Even if you’re not aware of Emily’s patterns, you may have seen her fun new fabric line: Technicolor.
Image swiped from the Michael Miller website;
hopefully they don’t mind the free advertising!
Emily gave me a copy of this book at Fall Quilt Market 2012. The paper edition is now sold out, but the book is still available in PDF form via her etsy shop.
What it is:
The book contains eight patterns that were design with men in mind.
Basic breakdown of the books contents:
(1)
Introduction and basics (1 page; 2% of the book)
Introductory page. This page provides an explanation of the purpose of the book, to help quilters find quilt designs and fabrics that work well for men.
There are eight patterns, seven by Emily and one by John Q. Adams of Quilt Dad. ( Each pattern has nice, full sized photo of the quilt on a two-page spread, followed by about two pages of instructions (more for some patterns, especially where templates are used.)
The instructions seem clear and well-illustrated.
(3)
Extras (4 pages; 8% total)
You’ll find on page 27 some helpful advice about finding and selecting fabrics for your “guy” quilts. Basically: look for color first and foremost and keep your eye out for blenders.
On page 37, there’s a discussion of design elements. Emily encourages the quilter to think of a theme for a quilt (maybe your guy likes cars?), but not go too cutesy in following that theme (maybe use colors from a favorite car and prints evocative of autos, but don’t use novelty fabrics).
On page 49, some quilting motifs are shown and discussed. There are some nice alternatives to swirls and flowers presented here, as well as general advice on keeping the quilting consistent with the patchwork.
The final page lists sources for fabrics.
What it is not:
I’m not sure that I ever would have picked up this book had I not seen Emily’s booth at quilt market and stopped to admire her quilts. The quilts are so pleasing; they are well-composed, well-constructed, and welcoming.
Why wouldn’t I have picked this book up on my own? Because the premise rankles me a bit. Let me take a moment to explain that. If you’ve been reading this blog for a bit, you may be aware that I have a PhD. Now, I don’t study gender per se. I study mass media and my focus is on nationalism. However, you can’t go far in media studies before you run into the huge intersections with gender studies (perhaps most commonly referred to as women’s studies.) In nationalism studies, the intersections with gender are pretty stark. For example, during World War Two, the American propaganda engines told women that to be good women, they need to work in factories, and grow gardens, and buy Liberty bonds. Right after World War Two, American women were told that in order to be good women, they needed to give up their jobs in factories and get married and have babies. No choices, just very limited roles for women. And those roles were changing over time, and women are expected to find immensely fulfilling and if they don’t like their role or can’t fulfill it, then something is wrong with them. Now, men were being jerked around and propagandized to as well, though they usually get told how to be real men rather than good men.
Sidebar: If you’re interested in this stuff, by the way, there’s a really good video just out called Miss Representation. It’s on Amazon instant video, but not Netflix streaming (though I think you can rent the disc through Netflix’s mail service). Or, if you know me, ask to borrow my copy. The video focuses mostly on girls and women, but there’s currently a Kickstarter (fully funded) in progress for The Mask You Live In which explores the boys/men side of this question…I love the promo video (go watch it!) and can’t wait for the whole thing.
Basically, all the gender norms out there are making us less free and less healthy and less individual.
When I first saw Geared for Guys, I reacted from that place deep inside me that just fundamentally doesn’t understand how flowers became so attached to femininity (and femininity so devalued) that people FREAK OUT if you put flower fabric in a quilt intended for a man. I mean, chill out people, the flower had a really big stamen and was totally manly 😉 I’m not disposed to value anything that’s reinforcing limiting norms, so I didn’t think this book would interest me as I thought it would be a catalog of how to signal hegemonic masculinity with a quilt.
Seeing the quilts really helped me get over that gut reaction, though, because the thing is, it’s not like the quilts are screaming FEELINGS MAKE YOU WEAK, YOU NEED TO MAN UP!!!! Rather, they are just nice, unfussy quilts done in colors that most men probably like and along themes that might fit your guy quite nicely. And all the advice is about thinking carefully about the specific guy you are making a quilt for and choosing a theme for him and finding suitable fabrics to use. There are some gender essentializing bits– ‘guys don’t like a lot of fuss,’ for example–but there’s also an overwhelming recognition that there are a wide variety of guys out there and the important thing is to match the quilt to its recipient. Yay! I can get behind that.
Who is it for?
Emily does a good job of laying this out in the book: the book is for quilters who need help in deciding how to make a quilt for a grown-up guy.
I recommend this book to quilters struggling to make a quilt for a grown-up guy. It’s also just a nice honest collection of patterns which could be used to make quilts for ALMOST ANYONE, so long as you suited the fabrics to their tastes and interests.
Recommended for quilters who like following patterns. There’s a mix of quilts where the top is an overall composition and quilts that are more obviously block-based, the unifying style is sophisticated minimalism.
Publication date: 2012
Rossie Crafts review date: August 1, 2013
Review copy of Geared for Guys was provided
without charge, with only the expectation that the book would be
reviewed (not what opinion would be given). Links to etsy shop are not
affliate links.
I could not be more excited to share this new book with you all today! It…
This Post Has 30 Comments
I went to a liberal arts college so I have had my fair share of "gender studies" as well! Imagine my professors' surprise (and mine) when I ended up a stay-at-home mom and avid quilter. 🙂 But ultimately it's about choices. Nobody pressured me to stay home and that's progress.
Looks like some cool quilts despite the stereotyping.
I bet they'd think it was awesome that you are able to pick a life that reflects your values and makes you happy!
It is amazing what a name will do. Like you, I would never pick up this book it I hadn't read your review. Although the quilts look really nice, I still don't know if I can get past the title.
Yes, its interesting. I'm sure that there are many people who pick it up because of the title, and others who avoid it for that same reason.
I totally agree with you, I object on principle to trying to define masculinity so narrowly. I was trained in anthropology and the idea of what is essentially masculine is variable across cultures. It is impossible to say that men as a nebulous whole definitively like blenders, dark colors, and simple patterns. In my own personal study (n=1, my husband), I often will display about 10 different fabrics to my subject (solids and prints) and ask him to pick a favorite. I do not usually tell him why I am asking. Invariably he chooses as his personal favorite something that would not be considered "man" fabric by the fabric industry, even when choosing for something for himself. This is often in opposition to something we are told men should like. I like that this book advocates for choosing something suited to the personality of the intended recipient and think this book is likely an excellent source of patterns. But, why must we gender our quilt designs?
Thanks for bringing up this debate. As you can probably tell from my semi-coherent ramblings, gender in the sewing world is something I have spent some time thinking about.
I think a lot of people think about it. Which heartens me. Because everytime a "just for the boys!!!" fabric comes out with weapons and tools and stuff, I get the sads. I like tools, too! Lots of folks do! And why glorify weapons or tie them to manliness?
I like your husband tests. I should start doing that to Jon. 🙂
A bunch of random comments.
I love n=1! You know your quilting and statistics! 🙂
I was once making a baby quilt for a nephew and my husband said I should applique a kite and a cloud in the middle. I said, "I don't do applique – too hard!" So he said he would do it and he did! He even carried it on a trip with him to finish. He got some weird looks in the airport 🙂 but he made it and watching him do it made me realize that applique wasn't that hard after all and I used applique in my next quilt.
Replying to male/female representation in fields in a later comment: I remember reading a quilt book and the man who wrote it designed the quilts and some other women made them. I remember thinking that it wasn't "fair" that he was held up as the great quilter/designer when someone else had done all of the hard work.
Maybe men are more motivated to take the higher paying jobs because they (at least in the past) have tended to be the primary bread earners?
I think it is sad that men are seen as less "manly" if they like "girl" things like flowers or certain colors or hobbies. I wouldn't like being told I couldn't like blue! We are all too paranoid and put too much pressure on ourselves and others to fit in.
I have an anthro background too and I'm so glad Rossie wrote this – I love her book reviews and I knew she'd address this issue. My husband often surprises me in what he is drawn to in terms of fabric and color. I've been working on a very bright rainbow string quilt and he turned up his nose at first, but after I'd pieced a few blocks he changed his tune and now has claimed it when I'm done.
This book would be nice for quilters who are trying to make things for men that are geared into the conservative idea of masculinity. I've wanted to make something for my Dad for a while and something from this book would be great for that.
I made a quilt for my expected grandson, when my step daughter saw it she said, you put flowered fabric in it! I asked what was wrong and she of course did the flowers=girl thing. I then pointed out that the floral fabrics were her dad's western shirts, all of the fabrics were and that is why its name was "paw paw's little cowboy"
Ive lived several chapters of my life, the "politically correct gender studies chapter" seems so long ago and so removed from my everyday life here in the middle of nowhere.
Pretty much, the men in my life have loved the quilts i have made them… floral fabrics and all! I like what ive seen of this book because they are very attractive modern quilts!
That's remarkable about the quilt from her father's shirts! Sounds like an awesome quilt and I hope it is well-loved.
It's funny how interests come and go (or become more or less relevant).
Yes, the quilts in the book are quite nice and I agree that the actually existing men that we share our lives with (not the stereotypes) can enjoy a wide variety of quilts!
Thank you for this book review. I have seen the documentary on women in media. I was really impressed that I have shared it with my friends! One of my most loyal followers (blog) is a elderly guy I work with. He loves seeing the creative process and even speaks the lingo now, LOL! (His wife and daughters are now working on a memory quilt with me. I believe that he would have liked to help too if the girls would have let him LOL ) My brother has been a happy recipient of some quilts.I do think he would not mind some floral fabrics in his next presents! Esther esthersipatchandquilt at yahoo dot com ipatchandquilt dot wordpress dot com
Isn't that film great! I also really like the "makers" series on PBS.
It's so great to hear about men that love and support the of quilting.
My husband and I both have a lot of hobbies and on occasion, we do our separate hobbies together. This arrangement seems really normal to me, but whenever I mention my husband occasionally working on a quilt with me, the ladies in my guild are like, SHOCKED that such a thing would happen in the history of the world. And all the jokes about, I have to hide my fabric from my husband, etc. are really weird to me.
Anyway, I think gendering hobbies and quilts and fabrics is a bummer and strange, because I enjoy talking to my husband about things I enjoy. But, can I say, this often bumps up against the fact that I really also like that my quilt guild is all ladies! Sometimes guys come and that's fine, but I adore the mostly ladies aspect of quilting and thinking about the history, dignity and artistry of women making beautiful things out of scraps.
Anyway, the quilts are beautiful, that's the point!
Yes! The hiding the fabric from the husband thing is strange. I suspect that it is more about household budgets than anything else, but I agree that it is a strange trope in the quilting world and can make me uncomfortable.
I suspect that if/when the world gets safer for ladies and their experiences are more widely recognized and understood, there will be less of a need for those lovely little lady-only craft enclaves. Dontcha think?
It is so refreshing to have honest, thoughtful quilt book reviews, as opposed to the blog hop publicity machine reviews which seem to be more and more common. I also find all the comments in response to this review to be very though provoking. I was recently trying to select fabrics for a baby boy quilt for my niece. While I have always opposed gender stereotypes, I was strongly aware that my niece and her husband (who is a police officer) were much more conservative. Because I wanted to make something they would like, I was very aware of not selecting any fabrics which might be too 'girly'. In then end, I focused on the love of fishing and outdoors activities both parents share, and selected nautical fabrics – so a happy compromise. Interestingly, I think that if they were expecting a girl, I would have had no problem using blue and/or the same fabrics I was looking at for boys. Perhaps the real problem was that I did not perceive that either my niece and her husband were actually into 'feminine' things anyway? BTW – I love the black and white fabric behind the book in the photo! Can you tell us what it is?
Thanks for the feedback on the reviews. And I agree….the comments really add to the discussion.
That's an interesting perception about the baby quilts.
The fabric is Chevron from the Foxy Owl line put out by Timeless Treasures. It looks like Hawthorne Threads has it in stock.
You are fabulous! I never thought I would read the sentence "how to signal hegemonic masculinity with a quilt" on a blog — yet I am happy and encouraged that I did! Hurray for quilting PhDs amid the diversity of endlessly creative people (I am one too — and a uni prof now). And, talking of gender issues, is it just me that is endlessly surprised at how much exposure male quilters get in a field dominated and led by women, just for being men. Not that some of them don't do great things, no doubt, but still. Oh dear, patriarchy… JJ
HA ha ha. Thanks!
I'm actually not sure what to think about the exposure given to male quilters. For one thing, I'm not sure we can determine if they are, in fact being overrepresented, or represented out of scale with their talent. Because what if patriarchy is not actually suppressing the number of men that quilt, but just making them do it in private??
Also, I'm not convinced that the field is dominated and led by women. I think that while women are probably the majority of the people that work in the field, they are mostly pattern writers, long-arm quilters, fabric designers, and shop owners: from what I can tell, these are the lowest paying jobs in the field. Even fabric designers, who we like to think of as having "made it," only get about $0.15/yard of what we pay for fabric. I'm pretty sure fabric reps (mostly men) get a larger chunk than the designer. I'm not entirely aware of who all the higher-ups are at the companies, but it does seem to be the case that as you go up the chain, the population becomes more and more male. I'd love to see some research on it all as this is just what I've gathered from being around quilt market and chatting with people and figuring out–in a casual way–where power is and how money flows.
You are right: it's more complicated than my easy quip. You are also dead on that the actual power structure is complex, albeit clearly gendered. The French magazines actually drive me nuts in always addressing their readership as "Mesdames" (i.e. "ladies") which seems to assume a total absence of men, which is just as problematic.
There is a real need for study about such issues. Another thing I wonder about is the quasi-free labour offered by many quite willingly — bloggers providing huge exposure to products in exchange for possibly not very much — although the personal kudos and confidence gained by blogging and getting an audience mustn't be discounted either. But you probably know more about the actual economics of endorsements than I do. Someone (who?) suggested the current patterns of crafting have strange parallels to the early days of the industrial revolution when the home, and the use of cheap female labour, were instrumental in changing work practices. I find that intriguing.
There was a paper session on 'Crafts and crafting' at the Association of American Geographers a couple of years ago (http://meridian.aag.org/callforpapers/program/SessionDetail.cfm?SessionID=14320) with some good critical stuff, including feminist and political economy stuff. I'm not sure if it turned into any papers or special issues. I'd love to write about this sort of stuff but I fear that my leisure activity might be totally drowned out in the usual academic game — thereby loosing my space of creative freedom. Still, I just about get away with hand stitching during academic presentations when I get bored… I'd welcome references on this! JJ
I know! I need to find a young grad student in search of a project and let him/her loose in quilt market and the library. I ruined my pleasure in TV by spending too much time studying it; I'm terribly reluctant to destroy the pleasure I take in stitching!
I just wanted to say, as a new follower of your blog, I love that you bring up gender issues. I'm a manufacturing engineer and I work with about 15 guys on a regular daily basis, and its amazing how the interactions go. It's taken them the longest time to adjust to having me around — realizing I'm not going to take offense when they complain about their wives, but I flatly refuse to be responsible for taking notes or color coding charts — and the reactions I get when they learn that I quilt and sew. On the flip side, my husband's family is convinced that once I hear the biological clock ticking, I'll give up my notions of a career and be a stay at home mom (not that there's anything wrong with SAHMs, just my husband is much better with kids than I am, and me staying home just because I'm the mom would be detrimental for everyone involved).
Rambling aside, I do dislike when fabrics are labelled as men or boys — I like comic books and ships and cars AND flowers. I really believe that everyone can like whatever they want. Sticking with blenders and neutral/primary colors is great advice if you don't know the recipient or want the quilt pattern to take the stage. But if you are making a quilt for "your guy" you probably know what he likes. And saying that every one of those quilt designs will be appreciated by guys is a little overreaching and very off-putting for me. I love Emily Herrick's fabrics, just not this book.
I enjoyed reading the review and the discussion. Gender roles are interesting things. I continue to be perplexed by women's acceptance of gender norms and the limitations of such. We've tried hard to raise our daughter with the freedom to try on both gender roles. She was Spiderman one year for Halloween when she was 3. I was greatly taken aback by the number of mothers at the daycare who told me they felt that costume wasn't appropriate. Spiderman was for boys, girls had to be a witch or a Disney princess.
Silly Kate, only boys can be bitten by radioactive spiders and turned into helpful web-spinning photographers! Ha! I can't believe that people were policing your child's costume.
I am eternally annoyed on Pinterest when little girls are dressed as superheroes – with tutus. Because even toddlers must always have their gender clearly signaled.
For 2 years, I worked at a quilt shop, I enjoyed it very much. I would occasionally get asked for help with fabrics for a boy's quilt, they usually had colors in mind, once a lady rejected a floral fabric, "Oh, this is for a BOY, no flowers." I said, "Well, he's probably going to grow up one day planting some or giving them to someone!" She still declined. Another time, I gave a lady a fabric with dots for her "boy quilt" (gosh, I hate even typing that) and she said that the dots were too feminine! WTF is that?? In my head, I thought, "I see no vulvas on this fabric at all."
I do like the book and I'm glad that you did, too! I now have an idea for a project from GFG.
Oh my goodness, dots are feminine now? Will all the prints and patterns be divided along gender lines soon? Who gets stripes?!
Thanks for reviewing this book and for the really interesting coomentary! I confess I had the same reservations purely on the title. And to be honest, I'm still not sure I could look past the book's moniker. It's more than a little sad that gender stereotypes are still so firmly entrenched these days…to the point where I am really torn about bringing the Famous 5 stories home to read to my 7yo twins (boy and girl) – they were great for kid-appropriate excitement, and reasonably gentle stories, but the sexism and stereotypes are so rife I don't know I can improv to that degree during bedtime stories, to mask the more egregious examples. (I'm not the only one who does that to books, right?) Thankfully, I have 2 very headstrong, equality-drenched little people, who aren't afraid to call foul on statements in literature (or anywhere for that matter) about inquality, and we do have some fabulous discussions as a result, but sheesh, sometimes I just want to get them to sleep, ha!
oops sorry, just went off onto a slight tengent there (just a bit, ha!)…guess it's still quite a hot-button topic!
Oh heck. I read the title and assumed "Geared for Guys " was a machine quilting manual for men learning to quilt .Looking further down, I felt puzzled and a bit offended , then exasperated that the designs and colours were so very 1960's.Poor show.Reading your comments makes me despair a little ,as the writers must have done ,at the narrowmindedness of some communities.But then, my Dad pushed my pram with pride in 1954 and later taught me lots about engineering, so the idea of equality of opportunity began quite young for me. X Beth (UK)
I went to a liberal arts college so I have had my fair share of "gender studies" as well! Imagine my professors' surprise (and mine) when I ended up a stay-at-home mom and avid quilter. 🙂 But ultimately it's about choices. Nobody pressured me to stay home and that's progress.
Looks like some cool quilts despite the stereotyping.
I bet they'd think it was awesome that you are able to pick a life that reflects your values and makes you happy!
It is amazing what a name will do. Like you, I would never pick up this book it I hadn't read your review. Although the quilts look really nice, I still don't know if I can get past the title.
Yes, its interesting. I'm sure that there are many people who pick it up because of the title, and others who avoid it for that same reason.
I totally agree with you, I object on principle to trying to define masculinity so narrowly. I was trained in anthropology and the idea of what is essentially masculine is variable across cultures. It is impossible to say that men as a nebulous whole definitively like blenders, dark colors, and simple patterns. In my own personal study (n=1, my husband), I often will display about 10 different fabrics to my subject (solids and prints) and ask him to pick a favorite. I do not usually tell him why I am asking. Invariably he chooses as his personal favorite something that would not be considered "man" fabric by the fabric industry, even when choosing for something for himself. This is often in opposition to something we are told men should like. I like that this book advocates for choosing something suited to the personality of the intended recipient and think this book is likely an excellent source of patterns. But, why must we gender our quilt designs?
Thanks for bringing up this debate. As you can probably tell from my semi-coherent ramblings, gender in the sewing world is something I have spent some time thinking about.
I think a lot of people think about it. Which heartens me. Because everytime a "just for the boys!!!" fabric comes out with weapons and tools and stuff, I get the sads. I like tools, too! Lots of folks do! And why glorify weapons or tie them to manliness?
I like your husband tests. I should start doing that to Jon. 🙂
A bunch of random comments.
I love n=1! You know your quilting and statistics! 🙂
I was once making a baby quilt for a nephew and my husband said I should applique a kite and a cloud in the middle. I said, "I don't do applique – too hard!" So he said he would do it and he did! He even carried it on a trip with him to finish. He got some weird looks in the airport 🙂 but he made it and watching him do it made me realize that applique wasn't that hard after all and I used applique in my next quilt.
Replying to male/female representation in fields in a later comment: I remember reading a quilt book and the man who wrote it designed the quilts and some other women made them. I remember thinking that it wasn't "fair" that he was held up as the great quilter/designer when someone else had done all of the hard work.
Maybe men are more motivated to take the higher paying jobs because they (at least in the past) have tended to be the primary bread earners?
I think it is sad that men are seen as less "manly" if they like "girl" things like flowers or certain colors or hobbies. I wouldn't like being told I couldn't like blue! We are all too paranoid and put too much pressure on ourselves and others to fit in.
I have an anthro background too and I'm so glad Rossie wrote this – I love her book reviews and I knew she'd address this issue. My husband often surprises me in what he is drawn to in terms of fabric and color. I've been working on a very bright rainbow string quilt and he turned up his nose at first, but after I'd pieced a few blocks he changed his tune and now has claimed it when I'm done.
This book would be nice for quilters who are trying to make things for men that are geared into the conservative idea of masculinity. I've wanted to make something for my Dad for a while and something from this book would be great for that.
I made a quilt for my expected grandson, when my step daughter saw it she said, you put flowered fabric in it! I asked what was wrong and she of course did the flowers=girl thing. I then pointed out that the floral fabrics were her dad's western shirts, all of the fabrics were and that is why its name was "paw paw's little cowboy"
Ive lived several chapters of my life, the "politically correct gender studies chapter" seems so long ago and so removed from my everyday life here in the middle of nowhere.
Pretty much, the men in my life have loved the quilts i have made them… floral fabrics and all! I like what ive seen of this book because they are very attractive modern quilts!
That's remarkable about the quilt from her father's shirts! Sounds like an awesome quilt and I hope it is well-loved.
It's funny how interests come and go (or become more or less relevant).
Yes, the quilts in the book are quite nice and I agree that the actually existing men that we share our lives with (not the stereotypes) can enjoy a wide variety of quilts!
Thank you for this book review. I have seen the documentary on women in media. I was really impressed that I have shared it with my friends!
One of my most loyal followers (blog) is a elderly guy I work with. He loves seeing the creative process and even speaks the lingo now, LOL! (His wife and daughters are now working on a memory quilt with me. I believe that he would have liked to help too if the girls would have let him LOL ) My brother has been a happy recipient of some quilts.I do think he would not mind some floral fabrics in his next presents!
Esther
esthersipatchandquilt at yahoo dot com
ipatchandquilt dot wordpress dot com
Isn't that film great! I also really like the "makers" series on PBS.
It's so great to hear about men that love and support the of quilting.
My husband and I both have a lot of hobbies and on occasion, we do our separate hobbies together. This arrangement seems really normal to me, but whenever I mention my husband occasionally working on a quilt with me, the ladies in my guild are like, SHOCKED that such a thing would happen in the history of the world. And all the jokes about, I have to hide my fabric from my husband, etc. are really weird to me.
Anyway, I think gendering hobbies and quilts and fabrics is a bummer and strange, because I enjoy talking to my husband about things I enjoy. But, can I say, this often bumps up against the fact that I really also like that my quilt guild is all ladies! Sometimes guys come and that's fine, but I adore the mostly ladies aspect of quilting and thinking about the history, dignity and artistry of women making beautiful things out of scraps.
Anyway, the quilts are beautiful, that's the point!
Yes! The hiding the fabric from the husband thing is strange. I suspect that it is more about household budgets than anything else, but I agree that it is a strange trope in the quilting world and can make me uncomfortable.
I suspect that if/when the world gets safer for ladies and their experiences are more widely recognized and understood, there will be less of a need for those lovely little lady-only craft enclaves. Dontcha think?
It is so refreshing to have honest, thoughtful quilt book reviews, as opposed to the blog hop publicity machine reviews which seem to be more and more common. I also find all the comments in response to this review to be very though provoking.
I was recently trying to select fabrics for a baby boy quilt for my niece. While I have always opposed gender stereotypes, I was strongly aware that my niece and her husband (who is a police officer) were much more conservative. Because I wanted to make something they would like, I was very aware of not selecting any fabrics which might be too 'girly'. In then end, I focused on the love of fishing and outdoors activities both parents share, and selected nautical fabrics – so a happy compromise. Interestingly, I think that if they were expecting a girl, I would have had no problem using blue and/or the same fabrics I was looking at for boys. Perhaps the real problem was that I did not perceive that either my niece and her husband were actually into 'feminine' things anyway?
BTW – I love the black and white fabric behind the book in the photo! Can you tell us what it is?
Thanks for the feedback on the reviews. And I agree….the comments really add to the discussion.
That's an interesting perception about the baby quilts.
The fabric is Chevron from the Foxy Owl line put out by Timeless Treasures. It looks like Hawthorne Threads has it in stock.
You are fabulous! I never thought I would read the sentence "how to signal hegemonic masculinity with a quilt" on a blog — yet I am happy and encouraged that I did! Hurray for quilting PhDs amid the diversity of endlessly creative people (I am one too — and a uni prof now). And, talking of gender issues, is it just me that is endlessly surprised at how much exposure male quilters get in a field dominated and led by women, just for being men. Not that some of them don't do great things, no doubt, but still. Oh dear, patriarchy… JJ
HA ha ha. Thanks!
I'm actually not sure what to think about the exposure given to male quilters. For one thing, I'm not sure we can determine if they are, in fact being overrepresented, or represented out of scale with their talent. Because what if patriarchy is not actually suppressing the number of men that quilt, but just making them do it in private??
Also, I'm not convinced that the field is dominated and led by women. I think that while women are probably the majority of the people that work in the field, they are mostly pattern writers, long-arm quilters, fabric designers, and shop owners: from what I can tell, these are the lowest paying jobs in the field. Even fabric designers, who we like to think of as having "made it," only get about $0.15/yard of what we pay for fabric. I'm pretty sure fabric reps (mostly men) get a larger chunk than the designer. I'm not entirely aware of who all the higher-ups are at the companies, but it does seem to be the case that as you go up the chain, the population becomes more and more male. I'd love to see some research on it all as this is just what I've gathered from being around quilt market and chatting with people and figuring out–in a casual way–where power is and how money flows.
You are right: it's more complicated than my easy quip. You are also dead on that the actual power structure is complex, albeit clearly gendered. The French magazines actually drive me nuts in always addressing their readership as "Mesdames" (i.e. "ladies") which seems to assume a total absence of men, which is just as problematic.
There is a real need for study about such issues. Another thing I wonder about is the quasi-free labour offered by many quite willingly — bloggers providing huge exposure to products in exchange for possibly not very much — although the personal kudos and confidence gained by blogging and getting an audience mustn't be discounted either. But you probably know more about the actual economics of endorsements than I do. Someone (who?) suggested the current patterns of crafting have strange parallels to the early days of the industrial revolution when the home, and the use of cheap female labour, were instrumental in changing work practices. I find that intriguing.
There was a paper session on 'Crafts and crafting' at the Association of American Geographers a couple of years ago (http://meridian.aag.org/callforpapers/program/SessionDetail.cfm?SessionID=14320) with some good critical stuff, including feminist and political economy stuff. I'm not sure if it turned into any papers or special issues. I'd love to write about this sort of stuff but I fear that my leisure activity might be totally drowned out in the usual academic game — thereby loosing my space of creative freedom. Still, I just about get away with hand stitching during academic presentations when I get bored…
I'd welcome references on this! JJ
I know! I need to find a young grad student in search of a project and let him/her loose in quilt market and the library. I ruined my pleasure in TV by spending too much time studying it; I'm terribly reluctant to destroy the pleasure I take in stitching!
I just wanted to say, as a new follower of your blog, I love that you bring up gender issues. I'm a manufacturing engineer and I work with about 15 guys on a regular daily basis, and its amazing how the interactions go. It's taken them the longest time to adjust to having me around — realizing I'm not going to take offense when they complain about their wives, but I flatly refuse to be responsible for taking notes or color coding charts — and the reactions I get when they learn that I quilt and sew. On the flip side, my husband's family is convinced that once I hear the biological clock ticking, I'll give up my notions of a career and be a stay at home mom (not that there's anything wrong with SAHMs, just my husband is much better with kids than I am, and me staying home just because I'm the mom would be detrimental for everyone involved).
Rambling aside, I do dislike when fabrics are labelled as men or boys — I like comic books and ships and cars AND flowers. I really believe that everyone can like whatever they want. Sticking with blenders and neutral/primary colors is great advice if you don't know the recipient or want the quilt pattern to take the stage. But if you are making a quilt for "your guy" you probably know what he likes. And saying that every one of those quilt designs will be appreciated by guys is a little overreaching and very off-putting for me. I love Emily Herrick's fabrics, just not this book.
We still need the inimitable Peggy Seeger and her "I'm gonna be an engineer"! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCRRe72mwwY
I enjoyed reading the review and the discussion. Gender roles are interesting things. I continue to be perplexed by women's acceptance of gender norms and the limitations of such. We've tried hard to raise our daughter with the freedom to try on both gender roles. She was Spiderman one year for Halloween when she was 3. I was greatly taken aback by the number of mothers at the daycare who told me they felt that costume wasn't appropriate. Spiderman was for boys, girls had to be a witch or a Disney princess.
Silly Kate, only boys can be bitten by radioactive spiders and turned into helpful web-spinning photographers! Ha! I can't believe that people were policing your child's costume.
I am eternally annoyed on Pinterest when little girls are dressed as superheroes – with tutus. Because even toddlers must always have their gender clearly signaled.
For 2 years, I worked at a quilt shop, I enjoyed it very much. I would occasionally get asked for help with fabrics for a boy's quilt, they usually had colors in mind, once a lady rejected a floral fabric, "Oh, this is for a BOY, no flowers." I said, "Well, he's probably going to grow up one day planting some or giving them to someone!" She still declined. Another time, I gave a lady a fabric with dots for her "boy quilt" (gosh, I hate even typing that) and she said that the dots were too feminine! WTF is that?? In my head, I thought, "I see no vulvas on this fabric at all."
I do like the book and I'm glad that you did, too! I now have an idea for a project from GFG.
Oh my goodness, dots are feminine now? Will all the prints and patterns be divided along gender lines soon? Who gets stripes?!
Thanks for reviewing this book and for the really interesting coomentary! I confess I had the same reservations purely on the title. And to be honest, I'm still not sure I could look past the book's moniker. It's more than a little sad that gender stereotypes are still so firmly entrenched these days…to the point where I am really torn about bringing the Famous 5 stories home to read to my 7yo twins (boy and girl) – they were great for kid-appropriate excitement, and reasonably gentle stories, but the sexism and stereotypes are so rife I don't know I can improv to that degree during bedtime stories, to mask the more egregious examples. (I'm not the only one who does that to books, right?) Thankfully, I have 2 very headstrong, equality-drenched little people, who aren't afraid to call foul on statements in literature (or anywhere for that matter) about inquality, and we do have some fabulous discussions as a result, but sheesh, sometimes I just want to get them to sleep, ha!
oops sorry, just went off onto a slight tengent there (just a bit, ha!)…guess it's still quite a hot-button topic!
Oh heck. I read the title and assumed "Geared for Guys " was a machine quilting manual for men learning to quilt .Looking further down, I felt puzzled and a bit offended , then exasperated that the designs and colours were so very 1960's.Poor show.Reading your comments makes me despair a little ,as the writers must have done ,at the narrowmindedness of some communities.But then, my Dad pushed my pram with pride in 1954 and later taught me lots about engineering, so the idea of equality of opportunity began quite young for me. X Beth (UK)