Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Faced with a closet full of Sophie's clothes, Corinna has to make a decision: donate them, throw them away, or get her craft on. When she takes a sewing class her eighth grade year, she's got no time for boring old aprons—girlfriend dives right in and makes a quilt. No pressure, everybody else dabbling in home economics.
Granted, it's not easy to cut up her mother's stuff. "Actually cutting the fabric is incredibly hard," Corinna says of slicing into Sophie's silk scarf, "but not because I'm holding the scissors wrong. Slicing through her clothes […] it's almost like cutting a person's skin" (23.30). Just as Sophie's body was transformed into ashes that now sit on the mantel, her clothing is transformed into a symbol of her body—and while this makes cutting difficult, it also creates something Corinna can keep with her for life.
Making the quilt is a way of acknowledging Sophie at school, where Corinna has previously spent all her time trying not to cry. Showing everyone else that her mom existed is a kind of therapy, especially in a class in which Billy Bradley says, "[…] what are you doing with all those rags? […] Can't you afford any new material?" (26.4-6). Billy's an idiot, obviously, but by using Sophie's clothes for her project, Corinna's bucking the unspoken junior-high rule that you must be just like everyone else to be normal—Corinna is being fully herself instead.
Additionally, in making the quilt Corinna's channeling Sophie's love of crafts, making this blanket a way of honoring her on a number of levels as she stitches her memories together into a patchwork that makes some sort of sense.