Wilcox County
Quilter
Born and raised in Gee’s Bend, Alabama, Doris Pettway Mosley was taught to sew and quilt at an early age by her mother, Leola Pettway, one of “the Bend’s” most famous quilters. She was once quoted as saying that in her early life she “played a lot of softball, but now I am too old for that”. Although she sometimes helped her mother with her quilting, she did not quilt on her own until 2008, when she joined the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective.
In 2012, Doris started quilting at the Gee’s Bend Welcome Center in Boykin, where she admits that she enjoys the attention that she and other quilters receive from visitors that ride the ferry across the Alabama River from Camden, Alabama.
Doris’ handmade, cotton quilts, are made of new materials and repurposed clothing that consists of bright colors. The designs are her own but are often inspired from books, fabrics, and colors. “When I have little bits of materials left, I get them, quilt them together, and see how it comes out” she has been quoted as saying.