Quilt No.381FB - Fay Burgess

Fay Burgess
Owner: 
Fay Burgess
Location: 
NSW Sydney
Maker
Maker: 
Eliza Hillyard and Ellen Page-Knight
Made in
ENGLAND
Date: 
1901 - 1920
Description: 
Hexagonal piece of patchwork made up of 9 rows of rosettes of hexagons in a wide variety of colours and patterns mainly in silks and velvets. It is incomplete. Backing papers are still in the outside rows and also basting threads. Hexagons are joined by fine whip stitching. It is unlined.
1370 x 1220mm
History: 

Eliza Hillyard commenced the cover in England pre 1914. It was brought to Australia in 1914 when Eliza's daughter Ellen and her husband Tom (Thomas Montague Page-Knight) emigrated with their 4 children, Alice Maude, Vera, Beatrice Lucy and Charles Arthur. Ellen added rows of velvet and silk hexagons to Eliza's work. Ellen's daughter, Alice Maude , continued the work adding additional rows of hexagons. These are now the outer layer and still have some basting threads and papers in place. It is thought that Maude's work was in the 1930s and 1940s. The present owner, Fay Burgess, was given the work by her aunt Maude (Keage). Fay is the daughter of Vera May McGeachan (born Knight).

Story: 

Eliza Worth (later Hillyard) b. 1886 was a needlewoman to Queen Victoria, mending linen. Her daughter Ellen (later Knight) made corsets and it is thought that some of the silk hexagons were from off cuts of corsets. Maude, born 1911, had a business as a dressmaker and made dresses for women married at Elizabeth Bay House in Sydney.
The present owner has a basket of pieces from the quilt and also Eliza's work bag with her initials embroidered on it.

Rt: Ellen Knight c.1905, Centre: Alice Keage c.1932, Lt: Eliza Worth
Rt: Ellen Knight c.1905, Centre: Alice Keage c.1932, Lt: Eliza Worth

Related Quilts:

Jean Gill
Pieced quilt featuring log cabin and tumbling block patterns. It is handsewn and has some appliqued flowers.Materials are mainly velvet with a small amount of cotton. There is no padding and the backing is cotton flannelette.
1525 x 1220mm
Julie Pearce
Rectangular quilt of print and plain
cottons pieced in squares and rectangles within 2 frames, the inner border or frame of blue/green check material, then 2 rows of squares and rectangles, the outer frame of a grey and red geometric pattern and 2 rows of squares or rectangles. Backing of plain fabric. Machine stitched on a treadle machine.
Port Curtis Historical Soc.Inc.
Cotton Hexagon quilt with a wide variety of patterned and plain materials. Blue binding and a cotton backing. The padding is thought to be cotton wool.
1525 x 1220mm
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
National Trust of Australia (TAS)
Quilt made of hexagons in cotton materials, the hexagons set in the 'Grandmother's Flower Garden' pattern with 6 patterned patches set around a plain coloured centre patch and white hexagons forming 'paths'. There is a white cotton backing with the edges turned under all the way around and top and backing are joined by a blue machine sewn satin stitch. The patches are hand sewn.
2160 x 1830mm
National Trust of Australia (SA)
Patchwork frame quilt made from cotton prints. Quilt centre has four pieced squares set within a star shaped border of square patches, set within a square frame (74cm square) edged with half triangles, then set within a red frame (114cm x 114 cm), diamond shaped or 'on point'. In the 4 triangles are double diamond shapes, then a wide border of squares and 'square within a square' patches with red triangles. Red binding. Padding is probably wool. Backing is a cotton print in browns in a floral paisley. All over quilting. Handsewn.
1880 x 1850mm