TEACHING QUILTING THROUGH THE GENERATIONS
Sylvia Stephens
Within the creative and colorful world of quiltmaking, there lies a deep-rooted history and tradition within many families and cultures, especially in the southern United States, dating back to a time when quilting was a much more prominent practice, turning the art and learning process into a family tradition. With this skill being passed down through different generations, many modern quilters have created their own unique style that pays homage to past quilters who have shared the lessons and skills it takes to become an expert quiltmaker.
Meet Sylvia Stephens, a fourth-generation quilter living in Maryland, who uses her exquisite quilting abilities, drawing inspiration from her strong faith in Christianity, to help spread her messages of loving and learning about one another. Her notable works and messages have allowed her to share her quilting with many others at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival this past summer, which focused on living religions in the U.S.
Sylvia Stephens
Growing up in rural Alabama, Sylvia learned to sew from her mother, renowned Alabama quilter Mozell S. Benson. In 2001, Benson received the National Heritage Award for quilting from the National Endowment for the Arts. Now removed from her time spent at the Pentagon as a commissioned Air Force officer, it was during the award ceremony and following interviews that Sylvia realized that she had never actually made a quilt before. Once again, she turned to her mother who agreed to teach Sylvia the art of quilting.
She Taught Me (2020) Love Quilt by Sylvia G. Stephens
Sylvia later took inspiration from her mother’s work when she was commissioned by the Alabama Folklife Association to craft a quilt for Alabama’s bicentennial celebration in 2019. What followed was a beautiful quilt, honoring not only her mother but her Grandmother as well, placing an eight-point star at the top, a pattern that her Grandmother created on a different quilt many years ago. “I was very inspired in making the quilt… The one block at the very top and center is (a recreation of) a block of a quilt that my Grandmother, my mother’s mother Cleo made…So I was just proud to be one of the Stephens girls, making quilts after my great-grandmothers, my grandmother, and my mother, and then to teach my daughter and granddaughter how to make the quilts.”
She Taught Me (2020) Love Quilt label by Sylvia G. Stephens
Sylvia was also able to share the quilt with the many crowds of people at this year’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival “After the Bicentennial”, the quilt was added to the collection of the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery. I wasn’t able to get it for the festival, but they sent me a banner with the quilt on it and it hung the entire time of the festival.” Alongside her and her mother’s quilts, Sylvia also put on display several quilts focused on the theme of love that she had made in recent years, which gathered many compliments, and which Sylvia explained are all inspired by Bible verses, fitting in perfectly with the festival’s theme of living religion in the United States.
“Several of the smaller quilts, especially the Love quilts, came from reading scriptures from the Bible. I had done a search on love, just to see what the bible said about love... and when I was reading the love scriptures, I remember thinking ‘There ought to be a way to take this feeling, these thoughts that come to your mind, and make it.’” Sylvia elaborated on how she believes that even when she’s stuck looking for inspiration, God and the Bible will always help her become inspired again.
In another one of her quilts, Sylvia said that she had a dream about making a quilt with many circles after seeing one at Auburn University, made by a member of the Gee’s Bend Quilting Collective, located in southern Alabama. After waking from the dream in the middle of the night, she got right to work, attempting to recreate the vision she saw in her mind. With more help from her mother, through a technique she described as a ‘reverse applique’, they created a wondrous black and red, cross-covered, quilt. After standing back and admiring the quilt, Sylvia’s first thought was to give it a name, to which a voice answered her in her head. “I was thinking ‘What am I going to name this quilt?’ and this voice spoke to me and said ‘Holey, Holey, Holey’ and I laughed out loud cause if you see the box without the red it’s just a bunch of circles, and I just said ‘Lord you got a sense of humor’.”
Her sense of faith has never failed to assist her in finding inspiration and has helped her spread her message of love and kindness to one another. Her frequent searches for quilts with a message of love are what brought Sylvia to the Love Quilt Project in the first place, being inspired by our patchwork logo and message of love and education. But to Sylvia, education is key to becoming prosperous and learning about oneself and others, remembering how much her mother made it a focal point for her and her nine siblings. As she was able to travel outside of the U.S. more frequently and expanded her worldview, she noticed that many of the children in foreign and impoverished countries struggled to gain a good education. “I didn’t realize that it (spreading education) was still such a hard thing to do, and I guess that realization has expanded as your boundaries are expanded once you get out of the United States,”.
Sylvia stated numerous times how appreciative she is of the Love Quilt Project for lending their assistance to these children, as well as letting her join the project as a member, through which she can provide assistance through her family's tradition of quiltmaking. She continues to help construct a part of our Love Quilts and knows that these quilts will not only help the many South African children who need a sense of love in their lives but will also help them become more educated, more giving, and more prosperous adults in the future, a future we can all hope for.
To learn more about Sylvia Stephens’s work as a quiltmaker, as well as her mother Mozell S. Benson, please feel free to check out any of the following articles, videos, and websites:
“Go Tell It at the Quilt Show!” interview with Sylvia G. Stephens
Alabama Folklife Association’s Alabama Bicentennial Quilts
Alabama Bicentennial Quilts with information about the quilts and quiltmakers