TUTWILER — Would you like to learn to sew?
The well-known Tutwiler Quilters are providing free sewing classes each Saturday from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the Tutwiler Community Education Center, 304 Hancock Street in Tutwiler, beginning this Saturday, April 27, and concluding June 29. There will be no class on May 11.
Sewing machines and all the materials will be provided. Veteran Tutwiler quilter, Martha Wiley Lucky, is the instructor along with Mary Ann Willis Mackey, director of the quilt program at TCEC.
Classes are sponsored by the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area and the National Park Service.
The quilting program at TCEC began in 1988 with Mackey and TCEC founder Sr. Maureen Delaney as an avenue for women to work at home and earn money. Most of the Tutwiler Quilters today have been with the program for more than 20 years.
Sewing is the basis for piecing the items which are then hand-quilted. TCEC purchases the finished items from the quilters and then markets and sells the items across the United States.
Tutwiler Quilters items are currently sold at Shack Up Inn, Clarksdale Collective (formerly Miss Del’s) and Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, and in the gift shop at the 2 Mississippi Museums (the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum) in Jackson.
Travelers to the Mississippi Delta also stop at the Tutwiler center to make purchases.
The quilt sales area has just been updated with a grant from the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area.
Clarksdale’s newest inn, Travelers Hotel, tops each of their 20 beds with a hand- quilted Tutwiler quilt for added comfort for their guests. One traveler liked the quilt on their bed so much that they purchased the quilt to take home.
Call Mackey at 662-345-8393 to sign up for the sewing classes at the Tutwiler Community Education Center or for additional information.
IN THE PHOTO: From left, Ann Williams of the Travelers Hotel, Mary Ann Mackey of the Tutwiler Community Education Center’s quilt program, Chuck Rutledge of the hotel and Lucinda Berryhill of the center admire a Tutwiler quilt that will help keep guests at the Clarksdale hotel warm. The Tutwiler Quilters are turning their famed quilting expertise into a public service by offering free sewing classes. (Photo special to The Sun-Sentinel)
