Quilt No.575JT - Jillian Towers

Jillian Towers
Owner: 
Jillian Towers
Location: 
VIC Melbourne
Maker
Maker: 
Una Kerr
Made in
AUSTRALIA VIC
Date: 
1941 - 1970
Description: 
Hand pieced patchwork quilt with blue and black checkerboard central frame surrounded by 4 borders of irregular sized rectangles. Mainly dress materials with possibly some furnishing material. It is not quilted or tied. The backing is a large rectangular red check table cloth with 3 borders of irregular shaped pieces down 2 sides and 1 border down 2 sides. There is no padding.
1860 x 1730mm
History: 

The quilt was made by Una Kerr in Melbourne c.1960. She gave it to her friend Jillian Towers. It is generally not used now "except for short periods of display and admiration".[J.T.]

Story: 

" Una Kerr was born in Rochdale, England in approximately 1922. She became an orphan as a very young child and went with her two older sisters, to an orphanage in Kendal in the Lake District. The girls were trained in domestic duties and at the age of about sixteen, Una found a position in a large private home in the district.
She remained in domestic service until the outbreak of World War II, when she joined the Royal Women's Air Force. She remained in the airforce until demobilisation after the war ended and returned to domestic service.
About 1953 she applied for immigration to Australia, (at the cost of 10 pounds) and settled in Melbourne, still occupied in domestic service to earn her living.
It is about this time she met the family of the current owner of the quilts and became a close friend.
The owner of the qults remembers as a child watching and learning from Una as she performed many needlework projects including rug making, embroidery, and tapestry. She also made many of her own clothes. All her sewing was by hand as she did not own a sewing machine, nor did she want one.
Una never married. Until she could afford to purchase her own villa unit Una lived in a small caravan and whilst there, for practical purposes, made these quilts from scraps of fabric collected from various sources. The quilts were used for bed warmth.
Una died suddenly in 1995 whilst still leading an energetic and active life pursuing her interests in sketching, photogggraphy, walking and love of nature."
[Jillian Towers 12.7.99]

Una Kerr
Una Kerr

Related Quilts:

National Trust of Australia (NSW)
Hand pieced and quilted quilt in silks, wool and cotton dress materials. The centre is a hexagon star in pink and yellow with black points. Most of the body of the quilt is pieced in Tumbling Blocks with an outer border of triangles. The backing is pieced from large rectangles of blue satin, rust-brown moire taffeta and brown-grey silk in a 'rectangle within a rectangle' pattern. The quilting is all over and finely done in yellow thread in a variety of patterns including snails, petalled flowers and hearts.
Ruth Flett
Quilt is made of wool tailors' samples, each measuring 6 x 3 1/2 inches. The colours are predominantly navy and grey. Most pieces are striped but some more distinctly than others. Both sides are mad eof smaples, one side being mainly grey and the other almost exclusively navy. There doesn't seem to be another layer of material as padding. There is no added decoration. Made on a treadle sewing machine.
1703 x 1423mm
Giuliana Bond
Log cabin quilt, machine pieced and assembled. Some fabrics are pieces from family dresses, with mauve crepe used throughout. The pale side of each block is silk taffeta and other silk pieces. Padding is flannelette, and backing is cream muslin from a petticoat of the present owner, worn when she was bridesmaid to an aunt and uncle. 1000 x 630 mm.
 Dianne Gorringe
Patchwork quilt/cloth with strong overall design of very small squares. The colours are navy, red, cream, green (khaki) and fawn. There is a wide fringe on all sides. There is no padding. The backing is cotton sateen.
1240 x 126mm
The Pioneer Women's Hut
Machine pieced crazy patchwork quilt in plain, floral and striped cotton materials. Some pieces are seamed and others are sewn direct on to calico backing. Each piece is outlined in red stranded cotton in herringbone stitch.
2150 x 1770mm
Sharlene Rogers (for Nadia Brookes)
Pieced squares, each square with a cross and 4 small squares in red. Crosses are in rows alternating 2 shades of blue and 2 of brown. Cream background. Now unlined but remnant blanket like material in corners. Originally had a cotton frill. Quilt was made from scraps of material used for making children's clothes.