Quilt No.866AG - Annette Gero

Annette Gero
Owner: 
Annette Gero
Location: 
NSW Sydney
Maker
Maker: 
Lillian Head et al
Made in
AUSTRALIA NSW
Patterms
Patchwork, Mosaic, Typically Australian, Tailors' samples
Date: 
1921 - 1940
Description: 
Double sided quilt made from mainly rectangular pieces of woollen tailors' samples and suiting materials. It is machine sewn and there is no padding.
1670 x 1220mm
History: 

Made by Lillian Head and her mother and aunts in Sydney c.1930. Now in the collection of Annette Gero.

Story: 

"Lillian Head and her mother and aunts ran a 'sweat shop' in the back of their house in Petersham Sydney, where they stitched up vests (illegally) for extra cash. With the remains and spare suiting they made 'depression' waggas from the tailors' samples and off cuts. These were made together with her mother, grandmother and her aunts from the 1920's through to the 1940's."
" 'The backroom of our house was turned into a sewing room with two sewing machines. We used to go to Blackmore's Tailors near St. Peters (Sydney) and pick up pre-cut men's vests, which we took home to sew. The tailor often gave us swatches and offcuts from which we produced waggas - we gave many away. They were often lined with sugar bags which we got from the grocers. We were making them in 1927 when the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and the present Queen Mother), came to Australia to open Parliament House and I remember taking along a box of swatches to sew whilst waiting to see their carriage pass when they opened the Royal Agricultural Show in Sydney that year.'
After Lillian's marriage in 1940 she continued to make them for her children up till 1947."
[Annette Gero]

Lillian Head
Lillian Head

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