Quilt No.429HH - Helen Hancock

Helen Hancock
Owner: 
Helen Hancock
Location: 
QLD South West
Maker
Maker: 
Marion Best
Made in
AUSTRALIA QLD
Date: 
1881 - 1900
Description: 
Fragment of a crazy patchwork quilt hand stitched in cottons, silks, silk velvets and silk brocades. Variety of fancy stitches including blanket, feather, herringbone worked in various kinds of cottons and some chenille thread. There is also some beading. The backing is red cotton. The fragment is now framed.
484mm x 484mm
History: 

The quilt, of which this is a fragment, was made c1890 by Marion Best (Fairlie) 1862-1954 in Maryborough Queensland. It then passed to her grand-daughter Marion Ham and is now owned by her great grand-daughter. Helen Hancock. It is framed.

Story: 

Marion Fairlie came to Australia from England in 1862 as a baby. Her parents came to explore the possibility of growing cotton for their muslin factory in Glasgow, Scotland. This was prompted by the failure of the American cotton crop. Maryborough proved unsuitable for cotton growing so James Fairlie started a joinery business making window frames from Queensland red cedar. He is said to have made a fortune.

Helen Hancock
Helen Hancock

Related Quilts:

Valinda Gale
Patchwork quilt made from squares of cotton prints in florals, stripes, spots and checks, joined together in rows. Colours are predominantly blues, reds, yellow and pastels. Binding is of turquoise blue fabric. Materials appear to be from the 40s or 50s. Patches caught in the middle with a woollen knot - red, yellow, blue wool. No quilting. Backed in blue fleecy flannel.
Single bed length and width.
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
Mrs. L. M. Chick
Hexagon quilt made by hand from a wide variety of cotton materials. There is no padding and the backing is calico.
2286 x 915mm
Marion Coleman
Quilt made of Tailors' wool samples in stripes, checks and plain,, rectangles in different sizes machined together in strips. Colours are grey, navy, brown, light grey and cream. Lining or backing is of patterned cotton, in three layers as it has worn and been replaced. Machine and zigzag quilting.
1626 x 1271mm
Mare Carter
Patchwork cradle quilt of pieced repeat blocks. All cotton including cotton filling. Pattern is in faded greens and pinks,"4 pointed star" in circles. There are 20 blocks.
991 x 788mm
National Gallery of Australia
"A medallion or framed quilt in design. There is a central field of small patchwork diamonds, and from this radiates plain stripes of fabric bordering areas of patchwork panels. The edge of the quilt carries bands of red cotton, which are slightly larger at the top and bottom edges, and here the band is additionally decorated with appliqué diamonds. The fabric of the patchwork is cotton in fine plain weave of pale coloured florals and small geometric designs. The framing and border stripes are of bright red twill weave cotton. The small diamonds of the central field are hand sewn, with more use of machine stitching around the outer edge of the quilt.
The quilt is not padded. The patchwork is fully lined with a printed plain weave cotton fabric with a design commemorating Queen Victoria's Jubilee. The design is based on a repeated grid of circles. In the centre of each circle is a cameo of Queen Victoria, surrounded by images of the national flowers of England, Scotland and Ireland: the rose, the thistle and the shamrock. The edge of the front face of the quilt is trimmed with a red and white cotton braid." [NGA] 2380 x 2220mm