Quilt No.444DC - Dorothy Cawood

Dorothy Cawood
Owner: 
Dorothy Cawood
Location: 
VIC Melbourne
Maker
Maker: 
francis Jane McElhinney
Made in
IRELAND
Date: 
1921 - 1940
Description: 
Utility quilt. Pieced pink brocade type material from old curtains forms panels down both sides. Also used in the other quilt by the same maker. The centre is a single piece of lightweight check material. Single/double thread quilting stitches. The padding is hessian and the backing is a heavy woollen type tweed.
1700 x 1600mm
History: 

The quilt was made by Francis Jane McElhinney 1896-1965 in Londonderry Ireland pre 1926. One of 2 quilts brought to Australia as family luggage on the Barrabool in 1926. Passed by maternal descent to the present owner, Dorothy Cawood, who is the grand-daughter of Francis. The quilts were used in Ireland and Australia for extra warmth when needed. More recently they were used under the wire mattress, as dog blankets, as moving blankets to protect furniture and as drop sheets for painting. They were stored in a back shed but are now valued and stored in the owner's house. They are not now used.

Story: 

"My grandmother Francis Jane McElhinney (nee Patterson) was born on the 15.4.1896 at Milford, Letterkenny, Eire and died on the 22.1.1965 at Melbourne. Francis and her husband Robert lived in a 2 storey house at No.1 Sydney Terrace, Great James Street, Londonderry Ire, where Martha, (my mother) and Francis were born. A third daughter, Laura was born in Australia in 1926 soon after their arrival.
My grandfather was a motor mechanic for Rover and my grandmother was a secretary/typist for a law company. I have a small Pitman's Shorthand Pocket Dictionary presented to her on passing her examinations dated July 1912. My mother also tells of her parents taking in borders to supplement their income.
The reason for leaving Ireland for Australia in 1926, was the opportunity for a better way of life.
The quilts I have were used for bedding both here and in Ireland. My Mother used them for extra warmth when needed, but I can remember them being under the mattress on my bed, whether it was for easy storage when not is use, or it kept the draught from coming up through the wire base, then they ended up in our garage.
Their belongings came to Australia in trunks, one of which I keep my embroidery supplies. As you will see from a copy of goods and chattels sold at auction* before the family sailed a lot of quilts were left behind, perhaps too bulky or heavy to transport, or maybe they thought they would not be needed in a warm country like Australia. My grandmother did not value the quilts, they were a purely functional household item, although I wonder why these 2 were kept. I also have some linen pillow shams with a crochet edge and handmade buttons, that were also used on their beds. The family moved into a house (1926 or 1927) at 71 Benjamin Street Sunshine (not far from where I live) until the 3 girls were married and their parents passed away. My grandmother taught her 3 daughters to mend, darn, crochet, knit and of course do "fancywork" which mum remembers would be done after the household chores and music practice. Mum recalls being taught to darn her socks at the age of 6 before she came to Australia."
[Dorothy Cawood 13.1.1999]

* The auction sale notice lists 3 "P.Work Quilt" and 6 "Quilt" at prices ranging from 4 shillings and threepence to one shilling. ED.

Robert and Francis McElhinney 1930s
Robert and Francis McElhinney 1930s
The family home at Sunshine c.1926
The family home at Sunshine c.1926

Related Quilts:

The Pioneer Women's Hut
Patchwork quilt made up of 100mm multi coloured squares in a variety of materials including cottons, synthetics, lurex, plain and printed. Each square has dacron padding and is then joined in strips and the strips joined. All hand sewn. The backing is blue synthetic whole cloth 60mm of which is returned to the front to form a border.
1500 x 1200mm
Annette Gero
Quilt top of hexagons in silks and satins, pieced over papers in the English tradition. Some paper templates still in place. One states: 'Semi - Monthly Regular Clipper packets to New Zealand, Port Phillip, Sydney�2nd of each month..Adelaide' suggesting it may have been from a shipping timetable.
1580 x 1830mm
Mildura and District Historical Society
Quilt of 2025 hexagons stitched together to form diamond patterns. Hand sewn using paper templates. Materials are cottons and plains typical of the thirties period. The backing is blue cotton and the quilt is bound with many rows of coloured bias binding through which is treaded window cord. There is no padding. The quilt is called 'Grandmothers' Flower Garden quilt'.
2439 x 1829mm
National Trust of Australia (WA)
Patchwork quilt in Grandmother's Flower Garden pattern, consisting of 7 patch rosettes with white 'paths'. Cotton dress and shirting materials have been used in blues, pinks, brown, turkey red and Prussian blue. The quilt is hand sewn and each hexagon is 25mm wide. The backing is cream twill cotton in three panels. There is a hand sewn binding in red/pink cotton. There is overall quilting in chevron or zigzag pattern.
2415 x 2110mm
National Gallery of Australia
"The Rajah "quilt" is a patchwork and appliquéd bed cover or coverlet. It is in pieced medallion or framed style: a popular design style for quilts in the British Isles in the mid 1800's. There is a central field of white cotton decorated with appliquéd (in broderie perse) chintz birds and floral motifs. This central field is framed by 12 bands or strips of patchwork printed cotton. The quilt is finished at the outer edge by white cotton decorated with appliquéd daisies on three sides and inscription in cross stitch surrounded by floral chintz attached with broderie perse on the fourth side. All fabrics used in the Rajah quilt are cotton with the exception of small amounts of linen and silk threads. The quilt shows evidence of being produced by many hands." [NGA] The quilt is not padded or lined. 3372 x 3250mm
Meg Orr
All over pattern of rows of hexagons with each unit made up of 4 hexagons each 45mm. Patterned and plain materials thought to date from the 1930s including cotton and linen dress materials, synthetics and synthetic crepe. It was an unfinished top and Meg Orr, the present owner, finished it by machine stitching some of the hexagon rosettes to the red twill background and stitching on a backing. There is no padding.
1740 x 1210mm.