An Elmira Quilting Bee
Raised in a Mennonite community in Canada, Salome Bauman has been quilting all her life. In this blog, she takes us to a traditional quilting bee.
“I was raised in the Mennonite community so quilting is a part of my life. (Our clothes were made by our mother and any scraps of fabric that were left were tossed into the scrap box to use in quilt making.) Traditionally, a Mennonite girl would make between six to eight quilts for her ‘hope’ (or dowery) chest, which is why quilting bees came into business. In my community, when a quilt top was pieced, we would invite about 10 other girls – neighbours or cousins or best friends - to come help us quilt on a particular day."
Quilting bees still go on today, and tend to follow the same pattern
"By 9 o'clock in the morning everybody is gathered around the quilt. Every girl accustomed to quilting bees takes her own thimble and small cutting scissors, while the needles and thread are supplied by the person hosting the quilting bee. As the fingers fly, the tongues do too! This is a wonderful time to find out who has new babies, what guy is showing interest in what girl, who is sick, how Lizzie was in Pennsylvania visiting friends and found some beautiful new dress fabric, or Lovina figured out a way to sew a neater dress!
"When everybody has quilted what they can reach, it is time to roll in the sides and keep on quilting. Quilting bees tend to be rather competitive, so if everyone finished at last week’s bee, then the pressure is on to do the same!
"At 12, noon, everyone files to the kitchen to eat heartily of the meal that the host’s mother has been working on. New recipes are asked for and exchanged.
"Then it’s back to the quilt, till 3pm when it’s time for some fruit juice to quench our thirst so we can keep talking! Then back to the quilt until 4:30 or 5pm when we have to go home. Hopefully the quilt is done..."
Our holiday to Quilt Canada 2025 includes the chance to join Salome and experience a quilting bee first hand. Click here to find out more.