Homemakers club sponsors slide-lecture by quilt lady

Homemakers club sponsors slide-lecture by quilt lady

Slide lecture on Contemporary Quilts by Marilyn Califf

The Terrell Jackson Homemakers Club sponsored a slide-lecture on Contemporary Quilts by Marilyn Califf, the Memphis “Quilt lady”. This event took place at the Home Economist Office of the County Agency Building on March 22. Tickets for this event were $1.00 and 75 seats were available. This program featured 100 slides of new and old quilts created by Marilyn Califf. Mrs. Califf also presented historical notes about each quilt and where the patterns came from. She designed some patterns herself from scratch, based on requests from customers. Mrs. Califf also wrote two books, “Your First Quilt” and “The Pillow Talk”, both available for purchase at this event. Marilyn Califf was not only a quilt maker, but also a teacher, writer, avid rock collector, graduate artist, and fabric merchant. She also designed kits for people to buy, in order to make their own quilts at home.

Marilyn Califf first began her career through mail order quilting where she experienced tremendous success and had clients from all over the world. Then in 1976 she opened her business in Memphis, TN titled ‘Contemporary Quilts, Home of the Quilt Lady’.Califf was an avid promoter of the arts in Memphis. Every year she attended the Tennessee Crafts Fair and entered some of her original designs for judging. Califf also passed down her knowledge of quilt making by teaching classes at the University of Memphis and Shelby State Community College.

Clarksdale Press

MSS 130, Box 1, Folder 17

University of Memphis Libraries

March 11, 1977

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