Looking to stay warm this winter? Eager to get in touch with  your crafty side? The College’s quilting club first made its debut on the Hill during the ’96-’97 school year and has been open to students and faculty interested in the art of the quilting ever since.

 According to president of the quilting club Mary Fletcher ’13, “The club is open to anyone who is willing to learn how to quilt, [and]  no experience [is] necessary.” At the beginning of every semester, the quilting club gets together to work on its first project: a blanket for premature babies born in the Waterville area. Faculty advisors Elvira Gastaldo and Margaret Mundy and several of the more experienced members of the club teach new club members the basics of quilt-making. “The intention of this project is to get to know the other club members and make sure everyone has the proper foundations to pursue bigger and more complicated projects over the course of the semester,” said Fletcher. 

Club members receive instruction in a wide variety of quilting techniques. Both of the club’s faculty advisors have extensive quilting experience, “the advisors often bring in their own work from home to show us; it’s so beautiful,” said Fletcher.

After club members complete the baby blanket project, they are welcome to pursue a project of their choice. “A great feature of the quilting club is its ability to tailor  (pun intended) itself to your schedule,” Fletcher said. Sewing machines and materials are stored in the club’s room on the first floor of Leonard; club members are welcome to check out a key to this room at the Security Office in Roberts.

Although the quilting club has always encouraged its members to work on individual  projects, it has also organized a variety of collective quilting projects since its establishment. The first of these group projects was the Pugh Center quilt. Twenty of the Pugh Center clubs received representation on this quilt. Club members designed and hand-stitched each square of the quilt.

Although Fletcher arrived on the Hill after the club had completed the Pugh quilt, she has still found that community partnership between the quilting club and other campus organizations is important. Currently the quilting club is collaborating on a project with an organization called Male Athletes Against Violence (MAAV). This organization is interested in breaking gender stereotypes that so often plague groups of male athletes. “By joining forces with the quilting club, MAAV is defying gender stereotypes and forming a partnership in an unlikely place, which is nice to see,” says Fletcher. MAAV is interested in creating a quilted banner representing its mission, and its members plan to work alongside quilting club members to actualize their vision.  “I am hoping to involve the quilting club [in] the College community by doing more charity work [and] partnering up with clubs like MAAV,” said Fletcher.

Whether you are looking to get serious about quilting, or you are interested in checking out the members’ work, the quilting club is always open to new members and welcomes anyone who is interested to stop by the club’s Leonard lair on Mondays from seven to nine PM.