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  • Jackie Neely helps Alethea Getz with some of her embroidery detail. Rebeka Rutledge/The Duncan Banner

    Jackie Neely helps Alethea Getz with some of her embroidery detail.
July 11, 2012

Quilt Camp keeps sewing tradition alive

Rebeka Rutledge The Duncan Banner

DUNCAN — Victoria Getz has been sewing for as long as she can remember.

Instead of grabbing a cell phone or computer like most young people do, she picks up a needle and thread.

This skill wasn’t passed along to her and no one pressed her into it, she really doesn’t remember how or why she began. Getz only knows that she enjoys the act of sewing.

“I like making something pretty,” she said. “I use flowers a lot and you can’t really make flowers but this is a way you almost can.”

While saying this, Getz worked on a small embroidered quilt project.

She enrolled in the Quilt Camp hosted by the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center and instructed by the Duncan Quilt Guild that began Monday and ends today.

In a world when young people want to participate in activities that involve new technology and like to get projects done as quickly and easily as possible, Getz is one of the few who take time to enjoy the process of making something by hand.

“It think it’s important to have this skill and those who don’t are missing out,” she said. “When your project is small, you can carry it around and take it with you to work on.”

Brenna Tuttle was among the other seven young ladies who participated in the camp. Unlike Getz, she had never done any sewing work, besides some at school with a machine, although many people in her family enjoy it.

“My grandma does it a lot and she has always wanted me to get into it,” said Tuttle. “My grandpa told me about this camp, so I thought why not?”

One of the biggest benefits Tuttle said she is getting out of the camp is the longevity of the skill. The fact that it’s time consuming helps fill the long summer days and she finds it enjoyable.

“I’m going to call my Nana and tell her how much I have learned,” she said. “I’m giving my Nana my first creation.”

Both girls planned on continuing to use their skill in the future and said they enjoyed their time at the camp with their instructors.

“I’m grateful for such good teachers who have been doing this for a long time,” said Tuttle.

“This wouldn’t be possible without them,” said Getz. “They have so much to give if we’ll listen and learn.”

The camp was instructed by Jackie Neely and Dottie Alexander of the Quilt Guild. The Guild also taught a similar camp through the Stephens County Fair & Expo Center last month.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed it and wish more people would come learn,” Neely said. “If we don’t promote quilting, it’s going to be a dying art.”

The baby doll quilts that the young women completed during the camp will be on display in the Heritage Center during the Western Fall Fest in September.

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