An unquilted top creates the focal point in this photograph, with two girls, including Jennie Pettway, posed holding the quilt up as Jorena Pettway sits at the sewing machine; Rothstein’s caption reads “Sewing a quilt, Gee’s Bend, Alabama,” even though the action is staged, as the quilt top appears in a second photograph covering a bed.

Title: 
Sewing a quilt
Maker: 
Arthur Rothstein
Gees Bend, Alabama, April 1937
Farm Security Administration, Library of Congress