As I was browsing through the New Non-Fiction section of the library few weeks ago, I caught a book with the title "Sewing Green" by Betz White. As the title goes, it is the book about repurposing or reusing the fabric for different projects. Aren't the people used to recycle the fabric from the worn out clothes for various practical purposes earlier? There used to be cloth diapers, quilts and kitchen towels to name a few. At least people are still reusing the fabric for cleaning.
I remember my (paternal) grandmother's quilt. It is called "Kulla" - కుల్ల . It was in no comparison with the modern day quilts, but none the less it used to serve the purpose. It was a thick double layered square of fabric. It was made either by patching few small pieces together or with a single piece of fabric. The two layers were not binded together as we see in the quilts today. It was hollow in between the layers so that, it could be turned as a hood, by pushing one corner of the quilt inside. "Gongadi" -గొంగడి is also the same, except that it is made of wool and 'Kulla' is made of cotton fabric. It was a multi purpose accessory which sufficed as a raincoat, an umbrella, a mat to sit or as a shawl to wrap depending on the necessity for that day. My grandmother used to carry it with her every morning when going for administering or to fore look the fields. She was a versatile woman. She could do from sewing her own accessories, to take care of household and to manage her finances. Women were and are always versatile in every era.
"American Quilting" is looked and perceived with great admiration here. It is treated to be the part of their heritage, culture and art. The visible hand sewn stitches on the quilt are one of the prominent reasons for the price on the quilt. Why did we forget 'our' quilts? Were they not eye catching? Were they not practical? Were they not part of "Go Green" and environmentally friendly? They were all of it. It might be our eagerness in western culture and modernization that made us to forget few habits, values and art over the past couple of decades. We never tried to improvise the technique or art to adapt the changing environment and culture.It also might be the growth in the economic power that made people to afford new things rather than holding on to the old ones. Repurposing was not perceived as a step towards conserving the nature but was looked as an adjustment for economic backwardness.
As it is said, everything goes in rounds and history repeats itself, there might be days in life of our kids with shrinking resources, where they had to learn the things that we unlearned.
