Anne Whitmore’s quilt Chastleton House

Earlier this week I went on a textile tour of Chastleton House. I’ve written a lot in my journal about this experience in one of my favourite places, and the makers of these amazing stitched pieces. Thinking about the motivations and experiences of textile makers of the past is pertinent to a new project I’ve got coming up, so I thought it would be fun to do some exploratory writing about a named maker attached to a wonderful piece in Chastleton.

I’ve seen this quilt before, I’m pretty obsessed with trapunto / corded quilting and have been researching it for years. I had forgotten, if I ever knew, that this piece has a known maker attached to it.

Here’s a little taster of my journal writing, done while sitting in the shade outside the church at Chastleton.

Did she stitch with others? Could those two daughters have been her co-authors? Did she teach them fine back stitch to complete parts of this quilt? Or was she more like a modern quilter than we might imagine, covered in quilt on the sofa or a chair near a good bright window but seeing visitors and family with it heaped up by her side? Maybe she refused to see anyone and stayed in with her quilt, her silent companion who caused her no trouble.

Did she regret the detail in the design, the complex, all-over pattern, wishing instead that she could just do the flowers and make the background simpler and plainer? Did she enjoy the repetition of the same tiny back stitches, repeating year after year? Did people say to her “oh you must be so patient to stitch that” just like they do with me?

Some other glorious early textiles at Chastleton.

If you think you would like to explore your own writing about making or makers, I invite you to have a look at my Reflective Writing for Creative Practice which starts this week but is open for you to join at any time. There’s more about the course and what it involves here.