Come Sew with Me

Flora Jones (Red Lake Ojibwe) is a pillar of the Red Lake community in Red Lake, Minnesota. Her art includes quilt making, sewing traditional Ojibwe regalia, beading, and quillwork. She volunteers her time to children, young adults, and elders, sharing her skills. She has received numerous awards at fairs, powwows, and community events, and was awarded a 2020 First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital Fellowship.

It only took one yard of material for young Flora to make herself a pair of jeans. At boarding school in the 1960s, Flora learned to make her own clothes, and she continued sewing throughout her life. But she didn’t take it on as an art form until her daughter was at Red Lake high school in the 1990s, and Flora volunteered in the home economics classroom. It was there she learned the art of quilting.

“We started off making ‘trip around the world’ quilts, and I’ve been sewing ever since,” she says.

Flora began selling quilts and became proficient in star quilts. She shops sales at the local stores, gathering as much fabric as she can. At home, she lays out materials by shade and color, eyeing the combinations and picking out what catches her attention. Blues, blacks, reds, yellows. Her culture plays a substantial role, especially when she spots colors that remind her of the eagle or turtle.

“Some years ago, my sister, Earlene, bought me a new sewing machine, and it was then I decided I could do business with my sewing skills,” Flora says. “I have always wanted to start my own business in sewing and teaching others to make a star quilt, especially the younger children.”

After a few years, Flora found herself teaching people in her community how to quilt and to bead. Her First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital Fellowship is going toward hosting classes at the Northwest Indian Community Development Center located in Bemidji, Minn.

“I think it would have a great impact on the Indigenous community in Bemidji to learn the ways I was taught,” she says. “I want to thank you all [FPF] for everything you have given me and what I was able to buy with the money. It’s just a pleasure, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that without you.”

Grown from the little girl who could wear jeans made from one yard of material, Flora is now teaching her granddaughters to sew and bead.

“They are 17 and 15 years old,” she says. “I’ve been having them sew with me. One is kind of leery of the sewing machine, but she is learning. I told them you’ve just got to keep on. The most rewarding experience with my art is making people happy with what they can do and make when they come and sew with me.”