Fred Brown was 25 years into a 15-years-to-life prison sentence when he found a new passion: quilting.
He enjoyed cutting out squares of Care Bears and princesses and make beautiful quilts.
Brown who’s 66-years-old and an inmate at the Licking’s South Central Correctional Center in Missouri explains that when he was a child in Chicago, his mom used to sew drapes, but he never ever thought he would enjoy doing something similar himself.
Inmates in this Missouri Prison Learn to Quilt Beautiful Gifts for Foster Kids
When Brown entered the sewing room of the prison, he was shocked by his newfound respect for the craft. He realized that women who’ve sewed their entire lives are math geniuses.
Brown claims that quilting requires a lot of math to calculate the seam allowances and all the circles and angles. Indeed, he added, there’s a lot that goes into quilting.
Brown is serving a sentence for armed kidnapping and rape and he explains that he started sewing four years ago.
He had heard about several inmates who gathered at the sewing room to volunteer and make quilts for charitable organizations and foster home kids.
The Sewing Club in the Prison Is Doing Amazing
Brown was immediately hooked by the idea when he learned that it could put a smile on the kids’ faces.
Currently, he’s working on a puppy quilt that a 13-year-old by will receive. Although he doesn’t know anything about him, he feels the boy’s going to love it.
More than 2000 quilts have been made by the inmate sewing talents with fabric that was donated to the prison in the last decade, according to the prison case manager who oversees the program, Joe Satterfield.
When Did the Quilting Club in the Prison Start?
The quilting club began a decade ago and it was a way for the inmates to contribute to their community. The men who’re part of it every morning work on two projects.
They design the quilts which can be auctioned by the local charities at the fundraisers and sew personalized b-day quilts for foster kids in Texas County, Mo. Where the prison is also located.
Satterfield explains that the quilting club participants love to make something for children without anything. The social service caseworkers provide them with details about the kids like their first name and birthday.
The inmates’ creativity does the rest. The inmates enjoy the sewing because it’s something positive that helps them feel that they’re doing something that makes a difference.
Most of the men in the program are dads and a lot of them know the uncertainty of growing up in foster care.
They can relate with the kids because they’ve been there. They feel comforted and satisfied because the quilt they’ve made is going to go in the hands of a kid who may not get another gift for their birthday.
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