Quilt No.381FB - Fay Burgess

Fay Burgess
Owner: 
Fay Burgess
Location: 
NSW Sydney
Maker
Maker: 
Eliza Hillyard and Ellen Page-Knight
Made in
ENGLAND
Patterms
Patchwork, Mosaic, Hexagon
Date: 
1901 - 1920
Description: 
Hexagonal piece of patchwork made up of 9 rows of rosettes of hexagons in a wide variety of colours and patterns mainly in silks and velvets. It is incomplete. Backing papers are still in the outside rows and also basting threads. Hexagons are joined by fine whip stitching. It is unlined.
1370 x 1220mm
History: 

Eliza Hillyard commenced the cover in England pre 1914. It was brought to Australia in 1914 when Eliza's daughter Ellen and her husband Tom (Thomas Montague Page-Knight) emigrated with their 4 children, Alice Maude, Vera, Beatrice Lucy and Charles Arthur. Ellen added rows of velvet and silk hexagons to Eliza's work. Ellen's daughter, Alice Maude , continued the work adding additional rows of hexagons. These are now the outer layer and still have some basting threads and papers in place. It is thought that Maude's work was in the 1930s and 1940s. The present owner, Fay Burgess, was given the work by her aunt Maude (Keage). Fay is the daughter of Vera May McGeachan (born Knight).

Story: 

Eliza Worth (later Hillyard) b. 1886 was a needlewoman to Queen Victoria, mending linen. Her daughter Ellen (later Knight) made corsets and it is thought that some of the silk hexagons were from off cuts of corsets. Maude, born 1911, had a business as a dressmaker and made dresses for women married at Elizabeth Bay House in Sydney.
The present owner has a basket of pieces from the quilt and also Eliza's work bag with her initials embroidered on it.

Rt: Ellen Knight c.1905, Centre: Alice Keage c.1932, Lt: Eliza Worth
Rt: Ellen Knight c.1905, Centre: Alice Keage c.1932, Lt: Eliza Worth

Related Quilts:

Gladys V. Williams
Quilt No.3GW - Gladys V. Williams
Grandmother's Flower Garden, also known as French Bouquet. The quilt comprises 181 flowers. No padding is used. Each flower has seven hexagonal patches, cut from a metal template pattern. Floral and plain silk materials are used and mounted on pale blue moire taffeta.
3050 x 2031mm
Patchwork, Mosaic, Hexagon
Julie Pearce
Quilt No.43JP - Julie Pearce
Rectangular quilt of print and plain
cottons pieced in squares and rectangles within 2 frames, the inner border or frame of blue/green check material, then 2 rows of squares and rectangles, the outer frame of a grey and red geometric pattern and 2 rows of squares or rectangles. Backing of plain fabric. Machine stitched on a treadle machine.
Patchwork, Frame
Albury Regional Museum
Quilt No.9ARM - Albury Regional Museum
Patchwork cot quilt, machine pieced, rectangular, 5 x 4 squares. Assorted fabrics including seersucker, corduroy, printed and plain cottons. White ric-rac braid and zigzag machine stitching accentuate rows. Edge of white cotton tape. Backing is single flour bag, calico, with maker's printing visible through patchwork: 'Tiger. Best Australian Roller Flour. Mala Foot. Sole Supply. Part of Kuala Lumper' and Chinese characters.
674 x 540mm
Patchwork, Mosaic, Square
The Pioneer Women's Hut
Quilt No.617PWH - The Pioneer Women's Hut
Machine constructed log cabin quilt using a wide variety of strips of used clothing including cottons, men's suitings and wools. Each square is about 250mm and arranged in the 'light and dark of the fire' variation of log cabin. There is no padding. The backing is brown twill with an orange pattern and is probably a replacement backing.
2180 x 1710mm
Patchwork, Pieced Repeat Block, Log Cabin, Pieced Random
Margery Creek
Quilt No.407MC - Margery Creek
Cotton quilt in 'Pyramid Charm' pattern. Made in the USA and thought to have come from Louisiana. Hand pieced and hand quilted with the quilting following the triangular shapes. The quilting is quite coarse. The backing is black printed material and there is cotton padding.
1931 x 1855mm
Patchwork, Pieced Repeat Block
Helen Sparkman
Quilt No.936HS - Helen Sparkman
Hexagon quilt made from dressmaking scraps from one neice. The quilt top only is complete and a few papers are still attached.
2250 x 2000mm
Patchwork, Mosaic, Hexagon