Write down the names of the women in your mother's line by filling in the blanks:

Find pictures of all of these women, photocopy them, and make a collage. You could add ribbon or lace, or words and poems and frame it.

Herstory quilt by the women of Action Read photo credit: Ben Barclay

Make a Herstory Quilt*

Quilts made of felt can be beautiful and colourful. They can tell one story or parts of many stories. If you are in a group, the quilt can be done by the whole group in a couple of meetings. If you are not in a group, you can make a banner with four or six squares to tell your story.

Before You Start
You need fabric glue, bits of fabric, ribbon or felt for cutting up, squares of felt, a large piece of felt for the background, and scissors.

If you want the quilt to be sturdy, you might sew the pieces together after they have been glued.

1. Choose a theme for the quilt. Some ideas are: being a woman, special women from the past or present, the women in my family, what we would like to tell young girls about being women, or how my life is different from my grandmothers.
2. Talk about the theme as a group or with your tutor, until you have clear ideas about what each square will be about. Share the story of your square with one other person.
3. Work on the squares of felt, gluing on small pieces of felt to make a picture about your story. You can also use fabric, buttons, or paint.
4. Glue all the squares to the background piece and give it a title. (You may want to stitch the squares down with colorful thread.)
5. Write down the stories for each square and put them in a booklet to go with the quilt.
6. Enjoy!

*This exercise was adapted from work done by Storylinks of Ontario.