Quilt No.7DC - Doreen Carter

Doreen Carter
Owner: 
Doreen Carter
Location: 
NSW Sydney
Maker
Maker: 
Unknown
Made in
AUSTRALIA NSW
Date: 
1941 - 1970
Description: 
The quilt is called 'Loved'. The pattern is log cabin and it is made from dress materials and pyjama flannelette. The original filling was a heavy woollen blanket (now flannelette) and the backing is green headcloth - all government issue. With its restoration, the backing was supplemented with a green floral, and the quilt is now tied. The quilt is machine pieced, some restoration work is done by hand.
2260 x 1920mm
History: 

The quilt was made by a Yugoslav in-patient at the Morisset Mental Hospital NSW. It was given to the present owner's mother who was a nurse there.

Story: 

The quilt was made by "An immigrant Yugoslavian lady - name unknown. The Yugoslavian lady was a patient at Morisset Mental Hospital, and I base the date on the type and pattern of the materials and the fact that she was an immigrant. It is sometimes used as a bedcover and sometimes as display, but mostly just folded and refolded as some materials are very fragile.
The quilt had been cut in two (to make single bed covers) and many fabrics were worn and fragile. To restore the quilt I replaced the blanket filling with flannelette because it was lighter, replaced some fabrics in the top and added a green floral to the backing� In a corner of the backing is a label made from the original green headcloth which bears the stamp F 3. This stands for Ward Female 3. On the label, I have listed the names of those who helped in the restoration.
My mother gave me the quilt. She worked at Morisset Mental Hospital as a nursing sister from the late 1930's to her retirement about the mid 1960's. She worked to support my brothers and myself, we lived with our grandparents, firstly at Gladesville then at Manly, when our grandfather retired.
I called the quilt 'Loved' when I restored it and exhibited it in our Quilt Show 1992. The name is self explanatory really, but has a lot to do with remembering my mother and the then unknown Yugoslavian immigrant maker...
�As my mother was 90 when she died, there are not many of her contemporaries left and if so able to remember or relate. However I did track down a couple and they both independently remembered the lady...
WARD FEMALE 3 was a refractory ward - meaning the women were violent. It was supposedly for epileptics but according to one source they were the minority. There was definitely no occupational therapists at that time. [The lady] was apparently very talented at sewing, embroidery and crochet as were many of the patients. They could look at something and copy it. The nurses supplied them with wool and other materials. One source said that many of the young nurses acquired their 'glory boxes' this way. I think they gave them small amounts of money or bought them little comforts in exchange. The reality was though that this was an initiative to give the women something to do, to occupy them, indeed therapy. Many of the patients ... never had a visitor. They had no money, nowhere to spend it and no little luxuries. The government supplied all things down to clothing which was made in the sewing room - distinct from WARD F 3. In WARD F 3 they had some old treadle machines� I assume the nurses scrounged the materials from the sewing room. The green backing on my quilt reminds me of hospital counterpanes...
I understand [she] spoke only broken English and sometimes didn't communicate much at all. One can only wonder what she went through - her experiences of war- her trip out to Australia - being a migrant here - and her final destination."
[Doreen Carter, Sydney, 1995]
Name of patient withheld

Related Quilts:

Diana Cameron
Small patchwork piece possibly made from salesman's samples. There is no opening in the back so it is not a cushion cover. There is no padding. The backing is green polished cotton. There is a 40mm fringe around the edge.
520 x 520mm
The Pioneer Women's Hut
Continuous 'sleeve' of hand sewn small hexagons, many woollen, some joined, some darned, plain and patterned. Several bands of plain coloured hexagons. The padding is ticking, an old cream blanket and part of a bedspread.
1960 x 800mm
Wendy McPhail
Repeat block in Ohio star pattern. Wide border of triangles, pieced blocks and stripes. Stars are in greens, pinks, mauves (all now very faded) and white. Wreath quilting in squares with smaller wreath quilting in triangles. There is padding and the backing is a poly/cotton sheet. 2500 x 2450mm
National Gallery of Australia
" A wide range of cotton fabrics have been used to make this quilt in the traditional log cabin style. The strips of the log cabin are joined by rows being hand sewn onto a small square backing fabric, each square of strips has then been hand sewn together to form the quilt. The work is backed with a sateen printed fabric decorated with paisley design. A strip of the lining trims the edge of the front face of the quilt. The lining is attached with machine stitching. There are numerous tacking stitches that remain in the front face of the quilt. There are approx 9000 pieces in the quilt, most being only 5mm in width.
The quilt is of three layers because the strips of the log cabin are attached to a backing piece, and then the quilt is lined; however it is not padded." [NGA]
Helen Sparkman
Hexagon quilt made from dressmaking scraps from one neice. The quilt top only is complete and a few papers are still attached.
2250 x 2000mm
Fiona Gavens
Hexagon quilt constructed over papers; all seams oversewn with featherstitch embroidery. Materials are vyella and clydella scraps from childhood dresses of the maker's first four children, augmented with scraps from a dressmaker and a book of samples. There is no padding; backing is plain, pale blue, brushed cotton.
2200 x 1720 mm.