The pleasure is in taking a scrap of fabric and transforming it into something beautiful.

'We waste nothing,” says Helen Manning of the Tauranga Patchwork and Quilters Group.

'If we chop up a piece of fabric for a quilt, we keep the scraps, the offcuts, and turn them into another quilt.”

Which is sound economics because quilters can spent $400 to $500 on fabric for a quilt.

We're discussing the intricacies of patch working and quilting because the Tauranga Group is just about to have its first exhibition in four years.

Covid may have stalled their shows, but the crafting continued with zeal and there will be ninety entries when the exhibition opens Friday, July 14, and Saturday, July 15, at the Tauranga yacht Club, 90 Keith Allen Drive, Sulphur Point.

It runs from 9.30am to 5pm both days and features a show of locally produced quilts and merchant stalls.

Quilts are born of time and love.

Helen Purlant has been hand crafting one for a couple of years.

'I don't do it every day, just when I feel the creative urge, and when I have the time.” The quilt won't be for sale though. It's destined to be a family heirloom.

Helen Manning says she could make a quilt in ten days.

'That's if I went at it every day.”
And because of the investment of time, it's very difficult to put a value on quilts.

'You don't think of the time because it's a hobby.”

But you could pay a $1000 easily for one.

'And people are happy to pay that for an art piece.”

Those art pieces could adorn a lounge wall, or they could set off someone's king size bed. And some sale items could be amongst the 90 entries for the Group's show – including quilts, and novelty items like bags and wall hangings.

And there will be something they call a ‘challenge' running. Entrants are given a 10 inch square of fabric – quilters still work in inches – and 50 percent of that square has to be incorporated into a quilt. A professional judge has been called into to judge the challenge.

Apart from satisfying the creative impulses, there are health benefits to patch working and quilting.

'Good for the brain,” says Helen Manning.

'Lots of math, lots of measuring, every piece has to be precise to make it fit. Everything has to marry up.”

And quilting can lower the heart rate, it's an excellent form of stress relief. In America, where quilting is very popular, a study showed people who quilted for 30 minutes per day for two weeks saw a significant reduction in their blood pressure levels.

'It's great for me,” says Helen Manning.

”I was an intensive care paramedic for the ambulance. And this is so different, so relaxing.”

Patch working and quilting are quite separate disciplines. Patch work is the art of sewing together pieces of fabric to form a pattern or block. When enough blocks have been made, they can be sewn together for quilts, or cushion covers or bags. Quilting is sewing together of a quilt made up of three layers – the top, the central wadding, and the backing.

Examples of quilting date back to 3400BC. They've been found in the tombs of the Pharohs.

Joseph's coat of many colors was probably patchwork. Even armor was made by quilting heavy fabrics together. And quilted bed covers were recorded in household inventories from the 17th century.

The Tauranga Patchwork and Quilters Group is 34 years old and has 61 members, including a couple of foundation members in their eighties.

'A lot of us have been dress makers or sewers in the past – often doing functional stuff,” says Helen Purlant.

'But when you get older you enter a more creative space, making beautiful things instead of practical things. It's a joy.”

More than 500 people are expected to attend the group's exhibition at the Tauranga Yacht Club Friday and Saturday. Many are expected from out of town.