In the short story "Everyday Use" Dee has left home and gone on to become more successful. She has re-established her identity by looking back towards her black heritage. For example, she has changed her name to Wango.
Dee sees the quilts as a monetary representation of the past. She takes pictures of the house with its tin roof and comments on the bench that has been rubbed inward through years of rumps on it. Yet, Dee misses the real meaning of the quilt. She talks about the squares and what they are made from, but really does not know that each one is also made from something else. In her effort to know her heritage she tends to overlook the beauty of her heritage.
Dee wants the quilts to display in her home as a proud representation of her heritage. However, if it were not a fashionable thing, Dee would not even want the quilts, so in a way it is also a fashion statement more than about her need to capture her heritage.