ABERDARE QUILTING CLASS
[To the Editor of the SPEcrATon.]
Sra,—About four months ago you kindly published a letter from me concerning the formation of a Quilting Class at Aber_
dare, and as a result In 5s. in donations was forthcoming from readers of the Spectator. This, together with 225 voted by the local committee of your Service Fund, enabled the class to be-duly established, and it occurs to me that your readers will be interested in a brief report on its progress.
I would first explain that the expenditure on behalf of the class includes the teacher's salary, materials for frames and trestles (these having been made at the Juvenile Unemploy- ment Centre), materials for practice quilts, travelling expenses for the teacher and some of the pupils, rent of rooms, and the provision of tea at the close of the class each day.
Mrs. Jenkins, 0.-B-.E., was appointed by the local Service Committee to organize the class, and Mrs. Amy Thomas, an excellent quitter, who has carried out a number of orders. for the Bureau, was selected as the teacher. Ten pupils in needy circumstances were enrolled, and since March 22nd they have been working in class three hours a day on five days a week. Six of them are beginners, while the others are quitters of some experience whose work was too rough and coarse for any but a very poorly paid local market.
From the first the class has produced work of a remarkably high standard. The first three cot quilts were sent to the Bureau, and being considered of saleable standard were sent on to the sale-rooms of Country Industries Ltd. (26 Eccleston Street, London, S.W. 1). Since then, another cot quilt and single-bed quilt have been received, the latter in particular being of excellent workmanship. Already one order has been sent for one or two of the best workers in the class to carry out. This is for a square silk cushion top, in which the very best workmanship is required. It is hoped that the practice quilts will soon be sold, so that the money may be returned to the Class Committee.
The organizer of the class has been advised to instruct the teacher to let the most proficient pupils plan out by themselves the designs for the next quilts they make. Up to the present, Mrs. Thomas has been responsible for the designs, which have included a great variety of the old Wesh patterns and should have given the learners a good ides of the method of designing.
At the conclusion of the course these ten women and girls should be equipped with the skill necessary to enable them to earn a livelihood in th'is traditional industry, the public interest in which has been revived recently, so that there is now a wide-market for the wOrk.--I am, Sir, &c.,
W. B. Lrrnm., Direct6r; Rural Industries Bureau, 29 Bedford Square, W .C.1. '
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