From an artistic and aesthetic standpoint, the Gee’s Bend quilts have a distinctive style. The quilters created patterns unique to their small and isolated enclave surrounded by water on three sides in the bend of the Alabama river. Boykin/Gees Bend is about as rural as you can get in America. It is over 45 miles by car just to get to the nearest stores for shopping.

This quilt was assembled in the bricklayer (bars) pattern, utilizing a multitude of brightly colored solid fabrics, groovy 1960s era prints, 1940s barkcloth, even a woven Saltillo blanket. There is an amazing layer of texture in the many colors of yarn added as string ties.

Scraps of cloth from discarded garments will find a place in quilts. See the 60s LOVE scraps in this one.

This highly unusual piece is a yarn tied quilt lover’s dream for sure. Many colors of yarn were sewn through and tied- nearly every square inch has a yarn tie. Wonderfully fun!

Size 81 by 74 inches

Quilter name undetermined

Mostly hand-sewn with a couple of machine stitched seams along one or two patches.

Materials-cotton, woven blanket, 40s barkcloth and various fabrics, acrylic & wool yarn, solid light yellow fleece type polyester backing.

Condition Clean, ready for use or display.

This is in Excellent condition-only noted a couple tiny holes in the yellow backing by the edge- shown in a zoomed image. These are likely a result from the quilt having been stapled on a frame as part of the process.

More Gee’s Bend history via Wiki notes-

“The quilting tradition in Gee's Bend goes back beyond the 19th century and may have been influenced in part by patterned Native American textiles and African textiles. African-American women pieced together strips of cloth to make bedcovers. Throughout the post-bellum years and into the 20th century, Gee's Bend women made quilts to keep themselves and their children warm in unheated shacks that lacked running water, telephones and electricity. Along the way they developed a distinctive style, noted for its lively improvisations and geometric simplicity. Many of the quilts are a departure from classical quilt making, bringing to mind a minimalist quality. This could also have been influenced by the isolation of their location, which necessitated using whatever materials were on hand, often recycling from old clothing and textiles.”

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