1980-1989

California Heritage Quilt Project

Redding, California, United States

A roll-up sewing kit made by Linda Gibbs.

The Quilter's Sew-Ciety of Redding used to have a gift exchange at their Christmas party during their December meeting in the late 1980s/1990s. Any member who brought a wrapped gift could pick one as their present. Scarlett chose the wrapped package that contained this rollup sewing kit made by Linda Gibbs.

Scarlett took this sewing kit with her to all the quilt meetings where she could work on a small project. It was also taken to classes that Scarlett took herself at various quilt shows and shops around the US, or that she taught for guilds and quilt conventions. This included Scarlett's teaching trips to Nagoya and Osaka, Japan in the 2000s. She still uses it to this day.

The kit is blue, cream, and green. It's made of cotton broadcloth and machine pieced. Satin ribbon was used for decoration and ties. The filling is a thin, polyester batt. The binding is a commercial, plain woven, cotton, one-half inch wide. Double fold bias tape was machine stitched around the outside edge of the kit, as well as around the pockets and flap. It was used for the scissor loop. The outside of the sewing kit has a strip of blue print fabric, edges covered with satin ribbon machine stitched across the width of the kit. Two pieces of satin ribbon are sewn into this strip to be used as ties for the rolled up kit. The pocket with the flap stays closed with velcro. The bottom pocket has a smaller pocket machine stitched on top. There is slight staining from years of handling and use. Linda bought a pattern for this roll up kit. It became popular in the quilt guild with several quilters making these kits using the same pattern.