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:

Josephine Curtis
Taylor's sample quilt made from men's suit swatches, mainly greys and blues. Edging is 6cms wide, of blue flannelette. Padding is an old grey blanket, and the backing is of printed pattern corduroy. 1680 x 920 mm.
Gillian Albers
Patchwork quilt made from hexagons in 'Grandmother's Flower Garden' design, in blue and aqua cottons, polyester and flannelette. Quilt is backed. No padding or quilting.
2380 x 2320mm
Irma Whitford
Pieced repeat block in 'Dresden Plate' pattern in a variety of fabrics with pink and pale blue predominating. Scalloped outer edge. Machine pieced and hand quilted, with echo quilting of four petals between the 'Dresden Plates'. The padding is polyester, and the backing is white calico. 2600 x 1630 mm.
Catherine Ringwood
The top of this quilt is 6 x 5 alternating squares and rectangles of check woollen material in 12 or more colour ways. Herringbone stitch in yellow stranded cotton is worked along each join and border.The border is plain grey wool. There is no padding and the backing is light blue crepe.
1118 x 814mm
Mare Carter
Patchwork quilt, all cotton including cotton filling. Pink and white. Large plain pink blocks with white pieced blocks in between in arrow type pattern based on rectangles. Hand sewn and hand quilted
1931 x 1728mm
Art Gallery of South Australia
Rectangular patchwork crazy quilt pieced in squares (3 across by 4 down), in silks and wool, with red sashing between blocks and red border, quilted. Colours are dark, with red and light blue. Embroidery includes double feather, rope, herringbone, satin, cross, sword edge, buttonhole and coral stitches, and French knots. Embroidered flowers include lily of the valley, rose, daisy, and sunflower, also butterflies. Backing is pieced in the frame style, with a large centre red square, within 10 frames or borders. Embroidered "In Most Loving Memory of My Darling 1883", "V.H.B." Hand sewn.
1900 x 1500mm