Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Sharing the beauty of handwork quilting

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Text by Georgina Benison -


Photos by Donna Rockey -


Halloween will take on a different flavour for the forty-odd women of the Muscat Quilt Guild this year. With the opening ceremony by HH Sayyida Mayya al Said, the Muscat Quilt Guild will open a unique exhibition of works on October 31 which will continue daily until November 7 at Bait al Baranda in Muttrah. On October 29 and 30, there will be free morning workshops for the public at the museum, teaching how to hand piece and hand quilt a ‘sampler’ — a 10” square hot-pot holder or coaster.


One exceptional exhibit on show will be an American quilt dating from 1880, so nearly 140 years old. The Triple Irish Chain quilt is on loan to the United States Embassy, Muscat, from the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles for use in this exhibition. It features large sunflowers in the white sections and Irish chain block technique in red and green — of course, all laboriously worked by one (unknown) woman by hand.


The Muscat Quilt Guild started many years ago, with ladies first meeting in each other’s homes, and as numbers grew, they met for breakfast in a Boushar hotel to discuss techniques for quilting, patchwork and sewing.


There is a long tradition in Oman of needlecrafts, and the core of Omani ladies in the group are keen to share their expertise and see different techniques from other countries.


Now, the group includes a wide age-range and nationalities such as American, Irish, English, Dutch, Japanese, Filipina, Indian and South African.


Out of this diversity, they try new techniques on a small scale in ‘journals’ — an A4 size sampler celebrating different themes.


The exhibition will showcase their Omani themed journals. They have a ‘show and tell’ section in their monthly gatherings where ladies bring recently completed quilts and explain what techniques they used.


Several members have won awards at the Dubai International Quilt Show. There are many Quilt Shows around the world such as in Dubai, Houston, USA, Birmingham, England and this coming year, one in India. Members travel to these shows to see the quilts on display and they take part in classes and lectures to develop their own skills.


One aim of the group is to make a quilt together and then raffle it to raise funds for the Oman Cancer Association. They have raised thousands of riyals in the past and hope for up to four thousand this year. Up to 25 ladies have worked on this year’s creation, enjoying the social aspect of working in a group, as well as a therapeutic reward from participating in handicrafts.


Two Omani ladies from the group shared their personal stories of how they became involved.


Zubeida, whose family originates from Sharqiyah, began quilting more regularly once she retired from full-time work and had more time to devote. She brought a stunning, eye-catching piece which took a year and a half, on and off, to complete. The style is Crazy Quilt and the method, ‘quilt-as-you-go’ using foot-square sections which are later sewn together. She used satin, silk and organza tailors’ off-cuts and produced the king-sized bed cover which will surely steal any show!


Muna was pressed to join six years ago by her niece Basima, who has been involved with the group for twelve years now and is also one of the teachers, along with fellow Omani, Hina. Muna’s beautiful green quilt took 3-4 months to complete and she explained a little of the process required which goes in to making one: there are three layers — the top, which is the colourful, hand-sewn front, the ‘batting’ or filling which will give warmth and texture to the quilt, and the backing which can be added commercially.


A bed-cover or lap-quilt would have more filling to make it “thicker”, while a wall-hanging needs to be less dense. She took the idea for her design from a book of patterns by Paula Doyle which she bought while on a trip to Birmingham in 2015. She used a variety of fabrics in different colours and patterns and used a Mosaic technique, using tiny squares and triangles, substituting materials depending on what was available. Some women use online classes to develop their skills, including “Craftsy” or American expert, Bonny Hunter, but in the Guild, Hina and Basima are the house teachers.


The quilting process itself — the stitching in patterns which gives each cover or wall-hanging its quality — can be done at “Classic Quilt” in Dubai. They use a computer-programmed “long arm” machine. It is mounted on a huge frame which allows the machine to cover the whole piece on runners which can go side to side, and up and down. The “feathers” design on Muna’s quilt, for example, was repeated thirty times in six by five squares format. In bygone days , this meticulously hand-stitched stage of production would have taken hours to complete. Many of the ladies chose to quilt on their domestic machines, which gives them a feeling of seeing the process through from start to finish. The ladies, in general, do not sell their work. It represents so much of their precious time and focus that they either give their treasures to family members or keep them safely in a chest or cupboard at home.


Alongside the Omani ladies, the Muscat Quilt Guild also includes committee members such as Donna Rockey, British quilter of just two years membership. The ladies of the Muscat Quilt Guild would like to share their quilts with the broader Muscat community at the exhibition at Bait al Baranda where all the quilts mentioned and many others will be on show.


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