Patchfanynky Gallery, Marcela Listíková – A Star of Czech Tradition
March 31, 2026 / 5:36 PM
Patchfanynky are a group of around thirty patchwork friends united by their love of patchwork, shared creativity, and long-standing friendships. In their work, they combine traditional techniques with personal stories, memories, and charitable projects. Their collective collections, often created through teamwork, demonstrate not only the diversity of textile approaches but also the strength of shared creativity.
We are a loose group of about 30 patchwork friends. We enjoy sewing, handicrafts, our regular meetings, and working on shared projects, and we are always happy when we can support a good cause. Most of us come from Prague and its surroundings, others from Central Bohemia, the Šumava region, and more remote areas.
We have been meeting regularly once a month since March 2011, although some of us have known each other for nearly 25 years. It’s a significant part of our lives…
Over the years, we have experienced and stitched through a lot together. At our meetings, we have tasted countless treats, exchanged hundreds of sewing tips and patterns, as well as recipes, and talked about life from every angle. Sometimes it was joyful, other times we wiped away tears. Some members have left over time, others have joined, as it happens, but we have always kept our friendship and enthusiasm for creating together.
We have sewn many quilts, cushions, and bags, as well as several series of Round Robin projects. Every year, we create collaborative quilts and work on charitable projects.
We often exhibit as a group, including regularly at PPM, now BPM, where we participate in competitions with our collective quilts each year.
Our textile art series created under the guidance of M. Listíková have also been presented here, including Prague, Mother of Cities, My Homeland, and Great-Grandfather Automobile.
An interesting challenge was creating a collaborative quilt in a “blind date” format, where, apart from the project leaders (M. Zenklová and M. Listíková), no one knew what the final piece would be. Each participant prepared a small part based on specific instructions, and only when all the pieces were assembled did the final image appear – Dancers, inspired by Renoir’s painting Dance at Bougival. It was a great surprise; some had guessed we were sewing rocks, a floral still life, or even a bat 😊.
Unfortunately, our 10th anniversary fell in 2021 during the COVID pandemic. We had many plans to celebrate, but due to restrictions, we could not even meet. We got through those difficult times thanks to another exciting patchwork challenge – our own Mystery Quilt (by M. Zenklová).
For the past 18 years, we have spent one week every summer sewing together in the town of Neveklov, which has become very dear to us. When we learned about local efforts to restore the Jewish cemetery and synagogue, we looked for a way to help, which led to the creation of the collection Windows of Synagogues. As often happens, what is difficult to create can blossom beautifully – these quilts, depicting the beauty and diversity of synagogue windows from the Czech Republic, Moravia, Slovakia, and Hungary, have been successfully exhibited for four years across galleries in the Czech Republic and in Israel.
We even planned a group trip to Israel, but just before our departure, the war broke out, so we only saw our quilts in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem through photographs.
Last year, we created the collection Nostalgia, focused on memories of people, places, and moments from the past. This time, in addition to patchwork, we used other handicraft techniques such as ribbon and cotton embroidery, crochet, lace decoration, beads and buttons, collage, and incorporating photographs into quilts. The works were finally set into vintage frames.
We have presented both of these projects at BPM in Brno, at a patchwork exhibition in Fulnek, and at the Jewish Culture Festival in Třebíč, and they continue to travel across exhibitions throughout the Czech Republic.
For this year’s BPM, we are preparing a collection of large-format quilts showcasing various traditional patchwork techniques and patterns. It will include both collaborative works and individual pieces by our members.
We have many plans, ideas, and sources of inspiration.
We are often asked: “Do you still enjoy it after all these years?”, “Isn’t it always the same?”, or “Haven’t you argued yet?”
Our answer: “On the contrary, it is still an amazing adventure that we truly enjoy.”
We continue to grow and evolve. Beyond learning new techniques and patterns, we also learn tolerance, empathy, the ability to adapt for the benefit of the whole, and to support each other. We learn how to create harmony from blocks sewn by many different hands, using different techniques, fabrics, and imperfect measurements. How to align different paces and skill levels. How to see things from another perspective. How to motivate, teach, and support one another. And last but not least, how to manage even when we get on each other’s nerves.
Each of us is a little different, working with different fabrics… and yet we all sew the same pattern – much like in life.
