👀 I wish I knew how to quilt you

#266 | When is a blanket, not just a blanket?

Monsoon has hit Calcutta with fervour. Skies are grey, puddles are brown, and the everpresent germs are beyond the colour spectrum.

Falling ill is never pretty, especially when the weather is finally bearable.

When you're ill, huddling under a quilt is the only thing that can bring a modicum of comfort. Because a quilt, or kantha as I know it, is one of the greatest inventions in the world imo.   

Created using fabric scraps and old saris, they're the zero-waste dream. From simple ones to the intricately embroidered Nakshi kanthas, I love them all. In true hoarder fashion, my family still has old quilts stashed somewhere in the house. To be fair, my grandmother handmade every single one, so they're practically heirlooms! Who cares if they've come apart at the seams?

Every once in a while, I have fledgling dreams of learning needlework and following in my grandmother's footsteps.

Until then, I'll make do with today's Thing - a DIY Quilt game, Making Memories - A Dressmaker's Workshop.

This wholesome experience was created by Canadian Théâtre Bouches Décousues and Akufen studios to introduce basic crafts to children.

The game, set in the workshop of Grandma Blanche (not unlike my own), asks the player to finish a quilt, each activity bearing its own anecdote.

IRL quilts also come with their own stories. Traditionally 'women's work,' quilt-making could be harnessed as an outlet for expression when the world did not care for your words or you didn't have the right words to spare. 

So here I am, weaving a digital fabric to share a piece of myself!

This is my little story - what's yours?

Analina