Black Dresses

Artist

Catherine Wooten

Machine pieced cottons; hand appliquéd and embellished speciality fabrics

Kim F. Hall: “Ms. Catherine” was an Othermother to me in addition to being a well known Baltimore fashion designer, seamstress and quilter. She hated making quilts as a child in South Carolina, but sewing itself became an escape. Making everything from everyday clothing to custom men’s suits, women’s clothes and wedding dresses, she escaped farm work and, later, an unhappy marriage. When she started designing clothing with Mom and their friend Mrs. Yvonne Evans, she wouldn’t get involved in their quilt adventures because of that childhood dislike, but soon was intrigued by the beauty and possibilities of quilting and became a Baltimore quilting legend. She was a sought-after longarm quilter and thus her hand is in many of my quilts. She was celebrated by the Maryland Office of Folklife as a master quilter who developed a special style of “sharecropper” quilts.

I loaned her this quilt pattern (which I still haven’t made) and of course she made it with lightning speed. Knowing I loved it, she mailed it to me while I was dealing with health issues. I have bought several of her quilts, but I love this one in particular because it reminds me of her talent as a clothing designer. She was a past president of the Baltimore chapter of the National Association of Fashion and Accessory Designers (NAFAD), a group formed by Mary McCleod Bethune-Cookman and Jeanetta Welch Brown, and was inducted into their Hall of Fame after her first three fashion competitions.