Quilt No.88DS - Dorothy Stevens

Dorothy Stevens
Owner: 
Dorothy Stevens
Location: 
QLD South West
Maker
Maker: 
Emmiline Marsland
Made in
AUSTRALIA QLDt
Date: 
1940 - 1970
Description: 
Utilitarian quilt. Padding consists of recycled hand knitted jumper pieces (mainly 3 ply crepe and 8 ply) tacked to a layer of cotton material with strong buttonhole twist thread. The top is a piece of cotton fabric. Machine quilted in rows approximately 70mm apart.
1827 x 1423mm
History: 

The maker was Emmiline Marsland in Roma, Queensland in the early 1950s. It was given to her friend, Dorothy Stevens, the present owner, in about 1978.

Story: 

Emmeline was a steward at the ECCA (RASQ Show) before moving to Roma to care for 2 motherless children. She remained unmarried but adored children, stitching children's clothes for the various adopted families over a 30 year period.
"Emmiline Marsland was my very dear friend. I boarded with her when teaching in Roma in 1952-53. She was born 30th July 1901 and died 18 December 1986. A dressmaker by trade , she was skilled in many crafts, fine embroidery to woodwork and had a great love for children. I remember sleeping under the green quilt in Roma and it was probably used for packing precious furniture when moving form Roma to Maryborough to Brisbane."
[Dorothy Stevens 18.3.1996]

Back of quilt
Back of quilt
Emmiline Marsland & Phillipa Harvey(Stevens)1978
Emmiline Marsland & Phillipa Harvey(Stevens)1978

Related Quilts:

Yvonne Hamdorf
Wholecloth pram quilt with a top of pink cotton sateen, and the reverse is a more finely woven, ivory, fabric. All over quilting design as main feature, with stylised hearts, leaves and cross hatching. The padding is cotton batting. 870 x 660 mm.
John Tomkin
Hand stitched, cotton, appliquéd, quilt in a flower pattern on a plain background. Colours are shades of green, apricot and browns. This quilt was known as a 'Bride's Quilt'. Padding is thought to be layers of white fabric raised almost like a wadding. The backing is cotton material. 2470 x 2020 mm.
Glenda Wilkinson
Small quilt made from pieces of heavy weight wooollen coat material cut into strips and machined together. It is reversible. Each side is made from different materials but in similar colours of aqua, blue, green and beige. The 2 layers are quilted together with a few machined lines of straight stitching. It has a folded and machine stitched edge. There is no padding.
950 x 790mm
Nancy Stinson
The padding consists of layers of pieced used clothing including; part of machine knitted child's wool dress (Nancy had this when she was 3 or 4); part of father's cardigan; parts of 'neck to knee' bathers in light green and dark green wool. The padding is all hand pieced and machined around the edge. There have been 2 wholecloth cotton covers to this quilt. It is one of a pair.
1870 x 1020mm
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
Wholecloth quilt with one side cream wool and one side faded red wool. Red wool is joined with 3 seams by loom length; red appears to be cochineal dyed. Cream wool side appears to have been made from a hand woven blanket with blue selvidge on 2 sides. It is hand quilted in red wool thread; Welsh patterns including clamshell, Welsh pear, snail or spiral. Centre frame has 2 cable borders and the centre corners have fans. The outer quilted border has alternate 4 petal flowers, clamshell, and spirals.
It is padded with hand carded wool.
1950 x 1935mm
Margaret Lyons
Padding for a utilitarian quilt that originally had a wholecloth cover. The padding is up to 3 layers of woollen scraps and pieces of used clothing, including hand knitting. White cotton tacking and overcast stitches hold all layers in place. The backing is a cream wool blanket with woven stripes.
1580 x 1200mm