> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Influential Quiltmakers of Gee’s Bend Are Now on Etsy - URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-influential-quiltmakers-of-gees-bend-are-now-on-etsy/ - Published: 2021-02-01T14:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2025-11-24T15:42:28.000Z - Description: Each shop features the quilter’s story and their array of offerings, with prices on works that range from $27 to $5,500 per piece. - Author: Sarah Rose Sharp - Tags: News, Etsy, Featured, Gee's Bend, Quilts, Souls Grown Deep, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 09:11 (2021, 2022, part 1) The inspired quiltmakers of [Gee’s Bend](https://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/gees-bend-quiltmakers?ref=hyperallergic.com) turned a rural riverside [community in Alabama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boykin,%5FAlabama?ref=hyperallergic.com) into a highly influential destination for those interested in the confluence of heritage craft and contemporary art-making. The area is isolated by a topographic turn of the Alabama River that makes the town all but an island, and is largely populated by descendants of freed enslaved people who once worked on the local Pettway plantation — many still bear Pettway as their surname. Through their ingenuity, artistry, and skills of improvisation, generations of Black female fiber artists have made the name Gee’s Bend synonymous with quiltmaking; they’ve also collectively authored an oft-elided chapter of art history and carried it into the present day. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/01/lueidamccloud2.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/01/marymargaretpettway.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/01/dorispettwayhacketts.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/01/casterpettway2.jpg) A geometric pattern by Lue Ida McCloud. For [Nest](https://www.buildanest.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com), a nonprofit dedicated to the support and expansion of the “handworker economy,” with an emphasis on women workers and their wellbeing, the quiltmakers of Gee’s Bend are natural partners. Their collaboration began in 2019, with information-gathering sessions that revealed a desire on the part of quilters to have better access to platforms that could help scale up awareness and sales of their works. Since featuring the quilters in the [Makers United](https://www.buildanest.org/programs/makersunited/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Craft Marketplace in Birmingham, as well as offering e-commerce and marketing support, Nest has enabled over $100,000 of additional income for the Gee’s Bend quilters, according to a press release announcing their newest initiative in partnership with Etsy and Souls Grown Deep. Launching on February 1, in honor of Black History Month, each of nine Gee’s Bend quilters is premiering their own shop-in-shop on Etsy’s main site. As part of this ongoing partnership, Etsy made a $50,000 grant to Nest to provide the Gee’s Bend quilters with the resources and education needed to open up their own individual Etsy shops. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/01/sharonwilliams.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/01/lueidamccloud1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/01/gees-bend-sign.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/01/emmamooneypettway.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/01/casterpettway.jpg) "I’ve lived here all of my life," said Gee's Bend quilter Sharon Williams. "My early life was picking cotton, peas, and stuff in the fields, and working around the house. I used to go and sit under the quilt with my momma; she’d have her quilts up, and I’d be watching her. One day, when she had her back turned, I tried to go and sew the quilt myself—she saw I could make a stitch or two, so, she put me on the quilt!" Each shop features the quilter’s story and their array of offerings, with prices on works that range from $27 to $5,500 per piece. There are handsewn masks by [Loretta Pettway Bennet](https://www.etsy.com/shop/SewLoloShop?ref=hyperallergic.com); wall hangings by [Kristin Pettway](https://www.etsy.com/shop/AtTheDoorQuilts?ref=seller-platform-mcnav) and [Mary Margaret Pettway](https://www.etsy.com/shop/LunkysBaby?ref=seller-platform-mcnav); and full quilts by [Doris Pettway Hacketts](https://www.etsy.com/shop/KandKQuiltedTreasure?ref=seller-platform-mcnav), [Sharon Williams](https://www.etsy.com/shop/ShasShopGeesBend?ref=seller-platform-mcnav), and [Emma Mooney Pettway](https://www.etsy.com/shop/EmmasLovelyTreasures?ref=seller-platform-mcnav). Some are strongly [geometric](https://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/quilt-categories/patterns-geometry?ref=hyperallergic.com), like those by [Lue Ida McCloud](https://www.etsy.com/shop/quiltsbylue?ref=hyperallergic.com) and [Caster Pettway](https://www.etsy.com/shop/QuiltsByCaster?ref=seller-platform-mcnav); all employ the signature improvisations, handmade flourishes, and traditional motifs of Gee’s Bend, including the popular “[housetop](https://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/quilt-categories/housetop-bricklayer?ref=hyperallergic.com),” nicely showcased in the offerings of [Doris Jean Pettway Mosely](https://www.etsy.com/shop/KiarasQuiltBoutique?ref=hyperallergic.com). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/01/etsy-shop-badge-gees-bend-quilts.jpg) These featured shops are indicated by a special shop badge on Etsy, and will hopefully continue to provide new opportunities for Gee’s Bend quilters, leveraging Black History Month into Black artist futures.