Quilt No.320BVS - Brisbane Valley Historical Society

Brisbane Valley Historical Society
Owner: 
Brisbane Valley Historical Society
Location: 
QLD South West
Maker
Maker: 
Anna Bishop
Made in
AUSTRALIA QLD
Date: 
1901 - 1920
Description: 
Quilt is made from layers of complete clothing covered with calico and stitched through all layers by machine. Clothing used includes a full skirt, a shirt, and a nightgown. All fabrics are cream. Cover has been replaced by others as the calico wore. White ants have eaten part of the quilt, exposing some of the clothing used as padding.
1880 x 1067mm
History: 

Made by Mrs Anna Bishop, of 'Swansdown', Linville Qld, c.1910. Previously owned by her son, Eric Bishop, who gave it to Hetty Van Boven in 1986. Owned by the Brisbane Valley Historical Society, at Caboonbah Homestead, Toogoolawah Qld.

Story: 

"The wagga was constructed by layering whole garments in a rectangle, covering with unbleached calico and machine stitching through all layers.
Son Eric recalls: 'After the girls left home, I had to help pull the wagga through the sewing machine. Too fast and Mum's needle would break, too slow and the wagga wouldn't go through the machine. Either way, I was in trouble.'
Now the white ants got to the edges, several garments can be identified: a lace trimmed, flanelette nightie, a wide skirt trimmed with braid and a fine cotton shirt with black and white trim. As the calico wore, another layer was simply added."
[Note from museum.]

Anna Bishop, maker
Anna Bishop, maker

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.
Marian Russell
Patchwork quilt made from squares of wool, cotton, tweed, corduroy, tartan and stretch knit fabrics. Colours are mainly reds, greens, blues, pink and orange, mostly solid colours with some checks, stripes and florals. Padding is an open weave hessian material. Backing is a loosely woven cotton, pieced, buff coloured with a woven red and orange thread. Machine pieced, machine quilted in a large rectangle.
1601 x 915mm
Connie Papalazaros
Wholecloth quilt made from floral cotton material with a light green background. Hand stitched quilting pattern of diamonds in the centre and parallel lines radiating out from this. The padding is cotton wadding.
1940 x 1300mm
N.S.W. Parks and Wildlife Service
Double sided quilt. One side is different shapes including rectangles in various sizes in wools and men's suiting material. It is hand pieced. The pther side is mainly cottons in florals of different patterns joined in strips of varying width and machine and hand pieced. There is a 25mm binding. The padding is an old blanket.
Illawarra Historical Society Inc
Wholecloth quilt, both sides cretonne in different rose patterns. 120mm double frill matches each side. Padding is possibly hessian bags. It is hand quilted in large stitches in white/cream cotton in strips with circles, diamonds and scrolls repeated.
2070 x 2030mm