100-year-old hand-stitches quilts representing Underground Railroad slave codes

HALIFAX COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) - At 100 years old, a Halifax County woman is still making quilts by hand, but the stories they tell run deeper than the threads holding them together.

Inside Edith Edmunds’ home is where she spends her days with a needle and thread and the same sewing machine she had in 1954.

“It’s been with me for a long time,” said Edmunds.

But she started sewing by hand 22 years before that at the age of seven.

“And ever since then, I’ve been just sewing and sewing and sewing,” added Edmunds.

She lives with her daughter, who used to have a love-hate relationship with her mom’s passion.

“Sewing requires perfection. So, when mom was teaching me to sew, sometimes I would get so flustered because she was relentless,” said Amy Edmunds.

Now, the tables have turned.

“I appreciate now being back home with her and reviewing her squares and going, ‘look mom, no, that’s not perfect.’ So, I’m enjoying that revenge now,” added Amy Edmunds.

The countless quilts Edith makes by hand can take up to a year to perfect, but they’re not for the money.

“People couldn’t pay me what it’s worth to make,” said Edmunds.

They’re for the history.

When Edith was younger, she read about patterns that slaves would use as codes to navigate the Underground Railroad.

“It was just amazing to me to read that the enslaved women learned to do that and they had to do it in a way that their masters wouldn’t know what was really happening,” explained Edmunds.

To honor them, all ten of those patterns can be found in her quilts.

“I think about how slaves were treated, and it really hurts me. If we don’t be careful teaching the children coming up today, we might come to the same thing,” said Edmunds.

Edith has presented her quilts all across the country and locally, spreading the message of the secret stitches.

She has been recognized nationally and in her hometown, but her biggest dream is for the knowledge to be woven into the future.

Her daughter plans to keep the sew running.

“It’s really a great message for our time and history, because the Underground Railroad is a story of cooperation between Blacks, whites, men and women who worked together to really overcome some very difficult times. It’s a message of hope,” explained Amy Edmunds.

To learn more about the quilts and patterns click here.

Her book can also be bought online.