Quilt No.780NL - National Library of Australia

Owner: 
National Library of Australia
Location: 
ACT
Made in
AUSTRALIA WA
Patterms
Patchwork, Frame
Date: 
pre 1850
Description: 
Patchwork quilt with centre frame of 4 pointed starwith radiating borders of pieced squares and rectangles. Materials are cottons and some linen and it is constructed using the English hand piecing method. There is no padding and it is backed with cotton sheeting joined by machine so it is a later addition.
1400 x 1050mm
History: 

The quilt was made in Western Australia c.1845 by aboriginal children under the instruction of Miss Elizabeth Irwin. In 1854 the family returned to England and the quilt was kept there by a former family nursemaid, Jane Nixon. It passed to Mrs. Mary Willis ( a friend) in 1921 and much later was donated to the National Library of Australia by Mrs. Willis together with a letter detailing what she knew about the hsitory of the quilt.

Story: 

According to Mrs. Willis the quilt was made by aboriginal children at the Swan River settlement WA under the direction of Miss Elizabeth Irwin who it is thought may have taught the children sewing, reading and given them religious instruction.
Elizabeth Irwin was the neice of Colonel Frederick Irwin commandant of Western Australia and sometimes acting Governor of the colony.

Related Quilts:

Cressida Mary Webb Challis
Quilt No.391CC - Cressida Mary Webb Challis
Quilt of machine pieced squares and rectangles using a wide variety of materials in plain colours and patterns. It is one of a pair. There is no padding and the backing is 90cm strips of calico.
2500 x 2130mm
Patchwork, Pieced Random
Fiona Gavens
Quilt No.1009FG - 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.
Patchwork, Mosaic, Hexagon
Teona Smith
Quilt No.47TS - Teona Smith
Suffolk Puff or puff-ball quilt is made from scraps of dresses and pyjamas, mainly cottons, but also taffeta lining fabric, net, lurex, flocked organdie. The quilt is in bright clear colours, the fabric mostly in small prints, ginghams, different size spots, a few large prints, Chinese brocade, nylon. Puffs are 5cm across, and set 31 puffs across by 45 down. Puffs are squared off when whipstitched together, so corner holes are smaller than usual.
2180 x 1500mm
Patchwork, Suffolk Puff
Kaniva District Historical Society
Quilt No.169KHS - Kaniva District Historical Society
Crazy patchwork quilt, mostly velvet, with two rectangular frames or borders of green fabric. All patchwork pieces have embroidery over the seams, mostly herringbone. Quilt is edged with a cream cotton ruffle. Cotton backing.
1625 x 1625mm
Patchwork, Pieced Random, Crazy
Gillian Sullivan
Quilt No.86GS - 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
Patchwork, Suffolk Puff
National Gallery of Australia
Quilt No.977NGA - 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]
Patchwork, Pieced Repeat Block, Log Cabin