My Aunt Louise worked in a garment factory for many years and gave my mom a large amount of fabric scraps and cones of thread. So one year my mom decided she would make comforters as Christmas presents.
She had an old Sears electric sewing machine and she started out making simple patterns that she used to cut out the fabric. When she sat down to sew she would sew a little and break the thread. Due to the damage her diabetes cause her eyes she was unable to thread the machine. So, she asked me to thread it for her. After several minutes I figured it out and she once again sat down to sew. In a couple of minutes she once more broke the thread and again asked me to rethread the machine. This happened again and again until finally I said “why don’t you just let me sew it for you.
I had never sewed but it looked simple to sew a straight line. So, before I knew it I was sewing scraps of material into the patterns she had created. And if you knew my mom she would keep thinking of someone else that should have a comforter. First is was just my 4 siblings. Then she added her 6 married grandchildren and her 2 great grandsons. Eventually she added a family friend and her brother Howard. So the total was 13.
I found myself sewing every evening the entire month of December. Along with sewing them they also had to be bound around the edges. I was so happy when they were all done on the 23rd of December. Of course, they also all needed wrapped.
So, what I was unaware of was my mom and my two sisters Linda and Deb helped my mom make a comforter for me. When Christmas arrived we all opened our comforters and everyone was so happy with their gift. When I opened mine, I found a beautiful comforter in plaid, blue and red. But to my surprise my comforter had a note attached from mom explaining to me that they had not had the time to bound the edges on my quilt so I would have to do it myself. 🙂
—Fred McPeek
I enjoyed Fred’s memory of Christmas comforters. I bet those blankets kept folks warm from the cold, but also warmed their hearts as they thought of Fred and his mother making sure they all got one.
Last night’s video: Gathering Moss in the Mountains of Appalachia.
Subscribe for FREE and get a daily dose of Appalachia in your inbox
I try to make the bulk of my Christmas presents. I bake, make jelly, knit, sew, crochet, make wreaths/swags to make everyones’ gifts. My girls say that it doesn’t ‘feel’ like Christmas until they hear the sewing machine running late into the night. My older girl says it puts her to sleep, because it makes her feel good to know that I am right there making stuff. When they smell hot glue (anytime of the year) they say it smells like Xmas!
I have been known to not finish a gift before the big day. I have wrapped up a sweater with the needles & pattern included and finished after. No one cares. They are so happy to get a handmade gift, that it is worth the wait. I would rather receive a handmade one myself. I grew up with a grandmother & aunt that were excellent seamstresses & knitters. You NEVER knew what you might get for a gift. Beautiful dresses, sweaters, hats, etc…made just for you. I don’t get too many handmade gifts anymore. No one makes the time to make things for people (in my life anyway).
Mama made quilts too. They were very special. She really enjoyed quilting. I love those quilts that she gave to me.
This is one of my favorite videos. The part when Tipper is gathering the moss. The sights and sounds were so calming. I could almost imagine; I was walking with her!! The jars turned out to be beautiful.
Quilts have come a long way since I was a young’un; as in the 30’s and 40’s, lots of talented quilt makers are still out there. Of course, family quilts are a treasure. Still enjoy seeing them displayed and “for sale” in our small communities. Many, many are are still out of sight in a cedar chest as they are family heirlooms and priceless. As an octogenarian + five, I still sleep under a quilt every night. Thanks for sharing Fred’s story on one he treasures!
Thank you Tipper for posting this Christmas memory of myself and my family. And thanks to all of my fellow “Acorns” for all of your kind words.
It’s been more than 25 years since I sewed those comforters but I can just see it all like it was yesterday.
Mom’s been gone now for 22 years and my big sister Linda passed away just this past May. But I still have my comforter just as bright as the day they sewed it. And it true, whether on my bed or in my trunk it still gives me a warm feeling.
What a wonderful memory to share! My mother-in-law and her mother made quilts and baby blankets and my Grandmama also sewed. My mother use to make shoulder bags with old blue jeans. I remember one Christmas Santa brought me a Barbie doll. ( Back then, Barbies didn’t bend their legs, just straight.) Well, she had old scrapes of material and while I was at school, she made some outfits for her because we couldn’t afford the ones in the store. I’ll never forget one outfit. She made her an evening gown, and it was beautiful!! Mama also made my niece and I matching Easter dresses just about every year. I love homemade gifts because they come from the heart. I also love when the granddaughters make homemade cards. I enjoy making homemade treats to give away this time of year. Tipper, I enjoyed your video last night and love your Christmas globes you made. I couldn’t decide which one I liked the best!! Tell Corie that her fixing Christmas cards to give to nursing home patients is about as sweet of a thing as she could do. How thoughtful!! You and Matt have raised some mighty fine daughters!!
I really don’t know what people refer to as quilting. Mommy made quilts. She used scraps of colorful material usually from worn out clothes and flowerdy feed sacks. She cut them into shapes and then sewed them together into more shapes. These shapes were repeated over and over to make even bigger shapes eventually ending in a quilt top. That was the easy part. Most of the sewing was done in her lap but she did use her Singer treadle sewing machine when the pieces (or patches) got big enough. That was what I call patchwork. That was the easy part.
The next part was the quilting. She would take a quilt sized piece of plain cloth, stretch it tight and tack it around the edges to her quilting frame. Following that she put a layer of cotton batting. The top was applied over the batting and tacked in place all around the guilting frame. Then all that was flipped over and the work began.
The quilting frame was hung from the ceiling at a comfortable level for Mommy to work. First she had to draw a design on the backing cloth to show her where to stitch. She used a piece of chalk tied to a string. She wound the string around the chalk and held the other end at the corner of the frame. She would draw an arc in chalk on the backing sheet starting at a predetermined point. She would then wind (or unwind depending on which way she wanted to go) in the string an inch or so and repeat the process until she had a fan shape laid out on the backing. She repeated this until the entire back of the quilt-to-be was covered evenly and symmetrically. Don’t ask me how she knew how to draw it all out. I never asked and I regret that!
Now comes the stitching. She lowered the quilt until she could reach the top and bottom comfortably while seated. She threaded up her needle (quilting needle-it was bigger) and put on her thimbles, two on one hand and three on the other if I remember right. She began stitching through all three layers along all those miles of chalk lines she had drawn. Every evening after all the work was done and everybody had been fed she would sit down and sew as long as she could.
Mommy managed to produce only one or two quilts a year doing it this way. I don’t know if everybody made quilts this way or if Mommy was just slow. I do remember other women in the community making quilts that were sewn in only straight lines or were only tufted.
As the quilters here probably know by what I have written, I don’t know much about the art.
Aw…sweet Fred wasn’t forgotten. I can admire such a guy. And, he made his mom proud!
My Grandmother, Ethel Smith, made quilts for all her grandchildren. She never sat down with idle hands. She was always quilting. She had 13 grandchildren. She made my quilt when she was in her late 80’s and it has a mistake in it. The mistake makes me love it even more. It is one of my prized possessions. I never think of Grandma Smith without a lump in my throat. I believe the Lord made sure she knows how much we all loved her.
My Grandmother also loved to quilt. She made quilts for all the children and grandchildren as Christmas presents, wedding presents, birth of a new baby presents. I have several she made for me and I love them so. I also worked in a factory back in the 70’s and was able to get scraps of cloth and sewing thread. I would bring my Grandma huge boxes of material scraps and she would be so happy and cry all at the same time. She called the boxes of material scraps a blessing from God. She would talk about how many people would be thrilled with a quilt and how happy she would be to give it to them and they would be to receive and use it. This post brought all this to my mind this morning and I thank you for it. She taught me to sew and quilt myself and I plan on making homemade quilts when I retire.
I have a doctor friend who has a house husband. He’s basically her chauffeur and right hand man as well as husband, but he’s a quilter and very serious about his patterns, books, materials and sewing machine. He has a half living room for quilting so they can be together when she’s home. Cliff (hanger as I call him) has made some real beauties! I myself have a “thing” about blankets. I have no idea just how many I have and always need more. I have two coffee table storage containers chock full and several piles about the house. I worked in shirt factories before I went to college and it’s hard, hard work if you never did it. I’m a pretty good darner and mender and can sew by hand. I’m a needle pointer too but it’s too much trouble anymore. I’m taking magnesium which has helped my vision, nerves and daily headaches. It’s greatly improved MS and arthritis…
I learned to make quilts when my husband died at 48. I couldn’t bear to get rid of his shirts and kept them hanging for months in our closet. A friend told me I should make a quilt with them and she would teach me. I managed to learn and made quilts and more. I made my son a wall hanging quilt that used bits of the shirt fabric to applique certain memories that he and his Dad shared. The fabric made a flower holder for my daughters wedding bouquet that she carried down the aisle so a part of Dad would be with her. Through the years I’ve made so many as gifts BUT I have so many cut and ready to sew, also. My machine needs a real ‘going-through’ and there are no more repair people that I can find. The quilt shops have all closed and stores have reduced their inventory of fabric. SO SAD. But I have learned how to scrapbook and made gifts using our huge supply of photographs – which are now not as popular as before and slowly the photo developing stores are closing – it is all going to digital. I’m an old dog that hasn’t learned new tricks – but I have learned to preserve and garden giving plants and food away. So fun. I also sleep under a ragged old quilt I found for $20 that I love and wonder about the woman that made it. One side is blue and the other pink bits of fabric all sewn together so carefully. I think she must have used it for visiting grands and could show the blue side when boys came and pink when girls came. Smart, too!
I love receiving homemade items and I love to sew (when I have the time). Grandma used to quilt when she was younger. I have one they said she made for me when I was a kid. I’ve quilted blue jean quilts for my boys. I can’t believe the first one I hand quilted (what was I thinking) was a king size one for our bed. It took me forever, but I finished it. Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas!
What a great story. I’m sure there is a lot more to this story. I had to smile when I read about just sewing a simple line and then I read who wrote it and smiled again. I bet the comforters were beautiful.
I just loved this, Fred McPeek. I am sure your family enjoyed those quilts. I love how this shows that circumstances can sometimes help us learn a lifelong skill. So many young people do not learn the skills once so popular. I have male relatives who learned to sew young and later started a thriving upholstery business in Ohio. Their children have continued the tradition, and even one grandchild has made a career of upholstering and restoration of old furniture. Sewing can be one of the most comforting hobbies ever unless you overdo it. I always plant my old vintage sewing machine in front of a window, and mostly only sew in winter. I designed and sold denim purses once back when they were so popular, but unfortunately got burnt out on sewing until the last few years.
Had that been me, I would have begun thinking I was fated to sew and sew and sew. (In my case, it is digging. I just can’t seem to escape it. Can’t say it makes for gift-giving though unless somebody had a hole on their wish list.)
Until he retired my brother had a sewing job at a tent factory. And way back when we were growing up there was “the shirt factory”. Reckon there was a connection between Appalachian craft skills and those factories being located there?
Ron, I must have grown up at about the same time you did. If the men didn’t farm, most of them worked in a cotton mill and the women that weren’t homemakers worked in shirt plants later on called sewing halls. Do you remember some of the terms used by these workers such as water house, dope wagon, canteen and the one all dreaded half time.
I can relate to this story as my Grandma was an award-winning quiltmaker, and I myself am a cancer survivor with diabetes and eyesight issues. When my kids were small in the 1990’s I made them all denim comforters from all the old jeans they had worn out. I backed them with flat flannel sheets and tied them off. They were sturdy enough that the boys couldn’t ruin them and they were very warm and cozy. Thank you for that wonderful story! Merry Christmas to each and every one!
Sounds like we’re gonna have to dig out ALL our comforters (handmade and store bought!) Today, in East Central Illinois, our temps are forecasted to plummet 15-25* within one hr. 2* by tomorrow morning with 50-60 mph winds!! Were are expected our old son in from Ann Arbor MI around 4 today, but we may not get our youngest in from just 50mi away tomorrow bc the forecast is for BLIZZARD conditions. We can’t take any chances with our 13 mo old and 3 week old grandbabies being with them, no matter how many comforters they have. Granddeddy will load up the porch with extra wood while I spend most of the day in the kitchen prepping food. Homemade pasta tonight and homemade pizzas tomorrow night! Merry Christmas everyone!
Thanks for sharing this awesome memory of Fred & his mom sewing the comforters for family for Christmas.
Nothing like receiving homemade gifts no matter what it is, to me they have so much more of a special meaning to them because someone thought enough of us to take their time to create it rather than just randomly grabbing something from the store.
Plus I’m sure it gives the person that made it a sense of satisfaction, accomplishment & appreciation when they see how grateful the recipient is when they receive it.
That is such a sweet memory Fred shared. What Fred may not have thought about is while helping his mom he learned a skill he would have for the rest of his life. I had to laugh a little when he talked about the note attached to the quilt…I’m a thinking he must have been the better sewer or the quilt would have been completely done with three women working on it.
My mother would get material scraps from our local sewing factory. Most of it was a dull green but occasionally there would be red and blue. I had a red and blue comforter that we slept under when we went camping. Mom cut up a lot of the quilted fabric and used it for making stuffed animal for her grandchildren.
I have always slept better under an old homemade quilt than anything else. I’m not sure just why that is true for me.
What a sweet and funny story! My Mamaw was a prolific quilter and had a silly sense of humor. She would have gotten a kick out of hearing this story. Thanks for sharing a lovely Christmas memory.
what a beautiful family all jumping in to help make a happy Christmas for all, especially your mother.
I have tried to learn to sew one time on a job at work. You wouldn’t believe Michelin Tire had a couple of sewing machines would you? It was one of the hardest things I ever tried to do. I said this a few days ago but I will say it again. To me a homemade present has more meaning to it than a store bought present. A homemade present comes from someone’s heart and from someone willing to take the time to make it for you.
There is nothing so pretty as homemade comforter. They provide warmth and comfort to the one receiving the precious hand make gift and great satisfaction to the artist who created it!
They are treasures, for sure!
My Grandmother made a lot of them. She worked in the garden and canning all summer and through the winter she made quilts.