Quilt No.160WHS - Williamstown Historical Society

Owner: 
Williamstown Historical Society
Location: 
VIC Melbourne
Maker
Maker: 
Mrs Hansen
Made in
AUSTRALIA VIC
Patterms
Embroidered and/or Appliqued, Motifs or Names, Signature, Wholecloth, Typically Australian
Date: 
1901 - 1920
Description: 
Quilt made of squares of calico joined together. These have embroidered signatures of army personnel and names of battles zones, from World War I. It is lined with muslin.
2000 x 1500mm
History: 

The quilt was put together by Mrs Hansen during World War I. It was given to the Williamstown Historical Society (Vic) by Mrs Hansen in memory of her son Captain Hansen, a soldier who was killed in World War I.

Story: 

"Mrs Hansen and other mothers sent food parcels to their soldier relatives serving overseas during World War I. The tins containing the food were wrapped in calico. Mrs Hansen asked her son to get his men to sign the pieces of calico and send them back home. She then got her friends to embroider over the signatures. The squares of calico were then joined together to form a quilt. The names of the various battle zones were also embroidered on the quilt. The qult is lined in muslin. It has never been used as a bed quilt, but hangs in our Museum. �"
[Lois Swaby Sec. Williamstown Historical Society]

Related Quilts:

Yvonne Hamdorf
Quilt No.1016YH - 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.
Wholecloth, Quilting as major design element
John Tomkin
Quilt No.1005JT - 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.
Wholecloth, Embroidered and/or Appliqued
National Gallery of Australia
Quilt No.971NGA - National Gallery of Australia
"The coverlet is of cream cheesecloth, highly decorated with applied figures and pieced fabric bands. The appliqué bands follow the edge of the coverlet for some time and then become circles radiating from the centre. The bands form two framed circular areas that carry appliquéd images. A smaller area lower centre of the cloth depicts birds and insects. In the centre of the work is a bordered oval with two aboriginal figures, an angel, kangaroo, emu and kookaburra, with the words 'Advance Australia Fair' embroidered in black thread. The stitching and construction of the coverlet is quite crude." [NGA] The quilt is not padded or lined. 1640 x 1550mm
Embroidered and/or Appliqued, Motifs or Names, Pictorial, Wholecloth, Typically Australian
Christine Kable
Quilt No.553CK - Christine Kable
Durham type wholecloth quilt of cotton sateen, hand sewn and quilted. Apricot on one side and yellow on the other. The padding is possibly coarse cotton.
2465 x 2057mm
Wholecloth, Quilting as major design element, Durham
Lurline Lydiard
Quilt No.31LL - Lurline Lydiard
Unfinished crazy patchwork quilt. Materials are mainly silk, velvet, woven ribbons, woven brocades. Hand embroidery using many different stitches also machine embroidery eg frog. Some individual patches have names, initials, dates probably relating to family members. There are also place names several of which may refer to Australia. Apart from the embroidery on individual patches there are overlaid a number of floral displays across parts of the quilt. Backing is flannelette with selvedges of blue and pink. 1300 x 1300mm
Patchwork, Pieced Random, Crazy, Typically Australian, Motifs or Names
Nancy Stinson
Quilt No.729NS - 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
Wholecloth, Re-used clothing or blanket, Utilitarian, Typically Australian