7 Photos
Margaret deRouleaux and Nancy Smith take part in the quilting group at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons.
A group of women quilts for the wheelchair-bound on the first Tuesday of every month at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons.
A group of women quilts for the wheelchair-bound on the first Tuesday of every month at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons.
Pat Farrell
left
sorts fabric while Arlene Brodsky cuts it.
Francoise Cosh and Myrna Weiss have been quilting on their own for years and now quilt for charity at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons.
EAST HAMPTON—In the bright white and wood interior of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons, intricately patterned fabric of every color and many sizes littered the tables set up in the hallway on May 4. In time, and as the result of delicate and precise work, the pieces will become a quilt that will eventually lie on the lap of someone who needs it.
On the first Tuesday of every month, a group of women, some who can quilt and some who cannot, gather at the Jewish Center for about four hours to piece together fabric for quilts that will be donated to veterans and the wheelchair-bound, said Margaret deRouleaux, a member of the synagogue.
The group, which averages about five to seven women, started to meet about three months ago and has finished four lap quilts so far.
Ms. deRouleaux said she hopes the group will keep working throughout the summer and select an organization that would benefit from the quilts in the fall.
The project started when Myrna Weiss of East Hampton and Nancy Smith of North Haven put an ad in the paper calling for fellow quilters with the hope of starting a quilting circle.
“Then Margaret said we should get together here and do it for veterans,” she said. “So this became a social action project.”
Ms. deRouleaux said a lap quilt is the perfect gift for someone who is wheelchair-bound because their legs often get cold and a lap quilt is a convenient size. She said the quilts could also help the otherwise disabled and be a nice way to honor veterans.
The quilt-making program joins a list of social action projects organized by the Jewish Center of the Hamptons, Ms. deRouleaux said. There is also a knitting circle that makes scarves for homeless guests at Maureen’s Haven, which the Jewish Center hosts every other Saturday night between November and March.
The work moves slowly, as is the nature of quilting, Ms. Weiss said, but the women bring their lunch to the Jewish Center, share coffee in the morning and chat over the buzz of sewing machines.
“If you can’t sew or quilt, just bring good intentions,” she said, adding that the group is open to everyone.
Ms. Weiss, who started quilting about 30 years ago, said there are many steps to the process that anyone could help with. First, she said, the fabric is selected, and then it has to be cut based on the desired pattern.
On the first Tuesday in May, Ms. Smith and Arlene Brodsky, of Montauk, were cutting squares and triangles out of fabric using rulers, and rotary cutters—a circular blade that looks like a small pizza cutter. Pat Farrell of Sag Harbor ironed the cutouts and passed them on to Ms. Weiss, who was sewing them back together based on the quilt’s design.
“We take a whole piece of fabric, cut it into pieces, then mix them up and sew them back together,” explained Francoise Cosh, of Springs, who is also a veteran quilter.
Ms. Cosh’s expertise comes in next. The assembled pieces of fabric form the top of the quilt and one single piece of fabric usually serves as the back, she said. Ms. Cosh adds batting between the layers and binds them together.
Not until all those elements have been completed does the actual quilting come in, said Ms. Weiss, The quilting involves stitching through the layers of fabric in a certain design.
“You look at all this and you think, big deal,” Ms. Weiss said, holding up a few squares of cotton fabric, which are donated or the women purchase on their own to donate to the cause. “But when it comes together, it’s really amazing.”
