Ringgold stated she switched from painting to fabric to get away from the association of painting with Western/European traditions.

In 1972 Ringgold travelled to Europe in the summer of 1972 with her daughter Michele.
While Michele went to visit friends in Spain, Ringgold continued onto Germany and the Netherlands.
In Amsterdam, she visited the Rijksmuseum, which became one of the most influential experiences affecting her mature work, and subsequently, lead to the development of her quilt paintings.
In the museum, Ringgold encountered a collection of 14th- and 15th-century Nepali paintings, which inspired her to produce fabric borders around her own work.

When she returned to the US, a new painting series was born: The Slave Rape Series.
In these works, Ringgold took the perspective of an African woman captured and sold into slavery.
Her mother, Willi Posey, collaborated with her on this project, as Posey was a popular Harlem clothing designer and seamstress during the 1950s and taught Ringgold how to quilt in the African-American tradition.
This collaboration eventually led to their first quilt, Echoes of Harlem, in 1980.

Ringgold quilted her stories to be heard, since at the time no one would publish the autobiography she had been working on; making her work both autobiographical and artistic.
In an interview with the Crocker Art Museum she stated, "In 1983, I began writing stories on my quilts as an alternative.
That way, when my quilts were hung up to look at, or photographed for a book, people could still read my stories."
Her first quilt story Who's Afraid of Aunt Jemima? (
1983) depicts the story of Aunt Jemima as a matriarch restaurateur and fictionally revises "the most maligned black female stereotype."
Another piece, titled Change: Faith Ringgold’s Over 100 Pounds Weight Loss Performance Story Quilt (1986), engages the topic of "a woman who wants to feel good about herself, struggling to [the] cultural norms of beauty, a person whose intelligence and political sensitivity allows her to see the inherent contradictions in her position, and someone who gets inspired to take the whole dilemma into an artwork".

The series of story quilts from Ringgold's French Collection focuses on historical African-American women who dedicated themselves to change the world (The Sunflowers Quilting Bee at Arles).
It also calls out and redirects of the male gaze, and illustrates the immersive power of historical fantasy and childlike imaginative storytelling.
Many of her quilts went on to inspire the children books that she later made, such as Dinner at Aunt Connie's House (1993) published by Hyperion Books, based on The Dinner Quilt (1988).
Ringgold stated she switched from painting to fabric to get away from the association of painting with Western/European traditions.
In 1972 Ringgold travelled to Europe in the summer of 1972 with her daughter Michele. While Michele went to visit friends in Spain, Ringgold continued onto Germany and the Netherlands. In Amsterdam, she visited the Rijksmuseum, which became one of the most influential experiences affecting her mature work, and subsequently, lead to the development of her quilt paintings. In the museum, Ringgold encountered a collection of 14th- and 15th-century Nepali paintings, which inspired her to produce fabric borders around her own work. 
When she returned to the US, a new painting series was born: The Slave Rape Series. In these works, Ringgold took the perspective of an African woman captured and sold into slavery. Her mother, Willi Posey, collaborated with her on this project, as Posey was a popular Harlem clothing designer and seamstress during the 1950s and taught Ringgold how to quilt in the African-American tradition. This collaboration eventually led to their first quilt, Echoes of Harlem, in 1980.
Ringgold quilted her stories to be heard, since at the time no one would publish the autobiography she had been working on; making her work both autobiographical and artistic. In an interview with the Crocker Art Museum she stated, "In 1983, I began writing stories on my quilts as an alternative. That way, when my quilts were hung up to look at, or photographed for a book, people could still read my stories." Her first quilt story Who's Afraid of Aunt Jemima? (1983) depicts the story of Aunt Jemima as a matriarch restaurateur and fictionally revises "the most maligned black female stereotype." Another piece, titled Change: Faith Ringgold’s Over 100 Pounds Weight Loss Performance Story Quilt (1986), engages the topic of "a woman who wants to feel good about herself, struggling to [the] cultural norms of beauty, a person whose intelligence and political sensitivity allows her to see the inherent contradictions in her position, and someone who gets inspired to take the whole dilemma into an artwork".
The series of story quilts from Ringgold's French Collection focuses on historical African-American women who dedicated themselves to change the world (The Sunflowers Quilting Bee at Arles). It also calls out and redirects of the male gaze, and illustrates the immersive power of historical fantasy and childlike imaginative storytelling. Many of her quilts went on to inspire the children books that she later made, such as Dinner at Aunt Connie's House (1993) published by Hyperion Books, based on The Dinner Quilt (1988).
Faith Ringgold