MONTGOMERY, Ala. - One of the elderly women from Gee's Bend, whose hand-woven quilts have been acclaimed by the art world and honored on U.S. postage stamps, has filed suit claiming they were cheated financially by the Atlanta family that made them famous and by corporations using their designs.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Selma by quilter Annie Mae Young, includes as defendants William Arnett, an Atlanta art scholar who brought Gee's Bend quilters to a wide audience, his sons Matt Arnett and Paul Arnett and Tinwood Ventures of Atlanta.

In recent years, the quilts have been displayed in prestigious museums and were chosen for the U.S. Postal Service's American Treasures stamp series. Their designs also have been produced on rugs that sell for $5,000 each, Visa gift cards and a line of bedsheets by supermodel Kathy Ireland.

"They haven't gotten anything out of it," Ms. Young's attorney, Bill Dawson of Birmingham, said Tuesday.

He filed the lawsuit last week seeking a share of profits from the quilts for Ms. Young. The lawsuit currently names only Ms. Young, but Mr. Dawson said it might be expanded to include other quilters in the remote Gee's Bend community, about 60 miles southwest of Montgomery.

In addition to the Arnetts and Tinwood, the lawsuit names Kathy Ireland Worldwide, Shaw Living and Visa as defendants.

The lawsuit says any agreement between the quilters and the defendants was oral and not put into writing.

A response filed by attorneys for the Arnetts and Tinwood denies the allegations and said the lawsuit was filed to "harass" and extort money from the defendants.

An attempt to reach an attorney for Tinwood, Greg Hawley, for comment was not successful. He earlier told the Press-Register, which first reported the lawsuit Tuesday, that Ms. Young and other quilters have received "dividends" from the quilters' collective that was organized by the Arnetts.

"Before the Arnetts were involved, the Gee's Bend quilts were a local craft. Now it is an honored, valued treasure that people all across the country know about," Mr. Hawley said.

Earlier this year, several of the quilters said in an interview at the senior citizens center where they make the quilts that they were disappointed the publicity for the quilts had not translated into money to help their impoverished community.

"We need something else here. We need stores, we need our roads fixed, we need day care, we need a washeteria," quilter Nancy Brown said at the time.

Not all quilters are unhappy. The Press-Register quoted quilter Mary Ann Pettway as saying "I feel I've gotten a fair deal." She told the newspaper that other quilters feel the same way.