111 “Need Is Urgent”: Canada’s Wartime Quilts and the WomenWho Answered the Call “Need Is Urgent.” —The Toronto Star, 6 August 1941 In 1941, as the Blitz tore through Britain and air raid sirens became routine, a coordinated mobilization was underway in Canada. Decades later, the Modern Literature & Culture (MLC) Research Centre at Toronto Metropolitan University would preserve its legacy: quilts carrying stories of solidarity and care—women gathering in church basements, schoolrooms, and living rooms, sewing with scraps of fabric, old clothes, and flour sacks. That August headline in The Toronto Star was more than a plea; it was a directive. Canadian women responded with over 450,000 quilts—stitched with urgency, empathy, and resolve, and shipped overseas, particularly to those displaced by the Blitz. Stacked end to end, the quilts would stretch nearly 900 kilometres across provinces. Transported by the Canadian Red Cross, they reached families, hospitals, and bomb shelters, providing warmth and signalling that help had arrived. Toronto, home to the Canadian Red Cross Headquarters, became a hub for this effort. Quilting bees sprang up across the city, the province, and the country, coordinated by women’s auxiliaries, church groups, and schools. Despite wartime rationing, they repurposed whatever they could find. In March 1942, The Toronto Star reported, “12 bomb shelter quilts are ready for shipment to Britain.” Each quilt was handmade, some bearing maple leaves, others flowers, or squares. They became lifelines, bridging the Canadian home front and British air raid shelters. “NEED IS URGENT” Canada’s Wartime Quilts and theWomenWho Answered the Call By Irene Gammel
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0NTk1OA==