in England--of having wobbly edges on quilts. I think in some ways in England it's getting too much over the top. It's gone away from the--they say you have to have three layers. But people are making things that are, to my mind, in no way a quilt because I feel a quilt should be something that's tactile and they're making them in plastic and goodness knows what. I think it's probably a reaction and we'll get back to the very traditional. I think it's good that there's room for everybody basically.
EM: What would you like to see happen in the future of quilts and quilting?
DS: I really don't know; along as it's all going from strength to strength. I think what I would find sad is if people feel intimidated that if they can't afford designer fabric, they can't make quilts because I am in the school of make-do and mend. You know, you chop up your clothes. You make it into a quilt that bit wears out, you put a patch on top of it. But I'm a bit of a shopkeeper's nightmare, really. [laughter.]
EM: Now in the United States quilting really died down--didn't die out but died down during the mid-century. Was that the case in England as well?
DS: Yes, it was. And in fact, I think it was an American lady, Joan Zinney Lask, who had a shop in London called The Calico Cat and the Patchwork Dog. And she actually started a little group and she had a shop. And then gradually she and some friends started a little group which became The Quilter's Guild of the British Isles which I think now has been going about twenty years odd. Well it was called The Quilter's Guild. They just changed it to the British Isles for some reason.
EM: And this says that you teach quilting.
DS: Yes.
EM: Tell me something about that, your teaching experience.
DS: Well I used to teach at evening classes, just recreational classes. And then I have had classes in my house but now I tend to go to a quilting group and I do a workshop in something that I do. And I've been teaching here at the festival.
EM: And you've published.
DS: Yes, a book called "Quirky Quilts" which has got my silly quilts and really bits of chats about the family and how to make things and general stuff.
EM: So it's a how-to book combined with a bit of history.
DS: Yes, a bit of history, a bit of chit-chat, a bit of this-and-that.
EM: Tell me about this on the cover.
DS: Oh, well that quilt I've got with me. It's upstairs actually. It's about my vacuum cleaner. We have these vacuum cleaners in England called Dyson vacuum cleaners. And they're a different sort of system that you don't have a bag. It's a see-through plastic piece, and whatever you vacuum up you can see it whizzing round. And I think Hoover have just sued him. Well it's been a court case but he's won apparently. Now my actual vacuum cleaner--this one is sort of red and purple and really wow-wowwy colors but my one is actual white-and-blue because the money went to breast cancer research which I though was much more noble. So they have a prize called the Turner Prize where all these very way-out artists exhibit in the Tate Gallery in London. And there's this lady--I don't know whether she's hit America--Tracy Ermin who has an unmade bed as her piece of artwork and this sort of thing. And I feel it's just totally over the top. One of them said that she'd made some artwork out of the rubbish from her vacuum cleaner so this what sort of put me in mind. So I thought, 'Right, I'll make a quilt about my vacuum cleaner,' because I'd previously made one called "I Hate Housework." I called this "Learning to Love Housework." And I've written with bleach again, as I did on the label on the back of this, little slogans like "Where's my earring gone," and "Yuck, this was under our bed," and all this sort of thing. And then the border is in cleaning cloths again that we call jay-cloths. I can't remember what you called them. They're sort of like bonded fiber. They don't fray.
EM: Are they kitchen towels?
DS: Yeah, kitchen cloths. So I've cut them out into little hearts and I've got kisses in between. And I think the family found it more acceptable if you have a load of cleaning cloths in all you fabric stacks. [laughter.] And it's not very big. It's about half the size of this. And then I've got myself behind the vacuum cleaner, and I've got big pink rubber gloves on which are made of fabric. And inside, this is actually a big of a plastic school folder thing, and so I was amazed that I actually sewed on very easily. Inside I've trapped things like children toys and safety-pins and buttons and I've embroidered a spider and a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, and that sort of thing.
EM: That's wonderful. Your work is just wonderful. And after meeting and talking to you and seeing you it's just perfect! We're about out of time. Is there anything else you'd like to share?
DS: No. If it's any use to you, I've got loads more quilts upstairs.
EM: I think we should definitely get a picture of the mothers-to-be out there.
DS: Yes, yes.
EM: Is there anything you would like to add?
Unidentified Person: No, no. I think you guys have had a wonderful interview. This is very interesting.
DS: I didn't know how my humor would translate in America. I've been absolutely amazed because in England some people say, 'Oh, I think that's a disgusting thing to make a quilt about.' And it went to Southern Ireland and apparently people were walking by it and saying, 'Oh, I don't like that.'
EM: Oh, well I've stood and watched people by your quilt and they love it.
DS: Really?
EM: It's like a magnet.
DS: The trouble is when I go to these quilt shows, because I always have writing on my quilts, people then come and have to read every single bit and they cause blockages. [laughter.] This one I've made about men and women's lot in life--Sorry, am I overstaying my time?
EM: No that's fine. We have a couple more minutes.
DS: It's got an apron on it, and these are all the things that it says on the quilt. It's all written on like, "He goes to the RSC which is the Royal Shakespeare Company, she goes to the PTA," and all this sort of thing. And so everybody stood in front of it and read every single thing out. I thought, 'If anybody else says 'He drives the Honda, she drives the Hoover,' I'll go mad. [laughter.] Just some spot comes and I make a silly quilt. So this has actually got things like my children's badges, their name-tags from school. And these are flowers from Flag Day. I put anything on my quilts.
EM: That's great. Well we want to get a photograph of this now. For record's sake, it is now 5:28 and we're concluding the interview. Thank you so very much.
DS: Thank you.
Dorothy Stapleton (DS): I'm from Surrey in England in a town called Leatherhead. And it's about 20 miles south of London and about 40 minutes from either airport.
EM: Is this your first time coming to the Houston Quilt Festival?
DS: Yes, my first time.
EM: Wonderful. Well, you have this marvelous quilt here. I want you to tell us about it in great detail.
DS: It's called "Who Would Marry a Quilter?" Would you like to know the inspiration for it?
EM: Very much so.
DS: Alright. Now it doesn't look like my husband because my husband's got more hair than that but all the ladies who see it say, 'No, but it looks like my husband.' And I belong to a quilt group and every two years we have a big exhibition. We do it for charity. And one of the ladies' husbands has a car mechanic business so he has a van. So, he's always asked if he will take all the quilt frames, wooden quilt frames, backwards and forwards. And the last time we did it he was sitting in the restaurant, and he was just looking so sad. And I just thought, 'I'm going to make a quilt about these poor men who have to walk around these quilt shows looking sad and their wives are spending money.' And so that was the initial idea for it.
EM: Describe the quilt for us.
DS: Well, I make lots of amusing quilts because I just think it's rather nice to share these funny things with people. And so, it's mainly appliquéd onto a backing. Now I cut the man's head rather too large to begin with so it's actually a rather bigger quilt than I envisioned it was going to be. The idea of it is this poor man is sitting in this very over-the-top quilter's house- his house. On the top of the wall there's a cross-stitch sampler with "Home Sweet Home." Now I never throw anything out. These are all past teaching samples from a long time ago so that's what we call 'binker.' It's what you use for small children with big holes in it. In the middle is a sort-of plate like you would hang on the wall. But it's actually an old piece of lace doily with some ribbon embroidery on it. It was a little sample from my book that I've written "Quirky Quilts." Then there's a little portion of miniature log-cabin which is when I made a video. It's one of the samples from that. And these are "Liberty of London" prints. They're very fine lawn so to give them more body. I do them on a background of a gridded fabric to keep it all nice and even. And then there's calendar of the wife's quilting events so the top's got some hand embroidered flowers and it says, 'Calendar.' And then Monday it says, 'Me out at quilt group.' Tuesday, 'Me out at committee meeting.' Wednesday, 'Sewing evening here.' Thursday, 'Area Day ten to four.' That's the thing we have where a whole lot of guilds get together. Friday, 'Set up exhibition.' Saturday, 'Quilt Exhibition.' And then, Sunday, 'My mother to lunch.' And then the man himself, his face is appliquéd on with freezer paper, and I have done all the wrinkles on his bald head and his mouth and all the other bits with just a quilting stitch in, I think you call it floss. I think it's stranded embroidery cotton. And then the hair and the eyebrows are some waste-fabric that somebody gave me. I tend to hardly ever buy fabric for my quilts. I just use what people give me or I get them from thrift shops. And it's some kind of--it has elasticy things. I think it's stretchy so that when I fringed; it it's fringed. And then he's got buttons for his eyes. I'm going through a series at the moment of making quilts with button eyes. And then his collar is all frayed-up because his wife doesn't take any care of him. And he's got bits of cotton all over the place. And then the tie is actually a real tie. It's the underneath bit of one of my husband's ties, with cottons on them. And then the buttons are all sewn on with either different colored thread or there's bits hanging off. There's one button that's one of the kind that men in England have on their tweed suits. And it's hanging off on a thread. He's got a safety-pin holding a tear in the suit together with stitching over it. And then on the table there's a label, a note from the wife which says, 'Darling, see you later. Tea in fridge.' Now that, to me being English, means your meal is in the fridge but I gather to Americans it would mean a cup of tea is in the fridge. Then there's a mug with 'I -heart (love) - Q, with just half a Q, and the "quilting's" meant to be around the back. And there's a teapot cozy, and that's crazy quilting with velvets and hand-stitchery and silks in the Victorian tradition of crazy quilting. And I've actually embroidered little flowers on as well. And this has got a little velvet loop on the top. And then the cup is actually on a little doily, which is quite a modern bit of lace. But the edge of the tablecloth, which is in just a piece of gingham, is some old lace that I inherited from my grandmother. Now I haven't cut it up because it was actually ripped in other places, so I haven't defaced it in any way. I think it's called crochet lace because it's quite fine and it's got sort of a lily pattern on it and it goes round in a circle. And then I superimposed--now I call these cotton reels, but I think you call them bobbins, do you?
EM: Spools.
DS: Spools, okay. Now the reason for this was actually a mistake. I've made some rather nasty mistakes in the machine quilting that's holding it together. And I thought, 'I've got to cover this up with something.' So, I made a spool and then I couched on some floss. Do you call it floss? I call it stranded embroidery cotton. And I made pattern. And I thought it actually improved the quilt, so I then put more spools on and various bits of cotton. The final spool comes round, and I couched on, 'Who would marry a quilter?' And that was actually quite difficult to actually do the writing in thread. And then the border is, I think, it's a Jinny Beyer print that I've knocking around for a while. The main body of the quilt is mainly machine quilted, but the border is heavily hand quilted. I've got a label on the back which I've actually written in bleach with an old-fashioned school nib pen, and then stopped the bleaching reaction with some hydrogen peroxide. And I've sewn the label on with hand herringbone stitch in floss. I think that's all I have to say about this [laughter.]
EM: When did you make this quilt?
DS: I made this quilt last year in 1999.
EM: And has it been exhibited?
DS: Yes, it's been exhibited in the National Patchwork Championships which is the annual event in England. And it got a second prize in the Pictorial category. And it's been exhibited with the Bernina "World Art Quilt and Textiles" in Salem, North Carolina and somewhere else--I can't remember where--this summer so that was in 2000.
EM: So, what are your plans for this quilt? What will happen to it?
DS: Well usually I never sell my quilts because I go around in England and now other places giving lectures on quilts. And I find that people like to see the real thing. So, if possible, I just take lots and lots of quilts and people could enjoy them and handle them and see them. So basically, what I do at home is I have a big wall in my dining room, and I have like a moving exhibition. Sometimes I put one up, and sometimes another so it will live with me.
EM: Approximately how many quilts have you made? Do you know?
DS: I really can't remember because I've got three sisters, and we've got thirteen children. And they've got twenty-eight children. And I've made and given away each of those children a twenty-first birthday quilt, a wedding quilt, and baby quilts. And they're still being born. [laughter.] I try to make one big sort of amusing piece a year. I make probably about three or four quilts a year. It's an addiction.
EM: Wow, wonderful. Now do you do hand quilting or machine quilting solely or do both?
DS: I do both. I love hand quilting because I find it very relaxing but on a big piece like this is would sometimes do machine quilting. And on the baby quilt that's in the show, I've actually done machine quilting for the names. I do a lot of drawing with the machine, so I don't do a traditional pattern. I make it up as I go along.
EM: Would you like to say something about your quilt that's in the show? I've seen it but the people listening to this tape have not.
DS: Yes. Well, the quilt in the show is called "What Shall We Call It?" And it's a repetitive freezer paper pattern row of pregnant ladies, very simply drawn with a circle for their faces and a sort-of rounded stomach. They've all got buttons for their eyes. And the reason I made it was for an exhibition called "Great Expectations." And I immediately thought of a row of pregnant ladies holding their aching backs. And so, just as I started it they rang me up and said, 'You don't have to adhere to the subject. You can put in any quilt.' But I thought, 'Well I've started making this.' It was a quilt that I probably wouldn't have made so I've made it in the method that I call the envelope method which is like making a table mat. So, I've got a front, back and a wadding and then I sew round three sides, take it round the right side, so it's completely neat as if it were a table mat. And then what I do, I then jiggle the blocks about and decide where they go best. And then I've joined them all together with herringbone stitch to make it more interesting. So, the quilt's actually called "What Shall We Call It" because I've got three boys who were all going to be called Sophie. So, the writing on the outside is all the proposed names the baby might be called then in the mother's womb, which is just a sort-of egg shape, part of a bit of curtain fabric, the actual baby's name. And so, it's totally different. There's one portion with all flower names, and the baby's a boy and it's called Tom. And then there's all biblical names and the baby's called Fifi. I've got one lady with quads and so it was foursomes. It was "Mathew, Mark, Luke and John" and "John, Paul, Ringo, and whatever." Then "Groucho, Harpo--" and whatever the other Marx brothers are. I'm trying to think what the other ones are. And then the triplets were a nightmare because I couldn't think of threesomes, so I've got "Snap, Crackle and Pop" which is on the corn flakes thing. And some of them I don't think translate well for America. One of them is "Freeman, Hardy, Willis," which is the name of a well-known shoe shop in England. And "Mary, Mongo and Midge," who are people on children's television. And "Tiny, Tilly and Tom" are another one. One of the foursomes is "Tinky- Winky, La-La, whatever it is and Poe," the Teletubbies. And then one of them is twins. The actual ones are "Pip and Estella" because in the book "Great Expectations" that's the name of the people. And so then it's twosomes, so it's things like "Barbie and Ken," and "Victoria and Albert." Some of them won't translate to Americans because it's "Ronnie and Reggie," who were the Kray brothers who were well-known criminals, sort of Al Capone-type people. And "Eric and Ernie" who are comedy characters. There are some that don't translate, and some do. I've actually included two colored ladies, and one of them's got plaited hair with beads in it. And when I was exhibiting this at the knitting and stitching show in England, this lady came up to me with this little boy and she had this plaited hair and I was slightly worried that she was going to say, 'Are you making fun of me?' or something. But the little boy said, 'Excuse me. I'm on your quilt. My name is Rock.' Because this lady's portion, all the names are jewel names like "Sapphire and Topaz" and so then the baby then is a boy called Rock. And one of the things that has pleased me most about my visit here is that I saw a colored lady walk up and take a picture of the other colored lady. And I felt that was nice because coming from another country I notice that there don't seem to be many colored ladies who are doing quilting, for what reason I don't know. But I was glad I'd included them on my quilt.
EM: Wonderful. Back to this quilt. This just begs the question: How about your own home? How do you live with quilts?
DS: I have quilts all over the place. I have them on the beds. I have them on the walls. I've got a big crack on the wall in my dining room and it's very useful to hand a quilt to cover the crack. Yes, I do have a lot of quilts. I think my husband--no, he's not quite as pathetic as this. One of the influences as well as this other man, I've just remembered what it was. He had a sweater with a hole under the arm. And every time we had a visitor, he used to put his hands behind his head and say, 'You think she'd mend the hole in my sweater when she does this much sewing.' [laughter.] So, I think in a way I think that was one of the influences. Yes, but I do have a lot of quilts in the house.
EM: The quilts you make, are they utilitarian? Are they wall hangings? Or both?
DS: Some are wall hangings. I tend to make quilts out of ridiculous things, like cleaning cloths. I made a quilt which is the one I'm best known for in England called "I Hate Housework;" made out of cleaning cloths and dusters and that sort of thing. And also, I'm known for writing silly little quotes on quilts. So that's got all different of quotes about housework. Things like, 'Only spring clean when granny's due to visit,' and 'Be Creative, Make a Mess,' and things like that.
EM: Where did you learn to quilt?
DS: I went to art school, and I did pottery, but I've always done handy-craft things. I taught at evening classes, and I taught macramé and batik and various things. And then I suddenly found quilting, and I felt it was useful. You could use it, and you could do things with it so I then went to a beginner's class, and then eventually I taught classes myself.
EM: How old were you when you started quilting?
DS: I think I was probably about--I'm 57 now and I started in '81 seriously, so I don't know. I can't do the math on that.
EM: Okay. Do any other members of your family quilt?
DS: Well one of my sisters, my second oldest sister, is very artistic. And she did actually make a quilt because there was a big quilt show in her town. She didn't really know anything about it and she never thought to ask me. And she made a lovely white whole-cloth quilt, but she didn't know that you shouldn't have the knots hanging out of the back. But it's a lovely quilt, and she does some stuffed-work, and embroidered stuffed-work but my other sisters don't. And I've got boys who don't quilt.
EM: So, tell me about your first quilt memory, your first contact with quilts.
DS: We didn't have quilts on our bed because we had--well I suppose we'd call them eiderdowns which was satiny things. Oh, I know. Yes, they had a lovely exhibition in London of Irish quilts. And they were very, very primitive. They weren't sophisticated in any way. And the one that I absolutely loved was a log-cabin quilt. And the light bits were shirts, and the dark bits were suits. And so, it all hung really wonkily, and I thought, 'Well, I've got to do this.'
EM: How many hours a week do you quilt?
DS: It's more a case of how many hours don't I quilt. I quilt very day. I quilt every evening. I always have something on the go I can do by hand while I'm watching television. My husband's office- it at home in the house. So, I have to pretend I'm answering the phone and typing and things but actually I'm sewing. [laughter.] And luckily, they can't see. So, I probably do about four hours a day in the day, and then every evening. It's a sort of therapy to me. You know, it calms me down.
EM: Your quilts tend to be very whimsical and fun. Have you ever used quilting therapeutically to get through a difficult time?
DS: Yes, I have actually because I had a father who was very elderly. He was in his nineties. And he went blind and was very deaf, and he needed lots of hospital appointments. And I made a log cabin double-bed quilt in sizes this size, which is about two-inch squares in Liberty Lawns on a foundation. And it was my sanity sewing. I would take it to the hospital, or I'd take it to visit him. He'd say, 'I'm sorry I'm taking up all your time,' but it didn't matter because I had my sewing. So yes, I have used it as a crutch.
EM: You're a wonderful craftsperson in your quilts. A lot of us have learned to quilt but we will never reach this stage. How have you developed your skills?
DS: Well, seeing these quilts here, I don't think I have that many skills. [laughter.] But I really don't know. I don't actually even have many books. I just sort of--an idea hits me and then I work out how I'm going to make it. I really don't know. I'm afraid. I bought a better sewing machine which I felt very guilty about. It was a Bernina machine and I came home and said, 'I spent a thousand pounds on a sewing machine.' And my husband said, 'Good for you. You use it every single day.' I suppose that did improve my skill slightly.
EM: What's your favorite part of quilting?
DS: Could I tell you what I don't like?
EM: That's the next question. [laughter.] So that's fine. You just go right ahead.
DS: Well I realized that I didn't like putting blocks together. I think I've got spatial dyslexia. I really can't get them. And I thought, 'Why do I have to do it? Nobody's making me. It's fun.' So now I just make silly quilts. I mean, these are blocks I suppose, but they're on a foundation. And I love log cabin, partly because I'm very mean. I mean, I don't like wasting anything. I'm very thrifty so I will use tiny bits. I will go to the rubbish bin and get out other people's tiny bits. I feel that I don't want to be buying designer fabric. I feel I want to be making quilts out of stuff I've got or stuff that I can actually preserve on a quilt, like the lace on this which would have been in a cupboard or maybe thrown away. I don't know. That's how I use quilts.
EM: Your quilts just marvelously reflect your personality. It's just great. Do they reflect where you're from, your community?
DS: No, I think I'm a bit of a one-off. Now I don't know. I'm a very gregarious person and when I came here I said, 'Oh, I'm too frightened to go to Houston.' And my sister said, 'Oh, don't worry. You'll make friends with the telephone box.' [laughter.]
EM: What do you think makes a great quilt?
DS: I think probably balance of color and probably an idea. Yes.
EM: What draws you to a quilt? As you walk through the festival, what grabs you?
DS: Something a bit unusual. I mean the ones that have really grabbed me are the ones by the lady from Baton Rouge [Louisiana.] with the wild colors and the stripes, you know. Those really appeal to me. And I can see the absolute artistry in some of the very traditional, beautifully done quilts, but to me I want something that's a bit more off the wall. A bit sort of--I don't know.
EM: What do you think makes a great quilter?
DS: There's a lot of patience and a sense of humor. [laughter.] No, a lot of patience I think, really.
EM: Now I already asked you about machine quilting and hand quilting, and you use both. How do you feel about the long-arm machine?
DS: Well personally I'm very against it. I don't know why. I know nothing about them, but I feel that I'm a bit of a Luddite. I'm a person that wants to start a slow-food society because I don't even like fast food. I've had my first McDonalds in my life when I've been here so I don't know. There's no hurry. You don't have to finish it. I mean, I can't see the point of trying to get all of these things done but then I'm not making quilts commercially. I'm making them for my own enjoyment and for other people to enjoy so it's not really an issue with me.
EM: Do you collect other people's quilts?
DS: No, I don't think I do. I have now considered what I might try and do is maybe with other quilters who I know in England, maybe swap a quilt. You know, I'll make them a quilt and they'll make me a quilt but I did buy an old quilt and I thought it was really pretty in the shop. And it was quite inexpensive but when I got it home my children said, 'Have you bought Hitler's personal quilt?' because when saw the pattern it looked like a swastika. And I hadn't realized it. It's a traditional pattern so it's actually now used as an undersheet. I mean under the sheets before the mattress because it really put me off it.
EM: Why is quilting important to your life?
DS: It more or less is my life because I've met such lovely people. I mean not in my wildest dreams did I think I'd come to Houston on my own. And most quilters are really nice people. You've got something in common. And the nice thing, I think, is you've got different ages. So in our quilt group some ladies are eighty, some ladies are thirty. And yet we've all got something in common and we can all relate to each other.
EM: So you're involved with a quilting group?
DS: Yes, and a quilting guild, The Quilters' Guild of Britain.
EM: Do you sleep under a quilt?
DS: Yes. I sleep under two in the summer. [laughter.]
EM: In the summer?
DS: Yes, because we have a duvet, a big padded thing, and then the quilt in the winter. And then in the summer we have a Dresden Plate quilt I made and another one I made for our silver wedding with different bits of fabric and things.
EM: Your husband didn't come with you on this trip?
DS: No. It wasn't that I didn't invite him, but I felt that--what was he going to do while I was talking quilts, you know? I left him enough food to keep him going. I think it probably has done him good that after thirty-seven years he's got to do without me for a week.
EM: And what ways do you think quilts have special meaning for women and women's history?
DS: Well, I suppose that they had to make these quilts as a need to keep warm. I don't know really. I think it's wonderful now that people are now taking care of quilts and documenting quilts which would be lost and encouraging people to put labels on quilts. And also, I suppose, it would be a record of the clothes we wore because my mother-in-law made a hexagon quilt when I first got married. And I used to make all my own clothes so I gave her bits of stuff. And now when I look at it I think, 'How did I wear this thing?' These absolutely ridiculous things, but they're of an era. And so I think in a way it's wonderful that--you know, those clothes will be thrown away but because it's in the quilt it will be a historic record at the same time.
EM: So you've made some quilts that you've given away as gifts?
DS: I've made lots of quilts that I've given away, yes. But they're more traditional quilts. They're not like this. They're the traditional Dresden Plates, log cabins--what are the ones where you start in the middle and work out--Medallion. Yeah that kind of thing so they're normal quilts.
EM: Are they being used as utilitarian quilts?
DS: Oh, they're using them on the beds, yes.
EM: Wonderful, wonderful.
DS: In fact, the one I made for my oldest son; they were eating curry in bed and spilled it on the quilt which is a very pale one but luckily my daughter-in-law's got a good relation with me and she rang up. And I said, 'Put it in the bath with cold water. And then it all came off with Vanish soap.' Do you have Vanish soap? It's a soap that's meant to get stains off. So it's back on the bed again.
EM: Do things like that upset you? Do you go, "Oh my--"
DS: No, no. I've given it away. And if needs be, I just make another patch on top or something.
EM: Wonderful. So do you see any new trends in quilting since you've been doing it?
DS: Yes, I think there's now a trend--well there is in England--of having wobbly edges on quilts. I think in some ways in England it's getting too much over the top. It's gone away from the--they say you have to have three layers. But people are making things that are, to my mind, in no way a quilt because I feel a quilt should be something that's tactile and they're making them in plastic and goodness knows what. I think it's probably a reaction and we'll get back to the very traditional. I think it's good that there's room for everybody basically.
EM: What would you like to see happen in the future of quilts and quilting?
DS: I really don't know; along as it's all going from strength to strength. I think what I would find sad is if people feel intimidated that if they can't afford designer fabric, they can't make quilts because I am in the school of make-do and mend. You know, you chop up your clothes. You make it into a quilt that bit wears out, you put a patch on top of it. But I'm a bit of a shopkeeper's nightmare, really. [laughter.]
EM: Now in the United States quilting really died down--didn't die out but died down during the mid-century. Was that the case in England as well?
DS: Yes, it was. And in fact, I think it was an American lady, Joan Zinney Lask, who had a shop in London called The Calico Cat and the Patchwork Dog. And she actually started a little group and she had a shop. And then gradually she and some friends started a little group which became The Quilter's Guild of the British Isles which I think now has been going about twenty years odd. Well it was called The Quilter's Guild. They just changed it to the British Isles for some reason.
EM: And this says that you teach quilting.
DS: Yes.
EM: Tell me something about that, your teaching experience.
DS: Well I used to teach at evening classes, just recreational classes. And then I have had classes in my house but now I tend to go to a quilting group and I do a workshop in something that I do. And I've been teaching here at the festival.
EM: And you've published.
DS: Yes, a book called "Quirky Quilts" which has got my silly quilts and really bits of chats about the family and how to make things and general stuff.
EM: So it's a how-to book combined with a bit of history.
DS: Yes, a bit of history, a bit of chit-chat, a bit of this-and-that.
EM: Tell me about this on the cover.
DS: Oh, well that quilt I've got with me. It's upstairs actually. It's about my vacuum cleaner. We have these vacuum cleaners in England called Dyson vacuum cleaners. And they're a different sort of system that you don't have a bag. It's a see-through plastic piece, and whatever you vacuum up you can see it whizzing round. And I think Hoover have just sued him. Well it's been a court case but he's won apparently. Now my actual vacuum cleaner--this one is sort of red and purple and really wow-wowwy colors but my one is actual white-and-blue because the money went to breast cancer research which I though was much more noble. So they have a prize called the Turner Prize where all these very way-out artists exhibit in the Tate Gallery in London. And there's this lady--I don't know whether she's hit America--Tracy Ermin who has an unmade bed as her piece of artwork and this sort of thing. And I feel it's just totally over the top. One of them said that she'd made some artwork out of the rubbish from her vacuum cleaner so this what sort of put me in mind. So I thought, 'Right, I'll make a quilt about my vacuum cleaner,' because I'd previously made one called "I Hate Housework." I called this "Learning to Love Housework." And I've written with bleach again, as I did on the label on the back of this, little slogans like "Where's my earring gone," and "Yuck, this was under our bed," and all this sort of thing. And then the border is in cleaning cloths again that we call jay-cloths. I can't remember what you called them. They're sort of like bonded fiber. They don't fray.
EM: Are they kitchen towels?
DS: Yeah, kitchen cloths. So I've cut them out into little hearts and I've got kisses in between. And I think the family found it more acceptable if you have a load of cleaning cloths in all you fabric stacks. [laughter.] And it's not very big. It's about half the size of this. And then I've got myself behind the vacuum cleaner, and I've got big pink rubber gloves on which are made of fabric. And inside, this is actually a big of a plastic school folder thing, and so I was amazed that I actually sewed on very easily. Inside I've trapped things like children toys and safety-pins and buttons and I've embroidered a spider and a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, and that sort of thing.
EM: That's wonderful. Your work is just wonderful. And after meeting and talking to you and seeing you it's just perfect! We're about out of time. Is there anything else you'd like to share?
DS: No. If it's any use to you, I've got loads more quilts upstairs.
EM: I think we should definitely get a picture of the mothers-to-be out there.
DS: Yes, yes.
EM: Is there anything you would like to add?
Unidentified Person: No, no. I think you guys have had a wonderful interview. This is very interesting.
DS: I didn't know how my humor would translate in America. I've been absolutely amazed because in England some people say, 'Oh, I think that's a disgusting thing to make a quilt about.' And it went to Southern Ireland and apparently people were walking by it and saying, 'Oh, I don't like that.'
EM: Oh, well I've stood and watched people by your quilt and they love it.
DS: Really?
EM: It's like a magnet.
DS: The trouble is when I go to these quilt shows, because I always have writing on my quilts, people then come and have to read every single bit and they cause blockages. [laughter.] This one I've made about men and women's lot in life--Sorry, am I overstaying my time?
EM: No that's fine. We have a couple more minutes.
DS: It's got an apron on it, and these are all the things that it says on the quilt. It's all written on like, "He goes to the RSC which is the Royal Shakespeare Company, she goes to the PTA," and all this sort of thing. And so everybody stood in front of it and read every single thing out. I thought, 'If anybody else says 'He drives the Honda, she drives the Hoover,' I'll go mad. [laughter.] Just some spot comes and I make a silly quilt. So this has actually got things like my children's badges, their name-tags from school. And these are flowers from Flag Day. I put anything on my quilts.
EM: That's great. Well we want to get a photograph of this now. For record's sake, it is now 5:28 and we're concluding the interview. Thank you so very much.
DS: Thank you.
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<time>0</time>
<title>Touchstone quilt: "Who would marry a quilter"</title>
<title_alt/>
<partial_transcript>My name is Ellen Minefe and I am here interviewing Dorothy Stapleton at the Houston International Quilt Festival. This is the Q.S.O.S project, it's November 4th, 2000, and it is 4:50 p.m. So where, where are you from [?] --?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>Stapleton is from Leatherhead in Surrey, England, not very far from London. At the time of the interview, she is attending the International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX) , which she has never gone to previously. Her touchstone quilt is "Who Would Marry a Quilter?" The inspiration for the quilt is the husband of a member of her quilt group, who, because he owns a van, tends to be conscripted to haul quilt frames around. Stapleton describes him as "looking so sad" on the occasion of the group's last exhibition. She says, "I just thought, I'm going to make a quilt about these poor men who have to walk around quilt shows looking sad, and their wives are spending money." Stapleton describes many of her quilts as "amusing." The touchstone quilt, which is mostly appliqued, depicts a man "sitting in this very over-the-top quilter's house, his house." Some of the objects depicted in the part of the house shown in the quilt are a cross-stitch sampler, a calendar highlighting the man's wife's various quilting activities, a note indicating that the wife will be home later, and a quilted tea cozy. The man's outfit has been badly repaired or needs to be repaired in multiple places, because "his wife doesn't take any care of him." Stapleton describes the different fabrics in the quilt and the objects she used for embellishment in some detail. She discusses the techniques she used in rather less detail. Stapleton also talks about how she used embellishment to hide a problem with the machine quilting. Stapleton made the touchstone quilt in 1999, the year prior to the interview. The quilt received second prize in the National Patchwork Championships (UK) category of pictorial quilts. The quilt has been displayed in a couple of other venues, including an event in Salem, NC, for which Stapleton gives the name "Bernina 'World Art Quilt and Textiles.'" When asked what her plans for the quilt are, Stapleton says that she usually does not sell quilts, but keeps them to use as examples when she lectures on quilts in England and elsewhere. She also displays quilts in rotation on her dining room wall. </synopsis>
<synopsis_alt/>
<keywords>Quirky Quilts (book by Dorothy Stapleton); Liberty (department store) (London, England); Family; Fabric; Embellishment; Log Cabin - quilt pattern; Jinny Beyer; Techniques; National Patchwork Championships (UK); International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX)</keywords>
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<time>552</time>
<title>Number of quilts completed </title>
<title_alt/>
<partial_transcript>Approximately how many quilts have you made, do you know?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>Stapleton is not sure how many quilts she has made, in part because she and her sisters between the have many descendants and she makes them all quilts for certain major life events. She estimates she makes three or four quilts annually, ideally including a ""big sort of amusing piece." Stapleton both hand quilts, which she says is "very relaxing," and uses a machine, especially when working on large pieces. She also used machine quilting to do the writing on the quilt that, at the time of the interview, is on display at the International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX) . She says "I do lots of drawing with the machine...." The name of the quilt on display is "What Shall We Call It?" Stapleton's original purpose in making it was to enter it in an exhibition by the name of "Great Expectations." In accordance with that theme, the quilt depicts a number of pregnant women. Stapleton describes her technique for making individual blocks and how she joins the blocks together in some detail. The impetus for the quilts is that all of Stapleton's three children are boys and, prior to birth, they were all prospectively a "Sophie." Each block shows some names on the outer edges, which are names contemplated before birth, and then "in the mother's womb" is the name eventually given to the baby. Some of the mothers depicted are expecting multiple babies, with the names grouped in sets with the individual names in each set related in some way. Stapleton discusses the names in some detail. A couple of the women depicted on this quilt are Black. Stapleton tells a couple of stories about the reactions of Black viewers to this quilt, including a one such viewer photographing one of the Black women in the quilt. Based, presumably, on her attendance of a small number of quilt shows in the United States, Stapleton concludes that Black women in the States are not particularly interested in quilting. </synopsis>
<synopsis_alt/>
<keywords>Techniques; Family; Beatles; Marx Brothers; Freeman, Hardy & Willis (UK); Teletubbies; Great Expectations (book by Charles Dickens); Queen Victoria; Prince Albert; Kray twins; “Eric and Ernie” (British TV movie); Al Capone; Four Evangelists; International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX)</keywords>
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<point>
<time>861</time>
<title>Living with quilts / Utilitarian quilts vs. wall hangings / Learning to quilt</title>
<title_alt/>
<partial_transcript>This just begs the question when we were talking about is, how about your own home? What -- do you, do you live with quilts?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>Stapleton uses quilts on both her beds and her walls, including one which conceals a crack in her dining room wall. She owns a fair number of quilts. Her husband, whom she describes (apparently referring back to the man depicted in the touchstone quilt) as "not quite as pathetic as this," used to wear a sweater with a hole in it, position himself when they had guests so as to best display the hole, and comment on the fact that despite all Stapleton's sewing, she had not mended it. She notes that these incidents had some bearing on the theme of the touchstone quilt. A number of Stapleton's quilts are wall hangings. She says, "I tend to make quilts out of ridiculous things...." For instance, she used "cleaning cloths and dusters and that sort of thing...." to make her quilt "I Hate Housework." She also likes using "silly little quotes" on the quilts. Stapleton has an art school background. She has also "always done handy craft things" and in evening classes she instructed students on how to do batik and macramé. At some point Stapleton was exposed to quilting. She says, "I felt it was useful. You could use it and, you know, you could do things with it...." She attended a class for beginning quilters. Stapleton began quilting "seriously" in 1981, approximately 19 years before the interview, when she was roughly thirty-eight years old. Later, she she moved on to teaching classes.</synopsis>
<synopsis_alt/>
<keywords>Learning quiltmaking; Family; Fiber arts</keywords>
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<point>
<time>987</time>
<title>Family members who quilt / First quilt memory / Time spent quilting</title>
<title_alt/>
<partial_transcript>Do any other members of your family quilt?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>For the most part, Stapleton's family members do not quilt. A sister of hers, however, whom Stapleton describes as "very artistic," made a quilt for a large show taking place locally, even though she was not particularly knowledgeable about quilting. Stapleton describes that quilt as "lovely," but says that her sister was unaware that "you shouldn't have the knots hanging out of the back...." That sister also makes "stuffed-work." Stapleton's family did not use quilts when she was growing up. Her first memory of quilts is at an exhibition of Irish quilts that took place in London. Stapleton describes those quilts as "very, very primitive." A Log Cabin quilt at that exhibit was her favorite. She says, "so it all hung really wonkily and it was absolutely wonderful, and I thought, 'I've got to do this....'" Stapleton quilts daily, usually for roughly four hours during the day and also during the evening. She finds it therapeutic and calming.</synopsis>
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<keywords>Log Cabin - quilt pattern; Family</keywords>
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<point>
<time>1102</time>
<title>Using quilting to get through a difficult time / How has developed skills / What likes and does not like about quilting</title>
<title_alt/>
<partial_transcript>But your quilts tend to be very whimsical and fun. Have you ever used quilting to, therapeutically, to get through a difficult time?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>Stapleton used quilting when her father was in his nineties, blind, and deaf. He also had to go to many medical appointments at that point. During that time, Stapleton made a double-sized Log Cabin quilt. She would bring it with her when she went to see her father or went to the hospital. Her father apologized to her for the amount of time she had to spend caring for him, but so long as she had her sewing with her, she was fine with using the time that way. Stapleton concludes, "So yes, I have used it as a, as a crutch." When asked how she has developed her skills as a quilter, Stapleton downplays her skill level, on the grounds that compared to the other quilters whose work she sees around her at the quilt show, she does not feel particularly skilled. That said, she is not really sure how she achieved her skills. She has, for instance, relatively few books. She says, "An idea hits me and then I work out how I'm going to make it...." The only thing that she can identify that might have had even a modes impact on her sewing skills was her purchase of a Bernina sewing machine, which was an improvement over her previous machine. The Bernina was an expensive purchase, but her husband approved of her having bought it, given the frequency with which she sews with a machine. Stapleton's primary dislike in relation to quilting is having to arrange and sew the blocks. She decided that the solution to that problem would be to make "silly quilts" instead of ones where the blocks had to be attached to each other (as opposed to some sort of backing or foundation). She enjoys making Log Cabin quilts, because they enable her to be frugal and use her own small scraps, as well as other people's small scraps. She does not want to purchase "designer fabric." Instead, she would prefer to use fabric she has on hand, "or stuff that I can actually preserve on a quilt, like the, the lace on this...."</synopsis>
<synopsis_alt/>
<keywords>Log Cabin - quilt pattern; Liberty (department store) (London, England); Bernina; Techniques; Home sewing machine</keywords>
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<point>
<time>1257</time>
<title>Do her quilts reflect her community / What makes a great quilt / What makes a great quilter</title>
<title_alt/>
<partial_transcript>Your quilts just marvelously reflect your personality. And it's just great. Do you, they reflect where you're from, your community?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>Stapleton does not think that her quilts particularly reflect her community. She says, "No, I think I'm a bit of a one-off...." She adds that she is particularly talkative and that when she expressed fear of going to the quilt show in Houston, her sister said, "Oh, don't worry, You'll get, make friends with a telephone box." To Stapleton's mind, "balance of color, um, probably an idea, maybe...." make a great quilt. The quilts at the International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX) that mostly get her attention are ones that stand out from the others. She says, "The ones that have really grabbed me are the lady from Baton Rouge, with the wild colors and the stripes and the, you know, those really appeal to me." She thinks that a lot of skill has gone into many of the more traditional quilts, but nevertheless, she prefers "something a bit more, off the wall...." The attributes needed by a great quilter are "a lot of patience, and, uh, a sense of humor." Stapleton feels that patience is the most important. She does not approve of long-arm quilting, for reasons that are unclear even to her. She describes herself as "a bit of a Luddite" and objects to long-arm quilting in the same way that she objects to fast food. She does not understand the concept of rushing to finish many projects. That said, she acknowledges that this may be because she does not make quilts to sell. </synopsis>
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<keywords>International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX); McDonald’s</keywords>
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<time>1387</time>
<title>Collecting other peoples' quilts / Importance of quilting in life / Quilt groups</title>
<title_alt/>
<partial_transcript>Do you collect other peoples' quilts?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>Stapleton does not buy other people's quilts. She has considered exchanging quilts with other quilters. She did once purchase an old quilt that she liked the look of in the store, but when she brought it home, her children pointed out to her that the traditional pattern with which it was made bore an unfortunate resemblance to a swastika. Stapleton was no longer happy with the quilt, so she uses it like a mattress pad, under the sheets. Stapleton thinks that quilting is very important in her life, largely because she has met so many wonderful people through quilting. She thinks that quilters, in general, are "really nice people." In her own quilt group, she enjoys both the diversity of age (ranging from about thirty through about eighty) and the fact of a shared interest. In addition to her quilt group, Stapleton belongs to The Quilters' Guild of Britain [probably The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles (Peasholme Green, York, England)]. </synopsis>
<synopsis_alt/>
<keywords>The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles (Peasholme Green, York, England); Collecting quilts; Quilt groups</keywords>
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<time>1464</time>
<title>Sleeping under quilts / Absence of husband / Special meaning of quilts for women and women's history</title>
<title_alt/>
<partial_transcript>Do you sleep under a quilt?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>Stapleton sleeps under quilts - one and a duvet in winter and two in summer. Stapleton's husband did not come along for this trip, as she did not think there would be anything for him to do at the event. When asked about the meaning of quilts for women and women's history, Stapleton says, "Well, I suppose, you know, that they had to make these quilts as a need to keep warm. I don't know really." She does, however, say that she thinks that quilt documentation and better care of quilts is a good thing, as is getting quilters to label their quilts. Stapleton notes that preserving quilts may also create "a record of the clothes we wore." A hexagon quilt that her mother-in-law made for the occasion of Stapleton's marriage contains bits of her own clothing, that she had passed onto her mother-in-law.</synopsis>
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<keywords>Dresden Plate (quilt pattern); Hexagon quilt</keywords>
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<time>1570</time>
<title>Quilts given away as gifts / New trends in quilting</title>
<title_alt/>
<partial_transcript>So, you've made some quilts that you've given away as gifts, did you say?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>Stapleton has made a large number of quilts as gifts. She describes those quilts as "more traditional quilts," which the recipients put on beds. She relates a story about her son and daughter-in-law getting curry on one of her quilts and calling her for advice on how to wash the stain out of the quilt. When asked if she is upset by that sort of thing, Stapleton says, "No, no, I've given it away, I mean, and if need be I just make another patch on top or something." In relation to new trends in quilting, Stapleton says that as of the time of the interview, at least in England, "wobbly edges" are in fashion. She also thinks that some quilters are producing projects that, to her mind are not really quilts. In her opinion, "a quilt should be something that's, tactile." Some quilters, however, are making plastic and other peculiar materials the basis for their projects. Stapleton suggests that this is "probably a reaction," which will be followed by a return to making more traditional quilts. She does, however, view the inclusion of quilters doing very different types of work as a good thing.</synopsis>
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<keywords>Quilt Purpose - Gift or presentation; Log Cabin - quilt pattern; Medallion quilts</keywords>
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<time>1678</time>
<title>The future of quilts and quilting</title>
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<partial_transcript>What would you like to see, happen, in the future of quilts and quilting?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>Stapleton does not know what the future of quilts and quilting will bring, but adds, "as long as it's all going from strength to strength." She would, however, think it a pity if some prospective quilters were effectively excluded, because they felt that they had to invest in "designer fabric" in order to make quilts. Stapleton herself prefers to use scraps and to repair existing quilts when some part of one becomes too worn. The interviewer points out that in the States there was a real lull in quilting in the middle of the twentieth century and asks if that had also happened in England. Stapleton agrees that it had. She credits quilter Joen Zinni-Lask with contributing in a major way to the quilting revival in Britain by opening a shop called "The Calico Cat and the Patchwork Dog" in London and then starting a group. [It appears that Stapleton may have confused Joen Zinni-Lask with Joen Goodman, who had a London shop called "The Patchwork Dog and The Calico Cat."] The group associated with the store developed into "The Quilters' Guild," which eventually changed its name to The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles (Peasholme Green, York, England). Stapleton started out teaching "just recreational classes" in the evening. She moved on to teaching classes at home and then to teaching workshops at quilting groups. As of the time of the interview, she has also been teaching at the International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX).</synopsis>
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<keywords>Joen Zinni-Lask; Joen Goodman; The Patchwork Dog and The Calico Cat (London, England); The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles (Peasholme Green, York, England); Quilt history; Teaching quiltmaking; International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX)</keywords>
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<time>1768</time>
<title>Book</title>
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<partial_transcript>And you've published</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Dorothy Stapleton has published a book called Quirky Quilts. The interviewer describes it as "a how-to book combined with -- a bit of history" and Stapleton adds to hier description, "a bit of chit-chat, a bit of this and that." The cover shows one of Stapleton's quilts, which depicts her with a vacuum cleaner. Stapleton gives some background on the differences between British and American vacuum cleaners. For immediate purposes, the most important one is that the material sucked up from the floor is visible in British vacuum cleaners. The quilt depicts Stapleton with a vacuum cleaner that is much more colorful than the one she actually owns as of the time of the interview. One of the inspirations for the piece was artwork made from the detritus extracted from a vacuum cleaner, which was exhibited at the Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain) in London, England. Stapleton's vacuum cleaner quilt is called "Learning to Love Housework" (which plays off the name of one of her previous quilts, "I Hate Housework.") She wrote relevant phrases in bleach on the quilt and bordered it with "cleaning cloths." Stapleton embellished the quilt with plastic from a "folder thing" to represent the transparent part of the vacuum cleaner. She has both embroidered and embellished the part of the quilt visible behind the plastic with objects that might be sucked into a vacuum cleaner. Stapleton expresses concerns about how Americans would understand her humor. Her experience is that in England some people really do not like her work and that in Ireland at least some viewers also had a negative reaction to it. The interviewer assures her that she has seen positive reactions to the quilt on display at the exhibit. Stapleton goes on to discuss a quilt addressing gender roles and how they may practically work out in a marriage. Stapleton returns briefly to talking about embellishing a quilt and adds, "I'd put anything, if I could."</synopsis>
<synopsis_alt/>
<keywords>Quirky Quilts (book by Dorothy Stapleton); Embellishment; Vacuum cleaners; Turner Prize; Tate Britain (formerly Tate Gallery) (London, England); Tracey Emin; Royal Shakespeare Company (Stratford-upon-Avon, England); PTA</keywords>
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<title>Touchstone quilt: "Who would marry a quilter"</title>
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<partial_transcript>My name is Ellen Minefe and I am here interviewing Dorothy Stapleton at the Houston International Quilt Festival. This is the Q.S.O.S project, it's November 4th, 2000, and it is 4:50 p.m. So where, where are you from [?] --?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Stapleton is from Leatherhead in Surrey, England, not very far from London. At the time of the interview, she is attending the International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX) , which she has never gone to previously. Her touchstone quilt is "Who Would Marry a Quilter?" The inspiration for the quilt is the husband of a member of her quilt group, who, because he owns a van, tends to be conscripted to haul quilt frames around. Stapleton describes him as "looking so sad" on the occasion of the group's last exhibition. She says, "I just thought, I'm going to make a quilt about these poor men who have to walk around quilt shows looking sad, and their wives are spending money." Stapleton describes many of her quilts as "amusing." The touchstone quilt, which is mostly appliqued, depicts a man "sitting in this very over-the-top quilter's house, his house." Some of the objects depicted in the part of the house shown in the quilt are a cross-stitch sampler, a calendar highlighting the man's wife's various quilting activities, a note indicating that the wife will be home later, and a quilted tea cozy. The man's outfit has been badly repaired or needs to be repaired in multiple places, because "his wife doesn't take any care of him." Stapleton describes the different fabrics in the quilt and the objects she used for embellishment in some detail. She discusses the techniques she used in rather less detail. Stapleton also talks about how she used embellishment to hide a problem with the machine quilting. Stapleton made the touchstone quilt in 1999, the year prior to the interview. The quilt received second prize in the National Patchwork Championships (UK) category of pictorial quilts. The quilt has been displayed in a couple of other venues, including an event in Salem, NC, for which Stapleton gives the name "Bernina 'World Art Quilt and Textiles.'" When asked what her plans for the quilt are, Stapleton says that she usually does not sell quilts, but keeps them to use as examples when she lectures on quilts in England and elsewhere. She also displays quilts in rotation on her dining room wall. </synopsis>
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<keywords>Quirky Quilts (book by Dorothy Stapleton); Liberty (department store) (London, England); Family; Fabric; Embellishment; Log Cabin - quilt pattern; Jinny Beyer; Techniques; National Patchwork Championships (UK); International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX)</keywords>
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<time>552</time>
<title>Number of quilts completed </title>
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<partial_transcript>Approximately how many quilts have you made, do you know?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>Stapleton is not sure how many quilts she has made, in part because she and her sisters between the have many descendants and she makes them all quilts for certain major life events. She estimates she makes three or four quilts annually, ideally including a ""big sort of amusing piece." Stapleton both hand quilts, which she says is "very relaxing," and uses a machine, especially when working on large pieces. She also used machine quilting to do the writing on the quilt that, at the time of the interview, is on display at the International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX) . She says "I do lots of drawing with the machine...." The name of the quilt on display is "What Shall We Call It?" Stapleton's original purpose in making it was to enter it in an exhibition by the name of "Great Expectations." In accordance with that theme, the quilt depicts a number of pregnant women. Stapleton describes her technique for making individual blocks and how she joins the blocks together in some detail. The impetus for the quilts is that all of Stapleton's three children are boys and, prior to birth, they were all prospectively a "Sophie." Each block shows some names on the outer edges, which are names contemplated before birth, and then "in the mother's womb" is the name eventually given to the baby. Some of the mothers depicted are expecting multiple babies, with the names grouped in sets with the individual names in each set related in some way. Stapleton discusses the names in some detail. A couple of the women depicted on this quilt are Black. Stapleton tells a couple of stories about the reactions of Black viewers to this quilt, including a one such viewer photographing one of the Black women in the quilt. Based, presumably, on her attendance of a small number of quilt shows in the United States, Stapleton concludes that Black women in the States are not particularly interested in quilting. </synopsis>
<synopsis_alt/>
<keywords>Techniques; Family; Beatles; Marx Brothers; Freeman, Hardy & Willis (UK); Teletubbies; Great Expectations (book by Charles Dickens); Queen Victoria; Prince Albert; Kray twins; “Eric and Ernie” (British TV movie); Al Capone; Four Evangelists; International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX)</keywords>
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<time>861</time>
<title>Living with quilts / Utilitarian quilts vs. wall hangings / Learning to quilt</title>
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<partial_transcript>This just begs the question when we were talking about is, how about your own home? What -- do you, do you live with quilts?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Stapleton uses quilts on both her beds and her walls, including one which conceals a crack in her dining room wall. She owns a fair number of quilts. Her husband, whom she describes (apparently referring back to the man depicted in the touchstone quilt) as "not quite as pathetic as this," used to wear a sweater with a hole in it, position himself when they had guests so as to best display the hole, and comment on the fact that despite all Stapleton's sewing, she had not mended it. She notes that these incidents had some bearing on the theme of the touchstone quilt. A number of Stapleton's quilts are wall hangings. She says, "I tend to make quilts out of ridiculous things...." For instance, she used "cleaning cloths and dusters and that sort of thing...." to make her quilt "I Hate Housework." She also likes using "silly little quotes" on the quilts. Stapleton has an art school background. She has also "always done handy craft things" and in evening classes she instructed students on how to do batik and macramé. At some point Stapleton was exposed to quilting. She says, "I felt it was useful. You could use it and, you know, you could do things with it...." She attended a class for beginning quilters. Stapleton began quilting "seriously" in 1981, approximately 19 years before the interview, when she was roughly thirty-eight years old. Later, she she moved on to teaching classes.</synopsis>
<synopsis_alt/>
<keywords>Learning quiltmaking; Family; Fiber arts</keywords>
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<point>
<time>987</time>
<title>Family members who quilt / First quilt memory / Time spent quilting</title>
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<partial_transcript>Do any other members of your family quilt?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>For the most part, Stapleton's family members do not quilt. A sister of hers, however, whom Stapleton describes as "very artistic," made a quilt for a large show taking place locally, even though she was not particularly knowledgeable about quilting. Stapleton describes that quilt as "lovely," but says that her sister was unaware that "you shouldn't have the knots hanging out of the back...." That sister also makes "stuffed-work." Stapleton's family did not use quilts when she was growing up. Her first memory of quilts is at an exhibition of Irish quilts that took place in London. Stapleton describes those quilts as "very, very primitive." A Log Cabin quilt at that exhibit was her favorite. She says, "so it all hung really wonkily and it was absolutely wonderful, and I thought, 'I've got to do this....'" Stapleton quilts daily, usually for roughly four hours during the day and also during the evening. She finds it therapeutic and calming.</synopsis>
<synopsis_alt/>
<keywords>Log Cabin - quilt pattern; Family</keywords>
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<time>1102</time>
<title>Using quilting to get through a difficult time / How has developed skills / What likes and does not like about quilting</title>
<title_alt/>
<partial_transcript>But your quilts tend to be very whimsical and fun. Have you ever used quilting to, therapeutically, to get through a difficult time?</partial_transcript>
<partial_transcript_alt/>
<synopsis>Stapleton used quilting when her father was in his nineties, blind, and deaf. He also had to go to many medical appointments at that point. During that time, Stapleton made a double-sized Log Cabin quilt. She would bring it with her when she went to see her father or went to the hospital. Her father apologized to her for the amount of time she had to spend caring for him, but so long as she had her sewing with her, she was fine with using the time that way. Stapleton concludes, "So yes, I have used it as a, as a crutch." When asked how she has developed her skills as a quilter, Stapleton downplays her skill level, on the grounds that compared to the other quilters whose work she sees around her at the quilt show, she does not feel particularly skilled. That said, she is not really sure how she achieved her skills. She has, for instance, relatively few books. She says, "An idea hits me and then I work out how I'm going to make it...." The only thing that she can identify that might have had even a modes impact on her sewing skills was her purchase of a Bernina sewing machine, which was an improvement over her previous machine. The Bernina was an expensive purchase, but her husband approved of her having bought it, given the frequency with which she sews with a machine. Stapleton's primary dislike in relation to quilting is having to arrange and sew the blocks. She decided that the solution to that problem would be to make "silly quilts" instead of ones where the blocks had to be attached to each other (as opposed to some sort of backing or foundation). She enjoys making Log Cabin quilts, because they enable her to be frugal and use her own small scraps, as well as other people's small scraps. She does not want to purchase "designer fabric." Instead, she would prefer to use fabric she has on hand, "or stuff that I can actually preserve on a quilt, like the, the lace on this...."</synopsis>
<synopsis_alt/>
<keywords>Log Cabin - quilt pattern; Liberty (department store) (London, England); Bernina; Techniques; Home sewing machine</keywords>
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<time>1257</time>
<title>Do her quilts reflect her community / What makes a great quilt / What makes a great quilter</title>
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<partial_transcript>Your quilts just marvelously reflect your personality. And it's just great. Do you, they reflect where you're from, your community?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Stapleton does not think that her quilts particularly reflect her community. She says, "No, I think I'm a bit of a one-off...." She adds that she is particularly talkative and that when she expressed fear of going to the quilt show in Houston, her sister said, "Oh, don't worry, You'll get, make friends with a telephone box." To Stapleton's mind, "balance of color, um, probably an idea, maybe...." make a great quilt. The quilts at the International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX) that mostly get her attention are ones that stand out from the others. She says, "The ones that have really grabbed me are the lady from Baton Rouge, with the wild colors and the stripes and the, you know, those really appeal to me." She thinks that a lot of skill has gone into many of the more traditional quilts, but nevertheless, she prefers "something a bit more, off the wall...." The attributes needed by a great quilter are "a lot of patience, and, uh, a sense of humor." Stapleton feels that patience is the most important. She does not approve of long-arm quilting, for reasons that are unclear even to her. She describes herself as "a bit of a Luddite" and objects to long-arm quilting in the same way that she objects to fast food. She does not understand the concept of rushing to finish many projects. That said, she acknowledges that this may be because she does not make quilts to sell. </synopsis>
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<keywords>International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX); McDonald’s</keywords>
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<point>
<time>1387</time>
<title>Collecting other peoples' quilts / Importance of quilting in life / Quilt groups</title>
<title_alt/>
<partial_transcript>Do you collect other peoples' quilts?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Stapleton does not buy other people's quilts. She has considered exchanging quilts with other quilters. She did once purchase an old quilt that she liked the look of in the store, but when she brought it home, her children pointed out to her that the traditional pattern with which it was made bore an unfortunate resemblance to a swastika. Stapleton was no longer happy with the quilt, so she uses it like a mattress pad, under the sheets. Stapleton thinks that quilting is very important in her life, largely because she has met so many wonderful people through quilting. She thinks that quilters, in general, are "really nice people." In her own quilt group, she enjoys both the diversity of age (ranging from about thirty through about eighty) and the fact of a shared interest. In addition to her quilt group, Stapleton belongs to The Quilters' Guild of Britain [probably The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles (Peasholme Green, York, England)]. </synopsis>
<synopsis_alt/>
<keywords>The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles (Peasholme Green, York, England); Collecting quilts; Quilt groups</keywords>
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<time>1464</time>
<title>Sleeping under quilts / Absence of husband / Special meaning of quilts for women and women's history</title>
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<partial_transcript>Do you sleep under a quilt?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Stapleton sleeps under quilts - one and a duvet in winter and two in summer. Stapleton's husband did not come along for this trip, as she did not think there would be anything for him to do at the event. When asked about the meaning of quilts for women and women's history, Stapleton says, "Well, I suppose, you know, that they had to make these quilts as a need to keep warm. I don't know really." She does, however, say that she thinks that quilt documentation and better care of quilts is a good thing, as is getting quilters to label their quilts. Stapleton notes that preserving quilts may also create "a record of the clothes we wore." A hexagon quilt that her mother-in-law made for the occasion of Stapleton's marriage contains bits of her own clothing, that she had passed onto her mother-in-law.</synopsis>
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<keywords>Dresden Plate (quilt pattern); Hexagon quilt</keywords>
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<time>1570</time>
<title>Quilts given away as gifts / New trends in quilting</title>
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<partial_transcript>So, you've made some quilts that you've given away as gifts, did you say?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Stapleton has made a large number of quilts as gifts. She describes those quilts as "more traditional quilts," which the recipients put on beds. She relates a story about her son and daughter-in-law getting curry on one of her quilts and calling her for advice on how to wash the stain out of the quilt. When asked if she is upset by that sort of thing, Stapleton says, "No, no, I've given it away, I mean, and if need be I just make another patch on top or something." In relation to new trends in quilting, Stapleton says that as of the time of the interview, at least in England, "wobbly edges" are in fashion. She also thinks that some quilters are producing projects that, to her mind are not really quilts. In her opinion, "a quilt should be something that's, tactile." Some quilters, however, are making plastic and other peculiar materials the basis for their projects. Stapleton suggests that this is "probably a reaction," which will be followed by a return to making more traditional quilts. She does, however, view the inclusion of quilters doing very different types of work as a good thing.</synopsis>
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<keywords>Quilt Purpose - Gift or presentation; Log Cabin - quilt pattern; Medallion quilts</keywords>
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<time>1678</time>
<title>The future of quilts and quilting</title>
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<partial_transcript>What would you like to see, happen, in the future of quilts and quilting?</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Stapleton does not know what the future of quilts and quilting will bring, but adds, "as long as it's all going from strength to strength." She would, however, think it a pity if some prospective quilters were effectively excluded, because they felt that they had to invest in "designer fabric" in order to make quilts. Stapleton herself prefers to use scraps and to repair existing quilts when some part of one becomes too worn. The interviewer points out that in the States there was a real lull in quilting in the middle of the twentieth century and asks if that had also happened in England. Stapleton agrees that it had. She credits quilter Joen Zinni-Lask with contributing in a major way to the quilting revival in Britain by opening a shop called "The Calico Cat and the Patchwork Dog" in London and then starting a group. [It appears that Stapleton may have confused Joen Zinni-Lask with Joen Goodman, who had a London shop called "The Patchwork Dog and The Calico Cat."] The group associated with the store developed into "The Quilters' Guild," which eventually changed its name to The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles (Peasholme Green, York, England). Stapleton started out teaching "just recreational classes" in the evening. She moved on to teaching classes at home and then to teaching workshops at quilting groups. As of the time of the interview, she has also been teaching at the International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX).</synopsis>
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<keywords>Joen Zinni-Lask; Joen Goodman; The Patchwork Dog and The Calico Cat (London, England); The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles (Peasholme Green, York, England); Quilt history; Teaching quiltmaking; International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX)</keywords>
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<point>
<time>1768</time>
<title>Book</title>
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<partial_transcript>And you've published</partial_transcript>
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<synopsis>Dorothy Stapleton has published a book called Quirky Quilts. The interviewer describes it as "a how-to book combined with -- a bit of history" and Stapleton adds to hier description, "a bit of chit-chat, a bit of this and that." The cover shows one of Stapleton's quilts, which depicts her with a vacuum cleaner. Stapleton gives some background on the differences between British and American vacuum cleaners. For immediate purposes, the most important one is that the material sucked up from the floor is visible in British vacuum cleaners. The quilt depicts Stapleton with a vacuum cleaner that is much more colorful than the one she actually owns as of the time of the interview. One of the inspirations for the piece was artwork made from the detritus extracted from a vacuum cleaner, which was exhibited at the Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain) in London, England. Stapleton's vacuum cleaner quilt is called "Learning to Love Housework" (which plays off the name of one of her previous quilts, "I Hate Housework.") She wrote relevant phrases in bleach on the quilt and bordered it with "cleaning cloths." Stapleton embellished the quilt with plastic from a "folder thing" to represent the transparent part of the vacuum cleaner. She has both embroidered and embellished the part of the quilt visible behind the plastic with objects that might be sucked into a vacuum cleaner. Stapleton expresses concerns about how Americans would understand her humor. Her experience is that in England some people really do not like her work and that in Ireland at least some viewers also had a negative reaction to it. The interviewer assures her that she has seen positive reactions to the quilt on display at the exhibit. Stapleton goes on to discuss a quilt addressing gender roles and how they may practically work out in a marriage. Stapleton returns briefly to talking about embellishing a quilt and adds, "I'd put anything, if I could."</synopsis>
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<keywords>Quirky Quilts (book by Dorothy Stapleton); Embellishment; Vacuum cleaners; Turner Prize; Tate Britain (formerly Tate Gallery) (London, England); Tracey Emin; Royal Shakespeare Company (Stratford-upon-Avon, England); PTA</keywords>
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Citation
“Dorothy Stapleton,” Quilters' S.O.S. -- Save Our Stories, accessed October 15, 2026, https://qsos.quiltalliance.org/items/show/1291.