Sewing With Nancy

In our country, we're in the process of acknowledging the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. There are riveting stories from the soldiers' perspective. They are a great reminder of the struggles and sacrifices that were made. Women were equally challenged and often used their creative skills to cope and serve. Jennifer Chiaverini a New York Times best selling author weaved together a story of love and sacrifice with quilts as the common theme. Welcome back, Jennifer. Thank you, it's great to be here. You know, we've talked a lot about your books during the Nancy's Corner. Today, we're going to a different era the Civil War, with "The Union Quilters." That's right. I have most of my stories set in the Elm Creek Valley a fictional area in rural central Pennsylvania. Sometimes I focus on my main character, Sylvia Bergstrom. But in this book, as in some of my others I like to delve into the past and explore the lives of some of her ancestors. Gerda Bergstrom. Right, Gerda Bergstrom is one of the women. She's a recent German immigrant. We also learn about her sister-in-law, Annika and their friend Dorothea Nelson and then another woman, Constance Wright who is a former slave whose husband purchased her freedom and brought her to this community. So these four women are the focus or the central theme in your book, "The Union Quilters." That's right. They start the group the Union Quilters along with several other women in their community to make quilts, and to offer support to one another and also to make other items and hold fund-raisers to support their husbands, brothers and sweethearts off fighting in the Civil War. Your novels are just that, novels but this is historical fiction as well. Yes, that's absolutely right. While my characters and this community are works of fiction I researched the era and the region quite thoroughly so that although the activities that the women participate in are real, even though they are happening to fictional characters in my story. You always make a quilt that goes along with each book. "Dove in the Window" is the quilt for this book. It's one of the important quilts in the story. The Dove in the Window quilt while I chose this pattern not only because it's traditional and true to the era but also because the word "dove" evokes peace. That's something that Dorothea was very conflicted about because she is a pacifist and yet, she's also a staunch abolitionist. So she's very conflicted about her husband's participation in the war also because of course she's concerned for her safety. So this Dove in the Window quilt is one of his favorites. She had made it for him as an anniversary present a few years before. She sends it off to war with him so that he will not only have its comfort physically and its warmth and its shelter when he's off on the battle field but also so that he will have that loving reminder of home. This is something that a lot of women did for their family members who went off to fight in the war. Women's role during the Civil War was very critical. Absolutely. It was really a springboard to their freedom. Not "freedom," but their privileges. And gaining much more of their civil rights. One woman, in her memoir said, "We too were enlisted for in the war." When the men that they loved went off to enlist at the camps some of the men did not tell the women back home too much because they didn't want them to worry. But in many of these letters, a story came of shortages and deprivations. Both the north and the south were completely unprepared to fight a war of this magnitude. On both sides, there were shortages of everything. It fell to the people on the home front who were mostly women to provide all the things that the soldiers need. Including tents. Including tents. The women used their sewing skills in so many different ways, to make tents, to make uniforms to put together bandages, to make quilts not only for the soldiers in the camps but also for the military hospitals that had to be constructed soon into the war. Also, my fictional characters take on a role that real life women did back then. They not only made items directly to provide for the soldiers but they also used their sewing skills for fund-raisers to buy medicines and food, and so many other things that the soldiers needed. As only Jennifer can write she writes these charming stories that take place in the Elm Creek fictional area. You learn from this, as well as you're entertained. You get engaged. You get drawn right into these characters. I love the part of the sewing and quilting drawn into this because after all, that's what we're all about. That's right. Jennifer, thank you so much for being our guest on Sewing with Nancy &nbspduring Nancy's Corner. My pleasure. I hope to see you back with one of your other novels. Thank you for joining us for "Easy Reversible Aprons" with our guest Mary Mulari. If you'd like more information on the Nancy's Corner segment for example, with Jennifer Chiaverini and also today's program,

you can go to

nancyzieman.com You can watch this program again online and also find out more from our blog. Thanks for joining us. Bye for now.