Pakistan’s Amazing Technicolor Dearm Quilts

Sometimes it takes a village--to make a quilt. Such is the case with the exquisite handiwork available at Entertaining Elephants, an eclectic home furnishings and children’s boutique in Studio City. The colorful throws are hand-quilted by groups of women in rural southern Pakistan, where relatives and friends include them as part of a dowry, says store owner Ellen Massee. “It takes days, if not weeks,” she says. The sturdy textile creations are used in Pakistan as rugs, carriers for kids and for other day-to-day purposes.

They are usually pieced together from existing material such as religious vestments, and are meticulously stitched with intricate borders. “That’s all they can afford sometimes,” Massee, 36, says, “but those scraps end up coming together to form beautiful things.”

Massee says that customers have been snapping up the dense, 100% cotton throws, which cost from $220 to $280. “A lot of people are buying them as special keepsakes for their kids,” says Massee, whose 3-year-old daughter is the inspiration behind the store. However, it has gotten more difficult to obtain the pieces, she says. “I’m not sure how much the elevated tensions have to do with it, but the woman I get them from tells me they’re becoming rarer,” Massee says. “I’ll be sad when I can’t find them anymore.”

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Entertaining Elephants, 12053 1/2 Ventura Place, Studio City; (818) 766-9177.