THE PATCHWORK PLANET: Quilting in Chile

Pilar Donoso is a woman with a mission: to bring quilting to Chile.

Chile is about twice the size of Montana at 750,000 square kilometers, but looks nothing like it. A long finger of a country that stretches half the length of South America along the South Pacific coast, it has a population of about 15 million who live in a vibrant economy and relatively free political climate. About a third of these folks reside in the capitol, Santiago, which is where Pilar returned about two years ago after living most of her adult life in California.

"I am 44 years old," Pilar says. "I graduated from the Catholic University in Chile, as a History, Geography and Economics and Political Science teacher. After I graduated, I met my sister-in-law's brother (Chilean too). I married him, and we went to live in California (close to San Francisco). I worked at the Horse Racetrack for 11 years, and I did some knitting, and a little embroidery as a hobby. We moved around the Bay Area, following the horses, where my husband worked, so I decided not to teach, and found a job at the track. At the racetrack I met 2 sisters who introduced me to quilting. I had never been exposed to quilting before, and my first reaction was: How boring!!! After I did my first quilt (a Log Cabin of course), I never went back to knitting, and I have become addicted to quilting.

"Before I came back to Chile, after living in California for 20 years, I was teaching a lot of classes in Berkeley (New Pieces) and in Walnut Creek (Thimble Creek). I love teaching and I love quiltmaking, so the natural thing for me to do, is to teach Quiltmaking."

In her years as a quiltmaker and teacher in California, Pilar developed a reputation and a lengthy resume of exhibitions in which her quilts appeared. She exhibited to both American and Chilean audiences at the Pacific International Quilt Festival and in gallery shows in the bay area. One turning point for her was an exhibition of her work at the Instituto Chileno Norteamericano de Cultura in Santiago in 1995.

"In that show I met some people, most of them from the States, that belonged to a group that they had formed a year before. After I went back to California, I kept in touch with them, and after my marriage of 20 years fell apart, they were my support group. I moved back to Chile in September 1996, and I have been teaching a lot of classes, in different stores, private homes, and at Air Force facilities."

But Pilar was frustrated. "The lack of supplies and good fabric limited the creativity of my students, and that was frustrating enough to make me take the decision to open a store. Unfortunately, in Chile there isn't good cotton. Most of the cotton is imported from the States, but because customs duties are so expensive (about 60% of the value of the fabric), and we are physically so far from the rest of the world, fabric is very expensive.

"I hope to open the store in the beginning of March, when people come back from summer vacations. Santiago dies during January and February. Everybody goes to the beach. In the meantime, I am giving workshops, teaching classes, sewing jackets, quilts, and I meet every Friday with my quilting group, the same that I met in 1995. The guild's name is Santiago Quilter's Guild, and we limited the number to 20, with a waiting list, so we could fit in someone's living room. We have a President, Secretary, a Treasurer, and we do lots of events to support charities, most of them supported by the American Embassy. Our meetings are in English, since most of them are Americans, but we have women from South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Argentina, England, and a few Chileans. Most of them bring their hand quilting to the meetings, and we share information, magazines, and every kind of information that we can get related to quilting."

This island of quilters in Santiago is not completely surrounded by a quilting wasteland, but the state of the art there is not advanced. "In Chile there are probably 2 or 3 quilt teachers, and they teach the old-fashioned way, with templates and scissors, as well as hand quilting only. To show you the limited knowledge about new techniques, a few days ago I had to convince the representative of Singer in Chile (the most popular sewing machine here), about the existence of the 'walking foot.' Paper piecing it is not known here yet, but I am teaching a lot of classes about the subject. The cottons we find in the market are all calicoes and 'Country'. I think they will die when they see what I am bringing. My fabric arrived last night, so we will see!!

"There are a few fabric stores in Santiago where you can find cotton (all imported), but there is only one that concentrates a little bit more on quiltmaking. This place has some magazines, some rulers, and a few spools of hand-quilting thread, that a National/American? company, (Coats/Cadena) just put on the market. The quality of this thread is good, and competes with Gutterman. This store is very 'country,' and they concentrate mainly on patchwork."

While there are not yet a great many quilters, there appears to be fertile ground for developing a passion among Chileans for the art. "Women are a lot into making rugs, or ceramics, or needlepoint. You still find a good number of women who are primarily at home taking care of the kids, and taking classes of different kinds. This seems to appeal to them, as sanity therapy.

"The access to maids is relatively easy, and that helps them to keep going. Traditionally we have some weaving textiles, made out of llama and alpaca wool in the north, and some sheep wool in the south, but Santiago seems to far from that (unfortunately). Santiago it is a center of everything in Chile. It has high technology and a big variety of cultural events. In 1997 alone I was able to see shows from Dali, Miro, Picasso, Matisse, Renoir. Every month there are some well-known artists showing their pieces, and there are a lot of good Chilean artists too.

"I know of another quilting guild in Antofagasta about 12 hours north of Santiago, formed by one on our members, who had to move there, because of her husband's job (there are a lot of copper mine related jobs there). I heard that they are doing great. To my knowledge there is not a National organization yet."

Asked about computer use in Chile, Pilar says "Computers are very commonly used in this country, but they are considered more like a business tool, and I don't think anyone would relate a computer to quiltmaking. I personally have Quilt Studio, Quilt Soft, Quilt Pro, and EQ3. I use Corel Draw a lot for quiltmaking too. I think they are a great tool for teaching classes, but I also use them for making quilts. I design them, and print the pieces for paper piecing. It is the way to go."

Pilar is a member of Planet Patchwork's Quiltopia maillist, where she brings her unique perspective and news of quilting in one of its newest and most exotic frontiers. She can be reached at quiltpd@entelchile.net.