FEATURE | Stitch by Stitch: A Community Quilt for Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero’s family

A novice quilter begins stitching to produce a community-based gift for a young girl who lost her father

By EMMA BOUTHILLETTE | Contributing Writer

In the shade of a couple trees in Mechanics Park, Caitlin Murphy arranged a folding table and two benches and erected a pop-up tent. On the table she placed baskets of fabric, thread, scissors, and fabric markers. A pink banner stretched between the tent posts announced, “Community Quilt for Joan’s Daughter” and a garland of examples served as inspiration.

Caitlin started this community project in the days after Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was killed by a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Biddeford on July 13. While she has never quilted before, the community quilt project felt like a tangible way to make a difference and a means for coping with the myriad of feelings many have experienced in the wake of this tragedy.

Art has long held a place for creators to express their opinions and fiber art, in particular, has played a role in resistance movements. Just this winter, after the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti also by ICE agents, we saw the rise of knitters stitching up red caps harkening back to the hats used to protest the Nazi occupation of Norway in the 1940s.

During the American revolution, information about the movement of British troops was hidden in balls of yarn. Sewing circles became a space for women to discuss ideas and organize amid the movement to abolish slavery.

In World War I and World War II, women stitched secret messages into clothing, sewed precious belongings into hems, and worked as spies as they knit and purl code into their patterns.

In this instance, the fabrics in an array of vibrant colors will serve as a reminder for Johan’s family that they are loved.

I joined Caitlin on Friday, July 24, and picked up a warm butter yellow square of fabric she had already stretched on an embroidery hoop. From a second basket, I picked a square of teal fabric adorned with white and peach flowers from which I cut a heart shape and began using a blanket stitch to adhere the heart onto the yellow fabric.

We sat together for nearly two and a half hours as protesters gathered on the corner of Main and Water streets. During that time, others joined us, choosing to embroider comforting words or adding a flower cut from one piece of fabric to another.

Passersby stopped to see what we were doing and Caitlin invited everyone in, including children from the abutting neighborhood who had come to the park to play. If folks couldn’t join in the moment for one reason or another, she suggested they take some supplies or make a square at home.

Caitlin’s intent is to be
at Mechanics Park every
Friday afternoon in conjunction
with the standing protest
that happens there from
4 to 5 p.m. every week.

Caitlin’s intent is to be at Mechanics Park every Friday afternoon in conjunction with the standing protest that happens there from 4 to 5 p.m. every week.

As I completed my square, Caitlin asked if she could take my picture. In conjunction with the quilt, she is compiling a scrapbook with photos of community members who contributed and messages to Johan’s family.

If you want to contribute a square to the community quilt, you can join Caitlin on an upcoming Friday or mail completed squares along with a short note for the family to: Biddeford Community Quilt; PO Box 1135; Alfred, Maine, 04002

She also welcomes donations of embroidery floss, embroidery hoops, quilt batting, pre-cut cotton fabric squares, small scraps of fabric, sewing needles, and Instax Mini film for scrapbook pictures. As someone who has never quilted before, she is also looking for volunteers who can assemble the squares and finish off the quilt.

For any questions, connect with Caitlin on Instagram at @TheGildedKraken.

. . .

ABOUT THE AUTHOR | Emma Bouthillette is a marketer, writer, yoga instructor, corgi mom, and native of Biddeford, Maine. In addition to publishing A Brief History of Biddeford with The History Press in 2017, her byline has appeared in the Portland Press Herald, Maine Women Magazine, and several other Maine-based publications. She is also a member of the Biddeford Gazette’s Advisory Council.

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