You can purchase Mexican oil cloth at Casa Ramirez, 241 W. 19th in the Heights; a 4-feet-by-8-feet piece is $22. It also can sometimes be found among the outdoor vendors at Cole's Flea Market ...

Or it has been up to now. Patchwork Nation has visited the Baton Rouge multiple times. East Baton Rouge, with its large racial divides, represents a Minority Central community in the Patchwork scheme.

"The oil-cloth umbrella was out of the market all of a sudden, and our annual demand slumped from 40,000 to just 10,000. Many umbrella factories went out of business rapidly," Zheng said.

You can buy Mexican oil cloth at Casa Ramirez, 241 W. 19th in the Heights; a 4-foot-by-8-foot piece is $22. It also can sometimes be found among the outdoor vendors at Cole's Flea Market, 1014 N ...