Framing a Quilt
This footage of a quilting bee in Sulphur Springs, begins with Richard Blaustein, a professor of Sociology and Anthropology at East Tennessee State University, talking to a group of women sitting in a circle about the various aspects of quilting. At (8:55) Stella Deakins Sherfey begins explaining the process of making a Nine-Patch Quilt. The camera closes up on her left hand, where she is wearing a thimble on her middle finger. Sherfey then begins explaining how to frame a quilt. At (11:13) the women demonstrate the framing process, from creating the layers of quilt top, batting, and backing; pinning the layers to prevent slippage, stapling the edges to the poles, then rolling each side of the quilt tightly between the two poles; then placing the poles into slots on each side of two sawhorses, spaced the width of the quilt. The quilt frame is made to lock the poles into place on each end. Once the quilt is secure, with all layers tightly bound, the quilting begins.
Sulphur Springs Quilt-Making (part two), Broadside Television (T.V.) Collection, Archives of Appalachia, East Tennessee State University