Piece By Piece Quilts

It's easy and it feels soooo good to spread some LOVE!!

SEND US BACK OUR 100% Batik Cotton PACKAGING & Piece By Piece will Up-cycle that gorgeous hand dyed, hand stamped fabric into a breathtaking piece of art - a warm & cozy quilt for someone who needs a little bit of extra love!

Save them up and send them back or make something awesome of your own and share it with us, We'd love to see how this fabric inspires your creativity!!

Designed and stitched by quilter extraordinaire Debbie Fraser, these unique creations grow from fabric that's returned to us and the results are always stunning. We partner with The United Way of SD&G to either auction quilts or donate them to families in need. 100% of auction proceeds go to the United Way.

The Story

Not long after Ground Soap started wrapping soap in batik we got a note from a friend of a friend who made quilts. She was interested in working with any scraps that we had and after sending some along to her a beautiful handmade quilt showed up in the mail. I was shocked at being the recipient of such a beautiful creation that clearly represented dozens of hours of loving work and I could instantly feel that this was something that had much more meaning than just fabric and thread. I thought of how perfect a project it would be if we ever needed to raise money for a cause. That Fall I met Debbie Fraser at a party and in the ensuing conversation I found out she was a quilter. The conversation turned to how this could be done and before long things were happening. She was at a perfect time in her life to take on the challenge and got started right away, making several magnificent quilts in short order using extra batik we had. She started building a small network of resources and before long we were starting to think of who would be the best recipients for these labors of love.

The History

Batik Fabric has great significance to me. Before the the 2nd World War my Grandfather Klaas migrated to Indonesia from Holland to take advantage of a job opportunity in the rubber plantations there. After settling, he was married by proxy to his Dutch fiancé Tine, who promptly boarded a ship and made her way from Holland to join him. They spent several years living with the local people on the plantation, learning the language, the culture and the cuisine and welcomed their first son, Klaas Jr. But when war broke out, the two were once again separated and placed in internment camps. There they spent three painful years apart not knowing each other’s fate. Fortunately, when the war ended they were re-united and returned to working the plantation for another four years during which they welcomed the arrival of my Uncle Bert and my Mother Anne. Eventually their growing family emigrated to Canada to settle in Eastern Ontario where they dropped roots for good.

Through these years a great deal of the Indonesian culture and cuisine had made it into the fabric of my family where it still thrives today, and so when it came time to create the packaging for Ground Soap I knew exactly where to look for inspiration. Several years ago I traveled to Indonesia to meet the people who create beautiful batiks by hand. I was lucky enough to hang around their outdoor shops while they stamped, washed and dyed long rolls of cotton into beautiful designs and I even got to walk through lofts of hanging batiks swaying in the afternoon breeze to dry. It felt like I was in a movie! This absolutely solidified my connection to Indonesia, it's people and the beautiful handmade fabric that I’ve been a little obsessed with ever since.

What to do

It’s easy. After unwrapping your soap, save the fabric and send it to us at:

Piece By Piece c/o Ground Soap
2107 Second St. West
Cornwall ON, CA.
K6H 5R6

Make sure to include your name so that we can add you to the list of contributors to the Piece by Piece project.

If you are a quilter and would like to donate some of your time and talents to the project or have any other questions about it and how you can help, please email us at info@groundsoap.com.