OYA SEZER, TURKEY

I’ve always loved the feel of fabric, and started sewing at an early age.

But how did a Turkish woman fall in love with the traditional Amish quilt patterns I use so often in my own quilts?

In 1990, I accompanied my daughter Didem to Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania—in Amish country. I wasn’t familiar with Amish culture at all. Intrigued, I started to research the Amish people, their art and their history. I learned that their patterns were based on daily life—building houses, ploughing fields, growing food. The Amish pattern “Tumbling Blocks,” for instance, is based on bundled crops.

With both children away at university, I decided to join a quilting group to fill my time. Quilting was a completely new art form for me. Patchwork design is actually common in Turkish culture. For example, patchwork prayer rugs are called kirkpare (“40 pieces” in Turkish). I’ve also seen Ottoman-era military tents made of patchwork because it’s easier to mend them in wartime.

But Amish design appealed to me from the beginning. Every time I visited Didem in college, I bought Amish pattern books, and subscribed to quilting magazines. Patchwork is like solving a riddle to me—different parts come together in harmony to make a beautiful whole. Just like friendships.

Ever since then, I’ve made quilts, and give them as gifts to friends and family.