Quilt No.255VP - Vivienne Pfitzner

Vivienne Pfitzner
Owner: 
Vivienne Pfitzner
Location: 
SA Country
Maker
Maker: 
Dorothy Mina watson
Made in
AUSTRALIA SA
Date: 
1941 - 1970
Description: 
Quilt or rug made of rectangles (12 x 20cm) of kangaroo skins with the fur still on. Some blocks have long fur, some have shorter fur, the colour varying from light belly colours to rusty brown. It is lined and bordered with wool fabric in a red, green and yellow tartan. Handsewn with linen thread. 1410 x 1370mm
History: 

The present owner's father shot the kangaroos probably around the Hawker SA area in the 1950s. The rug was made by Dorothy Mina Watson of Holbrooks Rd, Underdale (SA), about 1952 and is now owned by her daughter Vivienne Belle Pfitzner and is not used.

Story: 

"The blocks are sewn together with a linen thread in an overcast stitch, some of which is coming undone, as the thread is becoming frail. We used the rug for many years, camping and picnics, and as a bed cover it is deliciously warm. There are some holes in the skins, I think they may be insect holes as I cannot imagine Mother selecting parts of the skin with bullet holes�����.. My Mother who was aged 41 when she made the rug, she was a tailoress before marriage and continued to work from home tailoring for a tailor shop in the city of Adelaide for some years. She was a very accomplished seamstress and embroiderer, competent in many handcrafts, crochet, knitting and fine dressmaking. She made my wedding dress front panel (the dress was made by a dressmaker Mrs Angus of Goodwood to relieve the stress with my Mother), the panel took her six months to embroider with seed pearls, it stretched from the neck line to the hem in a design of long stemmed roses and buds, on delustred satin. I have the gown and was overjoyed when my daughter wore it for her wedding five years ago. My Mother died in 1972 aged 61." [Vivienne Belle Pfitzner SA 1999]

Related Quilts:

Western Australian Museum
Kangaroo skin cloak of seven gores is made from the skins of seven grey kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus). The skins vary in size and shape, the inner five are roughly triangular. The cloak is edged with a series of loops, through one of these near the collar is a piece of cloth which appears to have tied the cloak together. The skins are sewn together with two sorts of linen or cotton thread. In a small diamond-shaped gusset at the back of the neck there are some stitches of sinew. The skins are sewn together by means of a small hem which was turned back on to the fur, so stitches went through two layers of skin on each gore. There are some small holes in the skins. The skins are very soft and pliable, and greyish in colour; they vary in size and shape. Longest part: 800mm Ref: MA Thesis 1973, S.Meagher 'A Reconstruction of the Traditional Life of the Aborigines of the S.W. of Western Australia.
Doris Gould
Fox skin rug made from 28 winter fox skins, with turquoise green felt backing and with green felt scalloped edging. Part of some tails as edging remain. Skins hand pieced together, top sewn to backing by machine. 1550 x 1550mm
Bud and Patricia Ford
Round rug of whip tail wallaby skins pieced into centre circle. Skins have been joined and then stitched on to maroon baize backing which has traditional punched scalloped edge. The skins are wattle bark tanned. Diameter 1449mm
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
Skin rug made from feral cat skins and probably some wallaby pelts. There are 28 individual skins and colours are dark brown, creamy yellow and striped and spotted light and dark brown and cream. One cat pelt measures 495mm. The striped and spotted skins indicate tabby cats. The backing is maroon felt extended to form a pinked and scalloped edge. The top is attached to the backing with hand stitching incorporating faded red ric-rac braid along the seamline on the back. 1680 x 1300mm
Bruce Wright
Skin rug made from 50-60 rabbit skins in various colours, pieced in a diamond pattern. Dark diamond in centre, a diamond of dark honey colour, then a band of dark, another of dark honey, a band of grey, a band of honey, with corner triangles of grey. Rug is backed with blue felt, and has a scalloped edge of blue felt. Hand sewn. Skins tanned with wattle bark tanning solution. 1550 x 1300mm
Miles Pioneer Village
3 fragments of koala bear skin joined with very fine stitching. Uneven edges. Thought to have been part of an aboriginal cloak or rug.