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Audio Recording "You couldn't possibly do that on the sewing machine."

"You couldn’t possibly do that on the sewing machine."

About this Item

Title

  • "You couldn't possibly do that on the sewing machine."

Names

  • Johnson, Geraldine Niva, 1940- (Interviewer)
  • Stanley, Lura (Creator)
  • Stanley, Lura (Interviewee)

Created / Published

  • Laurel Fork, Virginia

Headings

  • -  Quilting
  • -  Quilt patterns
  • -  hand quilting
  • -  quilt marking
  • -  Ethnography
  • -  Interviews
  • -  United States -- Virginia -- Laurel Fork

Genre

  • Ethnography
  • Interviews

Notes

  • -  Lura Stanley was interviewed on September 28, 1978, at her home. Geraldine Johnson described Mrs. Stanley's quilts as "truly exquisite." She grew up on a farm and learned to quilt as a child, worked as a school teacher, and now makes quilts for herself and her family. She also has some older quilts which she bought at auctions. The highlights of this interview include Mrs. Stanley's comments on individual quilts as they were photographed.
  • -  Transcription: LS: I suggested that we have a craft show, and I took that red quilt, that one that has the feather wreath in it, and, I had all kinds of questions about it. Did I do that on the machine or did I do it by hand. You couldn't possibly do that on the machine. On a sewing machine. Somebody, some people quilt on a sewing machine. That makes a serviceable quilt, but not particularly a beautiful quilt. But you can't do that, you have to do that fancy quilting, on a, by hand, by hand. And getting it marked so it, you have, I marked that with a pencil, lightly. And then I try to quilt to cover it up. I don't guess you noticed my mar, any marks on it, because I quilted to cover up those little tiny pencil marks. I, I dot it. / GJ: Oh, you do. You dot it with a pencil? / LS: Dot it, dot the pattern with a pencil. Sometimes I take the pattern and, those difficult patterns, I take the pattern and put on a, a durable paper, like, freezer paper or something like that, and punch holes all, you know, punch a hole every so often in it. And, and then I put that over my square. After I stretch it, after I have it in the frame. And take a pencil and dot that in there. And then try to quilt to cover up those pencil marks. And you can use, there's certain kind of erasers that you can erase most of it out. But you don't notice the pencil marks, really, on my quilts. Cause I, I try to cover 'em up.
  • -  For rights information please contact the Folklife Reading Room at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/folklife.contact

Medium

  • Sound tape reel : 7 in.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • AFC 1982/009: BR8-GJ-R106

Source Collection

  • Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project Collection (AFC 1982/009)

Repository

  • American Folklife Center

Online Format

  • audio

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that some of the materials in this collection are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions, and are therefore free to use and reuse. For example, the fieldwork in this collection is in the public domain in the United States.

However, the Library has obtained permission for the use of other materials, and presents additional materials for educational and research purposes in accordance with fair use under United States copyright law. For example, some of the recordings contain copyrighted music, and not all of the performers and other individuals who were recorded signed releases for public use of their work.

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Credit line: Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project collection (AFC 1982/009), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Johnson, Geraldine Niva, Lura Stanley, and Lura Stanley. "You couldn't possibly do that on the sewing machine.". Laurel Fork, Virginia, 1978. Audio. https://www.loc.gov/item/qlt000190/.

APA citation style:

Johnson, G. N., Stanley, L. & Stanley, L. (1978) "You couldn't possibly do that on the sewing machine.". Laurel Fork, Virginia. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/qlt000190/.

MLA citation style:

Johnson, Geraldine Niva, Lura Stanley, and Lura Stanley. "You couldn't possibly do that on the sewing machine.". Laurel Fork, Virginia, 1978. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/qlt000190/>.