Mama Carla Wiley leads free fiber arts workshops at Stenton
Paid Sponsor Partnership: Philadelphia Corporation for Aging
Every second and fourth Saturday, Stenton hosts a free fiber arts workshop where visitors are taught to sew on the machine and by hand.
"We are a historic house, traditionally, but because we are in a residential area we also look at ourselves as a community museum," says Stephanye Watts, community engagement coordinator at Stenton.
In the workshop they often make tie quilts.
It's led by a woman so woven into the fabric of the community she's been affectionately dubbed 'Mama Carla' Wiley.
"Mother is kind of the person who gives birth to you, but mama is that person you can come and talk to whenever you need to," says Mama Carla Wiley, a master quilter and storyteller.
"We love Mama Carla here," says Watts. "But everyone seems to know her."
Mama Carla spent decades teaching kids and led early literacy programs working at the Free Library of Philadelphia.
"As an elder in the community, I wanted to be someone that they could come to," says Wiley. "We live in communities now that are so disconnected."
She works to mend those connections through quilting.
"You don't want the needle to go all the way through," instructs Wiley.
Just like she learned from generations of women in her family who taught her to sew at age four.
"I really was just a nosy little girl who wanted to hear the stories, cause when people quilt together they have conversations," she says.
And in her crafting conversations at Stenton, she shares history and culture as a jeli.
"It's storytelling in the West African tradition, which are like a lot of proverb stories," she says.
She also translates messages in the Underground Railroad quilt code.
"Crossroads means that's where you're gonna meet. That's where you're gonna find help," she explains.
"This is Jacob's Ladder," she says. "Pray before you go, cause you gonna need God's help."
"In quilting, you know, we put a lot of love into it, but, you know, also, people put pain into their quilts," she says. "It's their way of letting go."
One of the items Wiley teaches visitors to quilt is a small triangle you can wrap around your shoulders for comfort.
"It's called a quilted hug," she says.
Once items from their March quilt-a-thon are finished, they will be donated to elders and kids in the community. She says many people worked hard on their giveaway quilts.
"And the person that gets it, they're gonna feel so loved," she says. "It's wonderful."
Mama Carla's fabric arts workshops run the second and fourth Saturdays of each month at Stenton through the fall.
LINKS:
Mama Carla Wiley's fabric arts workshops
ADDRESS:
Stenton
4601 N. 18th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19140