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As we near the end of February, and Black History Month, I wanted to pay homage to one of my favorite group of crafters from my state history: The Gee’s Bend Quilts.

Gee’s Bend (Boykin, Alabama) is a rural community southwest of Selma and has become known for the abstract quilts made by the generations of African American women there. They are beautiful! These quilts were made with whatever scraps of fabric they could find such as old clothes or aprons.

Read more about the Gee’s Bend history with these books:

• Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt
• The Quilts of Gee’s Bend

  

We made a variation of the quilts using just a few materials and is a perfect activity for little ones. This is a great way to explore a variety of textures, color, and pattern.

Materials:

• Cardboard
• fabric scraps
• scissors
• glue

We made a trip to our local craft store and stocked up on some fabric scraps from the remnant section that had an additional 50% off. You could also use old clothes like the Gee’s Bend quilters did. I pulled out some old jeans of mine that were ripped beyond repair and perfect for added texture!

I cut the fabric into strips and various shapes before we started.

We selected some sturdy cardboard pieces from our recycle stash to use as a gluing surface.

We arranged and glued our fabric scraps to our cardboard to create a quilt. I gave them very little instruction and gave them free reign of the process. This is a perfect activity for little ones who love to glue!

Willa loved adding layers!

Our finished quilts:

Pin for later!

Do you love crafting with fabric? Try our Babushka Doll Softie or Bird Softie