Quilt No.758PHM - Powerhouse Museum

Powerhouse Museum
Owner: 
Powerhouse Museum
Location: 
NSW Sydney
Maker
Maker: 
Caroline Mary West
Made in
AUSTRALIA NSW
Date: 
1921 - 1940
Description: 
"A tied patchwork wagga quilt made from swatches of men's wool suiting fabrics in blue/grey and pink/brown tonings. Rectangular swatches have been cut in half diagonally, and the resulting right-angled triangles paired to form larger equilateral triangles which alternate dark with light across the field. The quilt has been machine and hand pieced, then machined in vertical stripes.
The centre field is bounded by two strip-pieced borders at top and bottom, and three down each side. These are sewn from rectangles, using light pink/brown tones for the inner border and darker colours for the...
History: 

The quilt was made by Caroline Mary West about 1930 on a property near Trundle NSW in about 1930. It was handed down through the women of the family, to her grandson Mr. Ian Foster of Newport. Ian Foster gave the quilt to the Powerhouse Museum in 1985.

Story: 

"The quilt was made by Mrs. Caroline Mary West (nee Bray) in about 1930. Caroline was born on the 14 June 1872 and married a grazier, Everett Pearson West, in 1904. They lived on a property near Trundle, in the centre-west of New South Wales and had six children, four boys and two girls between 1905 and 1915. The quilt is thought to have been made in the 1920s or early 1930s during the Depression. The woollen suiting fabrics used to make the quilt were obtained from Tom Ellis, the local tailor. Caroline Mary West died on 19 March 1947." [PHM]

Related Quilts:

Barbara McCabe
"A single bed cover made up of squares and recrangles of woollen fabric pieced together by a Vicker Sewing Machine from Myer Melbourne. The fabrics are either new (left over scraps) or used (unpicked woollen garments). The backing is an old (used) candlewick bedspread. There is no padding. It is faded and worn due to being used for other purposes later. There is a 66 cm high clown that ahs been appliqued on mainly by hand using blanket stitch. It is also made from scraps of fabric. The hands were cut from an old felt hat."
2400mm x 1660mm
Thelma Lithgow
Repeat block quilt top based on hexagons, each 350 mm diameter. Six hexagons and a centre one make a 'flower' and these are set in rows against a plain calico background. Patterned cotton fabrics are used for the hexagons, small prints, fine stripes and tiny flowers. As it is a quilt top only, there is no lining or padding. 2100 x 1800 mm
Jeanette Marchant
Quilt of hand stitched cotton hexagon patches, the hexagons are in groups of 7 to form flowers, with white or cream 'paths'. The quilt centre has 19 flowers grouped within a single hexagon border of brown and red patches. In each corner of the quilt there are 6 flowers grouped around a larger flower within a single border of darker print hexagon patches. Backing is cream cotton, machine stitched to the top. There is no padding or quilting. Some fabric patches have deteriorated.
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.
Heather Roobol
Patchwork quilt has three centre squares, one in blue/white/brown in a cross pattern, one in framed square, one with diagonal strips in a pink frame. The rest of the quilt is made from strips of rectangles in different sizes sewn in rows. There is a narrow pieced frame, then an outer border of pieced rectangles. Mostly pastel colours. No padding. Backing is calico. There is a little embroidery.
2160 x 1601mm
Irene Pascoe
Utilitarian cot quilt. The padding is layered reused woollen materials, parts of old blankets, part overcoats. These are stitched together with string and knitting wools The top and backing are printed cotton. There is a frill all around and buttons have been used to anchor the padding layers to the outside cover.
1169 x 915mm