Quilt No.665DC - Diana Cameron

Diana Cameron
Owner: 
Diana Cameron
Location: 
QLD South West
Maker
Maker: 
Jane Cobbold
Made in
AUSTRALIA VIC
Date: 
1881 - 1900
Description: 
Cotton quilt of patterned and plain hexagons with central design and borders of hexagons radiating from it. It is hand sewn and most patterns are of roses. Backing is pink sateen and is a replacement backing put on in 1939. Pieced over papers, remnant love letters were found when the new backing was put on.
1981 x 1525mm
History: 

The quilt was hand sewn by Jane Cobbold (Cain) c.1880 at 'Yarra House' in South Yarra, Melbourne and passed to the present owner's great aunt and then to her mother and is now owned by Diana Cameron. It is used occasionally.

Story: 

Diana Cameron's grandmother, Jane Cobbold, was born in England and came to Australia as William Cain's bride c.1875. 'Yarra House' in Anderson Street, South Yarra was built by William Cain who was mayor of Melbourne (before it was a city so he was not Lord Mayor) about 1890. It is opposite the Botanic gardens and the Cains entertained lavishly for over a decade. 'Yarra House' is now Merton Hall and part of the Melbourne Church of England Grammar School.
Diana Cameron, the present owner, went to the Goondiwindi district as a young bride and the quilt has always been part of her married life.
[Compiled from notes supplied by the owner]

Related Quilts:

Fiona Gavens
Hexagon quilt constructed over papers; all seams oversewn with featherstitch embroidery. Materials are vyella and clydella scraps from childhood dresses of the maker's first four children, augmented with scraps from a dressmaker and a book of samples. There is no padding; backing is plain, pale blue, brushed cotton.
2200 x 1720 mm.
Mare Carter
Patchwork quilt with diagonal arrangement. All cotton including cotton padding. Hand sewn and quilted.
2109 x 1702mm
Joyce Lannin
The centre of the quilt is a small blue 6 pointed star surrounded by a larger blue star. Blue stars also form a border to the quilt. The background material is a multicoloured small floral pattern on white cotton. The quilt is all hand worked over templates. The padding is cotton and the backing is polyester sheeting with a border of stars.
2650 x 2475 mm
Pauline Hunter
Patchwork quilt made from hexagon patches in satin and nylon, the nylon overlaid on satin. Fabrics are plain, in a mixture of dark and light colours. No padding. Backing is of pink satin with pink satin ribbon covering the joining seams. Hand sewn with some machine stitching. Feather stitching along the edge. There is no padding.
2211 x 1752mm
Gillian Sullivan
Quilt made of 9120 very small Suffolk Puffs, each one about the size of a 20 cent piece. "Each piece backed and the front of it drawn up like a reticule. It was not backed and was rather fragile, so I backed it on to a sheet, as it was heavy and in danger of tearing when lifted." [Gillian Sullivan]
2360 x 2230 mm
National Gallery of Australia
" A wide range of cotton fabrics have been used to make this quilt in the traditional log cabin style. The strips of the log cabin are joined by rows being hand sewn onto a small square backing fabric, each square of strips has then been hand sewn together to form the quilt. The work is backed with a sateen printed fabric decorated with paisley design. A strip of the lining trims the edge of the front face of the quilt. The lining is attached with machine stitching. There are numerous tacking stitches that remain in the front face of the quilt. There are approx 9000 pieces in the quilt, most being only 5mm in width.
The quilt is of three layers because the strips of the log cabin are attached to a backing piece, and then the quilt is lined; however it is not padded." [NGA]