The origin of the term “quilt” is associated with the Latin word culcita, which means to bolster or cushion, and for the past four decades the Great South Bay Quilters Guild of Islip has been bolstering the spirits of those in need and providing a comfort and cushion for countless women, children, veterans, elderly, and more. While the term was probably first used in England in the 13th century, the earliest known quilted garment is shown on a carved ivory figure of a Pharaoh dating from the ancient Egyptian First Dynasty, circa 3400 BC.

The Islip-based quilters guild was started 40 years ago, in 1983, by four women, three of whom are still members of the group. The members meet at the Joyce Fitzpatrick Senior Center at Brookwood Hall, in East Islip, once a month, from September to June. There are currently about 50 members who gather for meetings, workshops, and guest speakers.

“There’s a community service requirement for their membership, where every member has to donate one quilt per year to one of our community service activities, which would be either a baby quilt, or a lap-robe quilt, and those are the quilts that the elderly use on their wheelchairs, or a veteran’s quilt. We have workshops on all three of those throughout the year, and then at the end of the year we hand them in. So, every year we get at least 50 quilts, but then we do other community service projects throughout the year that we donated to various other community organizations,” said Joan Dlouhy, president of the Great South Bay Quilters Guild of Islip.

Throughout their four decades, the Quilters Guild has participated in many programs for the community, including making decorative placemats for Meals on Wheels, a program in Islip where they’ve donated at least 400 placemats.

In addition, the women have provided the Northport Veterans Association with quilts, and they generously donated a handcrafted quilt for each bed, which came to 80 total.

“Last spring, we created a raffle quilt, which is a queen-size bed quilt, and we raffled it off, and we raised money for the Ukrainian Women and Children’s Fund, and we were able to raise over $5000, and we sold tickets. Islip had a lot of fairs going on in the summertime, and we had the quilt on display, and we sold quite a bit of raffle tickets. We were able to give money to the Ukrainian Church in West Islip, and there’s a certain relief fund that they had, mostly for women and children, because all of the men had to volunteer for service,” Dlouhy said.

Throughout their history, the guild has often donated to many women’s and children’s groups and causes, including projects to support women veterans. “We’ve made little toiletry bags and we give them to Islip veterans, because a lot of it is geared toward men,” explained Dlouhy.

Dlouhy said she learned most of her quilting skills from the other women in the guild, who became mentors and lifelong friends.

“Some of them have been quilting for 40 or 50 years. Our oldest member is in her mid to late 90s,” she said.

Joining a quilters guild is a great way to engage your creativity, serve worthy causes, and take part in a women’s circle, which harkens back to a sense of sisterhood, evocative of a bygone era and virtually as old as civilization itself.

“Any style that you like you can find in a fabric, and what happens from there is you have a pattern, and some of these patterns of quilting blocks are so old. The oldest one is called log cabin, and those were made from scraps. Women made them years ago in the 1700s, probably even earlier, where they took the scraps of their clothing and they sewed them into a design that they felt was aesthetically pleasing, but they did it out of necessity. They didn’t waste anything, and they made these beautiful quilts,” Dlouhy said.

Every time you see a new block, a quilter is creating something original that is also part of an interwoven pattern and lineage. By quilting, one is often also celebrating a rite of passage in someone’s life, such as a birth or other milestone, while honoring an age-old tradition which has stood the test of time, and it’s no mystery to piece together why that is.

For more information visit greatsouthbayquilters.org.

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