To celebrate how art can foster community, Fibers I students practiced embroidery skills and collaborated with one another to create quilts.

Students focused on creating a standard textile quilt, making their own individual blocks that will ultimately be stitched together. 

“Quilts started from people getting together, primarily women, to make something for function,” Fibers teacher Jennifer Gonzalez said. “They absolutely speak to me as an artist, because quilts are for the community, like they’re for other people. I see how they are heirlooms and you pass them down from generation to generation, and having something to pass down … that’s really important.”

Rather than working off a pre-existing template online, quilt designs were created by students in the class. All students had to sketch out their own patterns, after which the one that best represented the class was chosen. 

“It was really surprising that my design got picked because it wasn’t super intricate, but I think the meaning of it to me was really good,” freshman Zoe Monfiero said. “My design represented new beginnings or a fresh start. As a freshman, coming to the school was like a fresh start for me … I put it in my quilt because a lot of freshmen come here for that. ”

To make their quilts, students had to learn a new embroidery technique called Sashiko stitching, a traditional Japanese embroidery technique that’s characterized by small, straight running stitches. 

“I found Sashiko to be a lot more satisfying because you have to be so much more precise with the lines and the way that you structure the piece,” senior Janis Laconico said. “It’s definitely one of my favorite [techniques] because I have someone in my life who’s very interested in that type of stitching. I’m excited to be able to make stuff for them.”

Because of the difficulty of Sashiko stitching, students were given different templates depending on their skill level. The designs ranged from having students complete simple, straight lines to winding, curved stitches.

“I was looking at all the designs that people were doing and was like, ‘Woah’, because I had one of the simplest blocks,” Monfiero said. “Even though I had an easier block, it was still pretty painful stitching everything together for hours, but it still turned out really good.” 

Once finished, the final products will be presented during the April Art Show. Afterwards, the quilts will be on display in Gonzalez’s classroom.

“I’m excited to see the entire product, especially since each of the quilt blocks we made are different with different colors and patterns,” Laconico said. “I can see them coming together. I saw some people who had to stitch really intricate blocks, so I was a little scared for them, but I think that everyone did a good job”