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:

National Gallery of Australia
" Reversible patchwork quilt of woollen suiting/upholstery fabrics in khaki, greys, blues and browns. Both sides have different designs. The front of the quilt has 13 rows of 12 vertical rectangles flanked on either side by a column of 22 horizontal rectangles. The reverse has a more interesting and complex design of small and very large rectangles, squares and triangles; with khaki contrasting with the duller greys and blues. The patchwork layers are joined at the edges with machine stitching and the quilt is machine quilted along 3 horizontal lines following joins in the patchwork; therefore not being totally straight. These lines are more noticeable on the reverse. The reverse face has been on display at the NGA." [NGA] There is a cotton blanket used as padding. 2054 x 1451mm
N.S.W. Parks and Wildlife Service
Large centre rectangle of hexagons in various colours of patterned and plain cottons. It is surrounded by a wide border in a checkerboard of red and white cottons. There is a wholecloth cotton backing. The front and the back have been turned under at the edge and machined. There is no padding.
1829 x 1372mm
Phyllis Dowling
Hand pieced cot quilt made from small rectangular shapes of a great variety of materials including cottons, silks, wools and velvets. The backing is cotton sateen in 3 colours and is brought to the front to form a border of pink, cream and yellow.
1170 x 920mm
The Embroiderers' Guild of S.A.Inc Museum
4 Pieces of a patchwork quilt which was formerly a whole quilt. It is pieced in cottons in blues reds and browns in many prints. There are whole circles and pieced circles against a plain cream calico background. It is wool lined and is quilted. There are the initials 'A.B.' and '1828' on a central piece. The 4 pieces are various sizes.
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]
Kapunda Historical Society
Patchwork quilt made from cotton fabrics in stripes, small prints, and plains. Centre block is pieced red and white triangles within a blue and white striped frame, with a row above and below of triangles in a flying geese pattern. Two rows of triangles in the flying geese pattern are on either side the full length of the quilt. Quilt is bordered with red cotton. Colours are red, white, pink, blue and yellow. Padding is probably a woollen blanket, the backing is linen. Closely quilted all over.
2180 x 1930mm