Meet the Maker: Ruby Joy Eade’s memory-filled quilts.
The life cycle of a piece of fabric takes on a whole new meaning when it’s made into a quilt. Wellington-based quilter Ruby Joy Eade finds much satisfaction in repurposing second-hand fabrics from op shops, school fairs and Trade Me, and sources a lot of her fabric from friends and whānau: “Once people find out you are a quilter, you’ll start to find bags of fabric appearing on your doorstep!”
The self-taught maker, who mostly uses natural fibres, linen and cotton for her quilts and checkerboard cushions, likes this circular way of working and takes pride in using every little piece. “I believe at its core quilting should be sustainable,” she says. “Being able to trace the origin of each piece of fabric back to a memory makes them so special.”
Ruby grew up around fabric, art and craft – “my mum was a milliner and my grandmother made wedding dresses; after school I would go to her shop and make clothes for my dolls” – and experimented with ceramics, text-based art prints and video before making her first quilt out of a bag of scraps. “Since then I’ve been solely exploring quilts as a medium and I can’t imagine getting sick of it,” she says. Her latest project, a show at Wellington’s Toi Pōneke Arts Centre from 31 July to 27 August, is inspired by the women in her family and the quilts for it are being made from fabric they’ve passed down to her. “These quilts are a bit more abstract. I’m finding inspiration in the existing shapes of scraps of fabric and items of clothing.” See Ruby’s work at rubyjoyeade.com.
My favourite things: Collecting interesting textiles is a bit of an addiction; I recently found this beautiful silk scarf in an op shop (1). Everything we have eaten this year has been from Hetty McKinnon’s amazing new cookbook To Asia, With Love – how did we live without it? (2). The first quilt I made from scraps I bought in London; it’s been on lots of adventures – camping, beaches and picnics – and is very well loved (3). The best gift I ever received was a Mug Mates subscription – every month you get a mug from a ceramicist based in New Zealand or Australia and this Ben Pyne mug is perfect for a big cup of tea (4).