Quilt No.429HH - Helen Hancock
Owner:
Helen Hancock
Location:
QLD South West
Maker
Maker:
Marion Best
Made in
AUSTRALIA QLD
Patterms
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
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
Related Quilts:
This quilt is allover crazy patchwork not done in squares. Many pieces are awkward shapes. In the centre is a 150 x 150mm square of squares each 25mm repeating some of the materials in the quilt. Most of the materials are velvets, satins and silks. There is a border of red and green patterned wool and all seams are feather stitched in a thick gold thread. The padding is thought to be flannelette and the backing is polished cotton in faded red and green.
2560 x 2160mm
2560 x 2160mm
Quilt with hexagons forming lozenge or honeycomb pattern. Predominantly greens and pinks in brocatelle (rayon brocade). All hand stitched. The backing is lime green rayon. The padding is probably dacron.
1800 x 1630mm
1800 x 1630mm
Crazy patchwork quilt made from silk, cotton and velvet in pastels and rich dark colours with a wide border of dark burgundy silk velvet. Decorative embroidery stitches including straight, herringbone and feather edge each piece. Most pieces have embroidered motifs including crown, flowers, horseshoe and Australian motifs of wattle and emu. Date '1891' worked in cross stitch on one piece. The padding is wool and the backing dark red satin and these are joined by diagonal machine stitching in yellow thread.
1750 x 1100mm
1750 x 1100mm
Quilt made from furnishing materials, mostly velour type or uncut moquette. The colours are dusty pinks and beige/camel/blue. It has been put together by making wide strips of various sized rectangles sewn together and any missing piece in a rectangle added by using another piece of material to complete the shape. There is no padding and the backing is winter cotton.
2000 x 1650mm
2000 x 1650mm
Hand pieced frame quilt with centre frame of hexagons and radiating borders of cotton and chintz. There is a heart at each of the 4 corners on the second border. It is hand quilted. There is no padding.
1900 x 1900mm
1900 x 1900mm
Hand pieced hexagon quilt in pattern known as 'Grandmother's Flower Garden". 12 hexagons, in patterned cottons, form the outer border of each flower with an inner border of 6 matching plain coloured hexagons and all flowers have a yellow hexagon centre. There is no padding, a cotton backing and it is hand quilted.
2400 x 1780mm.
2400 x 1780mm.