Torreah “Cookie” Washington is a fourth-generation needle worker and the first in her family to embrace art quilting. Based in Goose Creek, South Carolina, she is nationally recognized for her quilts, rag baskets, and fiber art that weave together African American history, ancestral memory, and the Divine Feminine.

Born in Rabat, Morocco, and raised in a family of makers, Cookie’s earliest memory of stitching was fashioning a Barbie dress out of a cotton sheet at age four—a creation her grandfather purchased for fifty cents. That small spark has carried through a lifetime in fabric, from designing custom bridal gowns to becoming one of the country’s leading African American art quilters.

For Cookie, quilting is never just about cloth. It is a way of honoring ancestors and preserving culture. “Whenever I hold a needle and cloth,” she says, “I feel my foremothers with me.” Her practice reflects the centuries-old tradition of African American quilting—an art form born of resilience and resourcefulness among enslaved people, who stitched together scraps into both warmth and memory.

Today, Cookie carries that legacy forward through work that is both personal and communal. Her quilts and baskets often incorporate reclaimed fabric, including garments from loved ones, transforming them into objects of remembrance and healing. She teaches others the Gullah tradition of rag quilting, a no-sew technique that turns scraps into richly textured works of art. For her, upcycling is more than craft—it is craftivism. “Americans throw away millions of tons of textiles each year, and landfills are disproportionately located in or near Black and poor neighborhoods. That waste is literally killing my people. Every basket or quilt I make from scraps is a quiet act of resistance, proof that we can create beauty without creating more harm.”