Please join the East Bay Modern Quilt Guild for a lecture by Kristine Vejar, founder of A Verb for Keeping Warm, as she discusses the gorgeous, appliqued textiles of three nomadic camel herding tribes in India, known as Rabari.

Kristine has a deep love and appreciation for natural fibers, natural dyes, and textile traditions. She has received numerous accolades for her work, including a Fulbright Grant to India, and has consulted with the Textile Museum in Washington DC. She opened her Oakland shop, A Verb for Keeping Warm as a way to combine her work in India with her life in the U.S.

A Rabari camel cover applique, c. 1960.

Threads of Transition, Patterns of Change: Rabari Appliqued Textiles of India includes colorful textiles made by three distinct communities of semi nomadic camel herders in India.  Kristine’s talk will present examples of textiles that would be included as part of a dowry: camel covers, quilts, wall hangings and bags. Using broadcloth as a canvas, Rabari women appliqué and embroider motifs selected from their remote desert environs of Northern Gujarat, India. With the arrival of the modern age and the decline of their nomadic lifestyle their stories are told through their textiles.

A Vaghadia Rabari woman with her appliqued quilt.

The lecture is based on Kristine’s research during her residence in India on a Fulbright Scholarship from 2001 – 2002 and shows how the three groups of Rabari exhibited changes to their motifs and materials throughout the prior 50 years.  If you want a little sneak peak into Kristine’s experience, you can read the great article written on the Oakland North blog about the Rabari Textile Exhibit when it was on display at A Verb for Keeping Warm in 2011.

A young Rabari woman beginning an applique border.

As with all of the events during Stitch Modern, the general public is welcome (and encouraged!) to attend. This is a free event that will be held at A Verb for Keeping Warm, 6328 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland, California 94608.

Capacity to this event is limited to 30 people. Please RSVP to save your spot!

**All photos courtesy of Kristine Vejar**