Frame Quilts

Colleen Whitaker
Quilt top, all cotton. Center frame is 600mm square of calico on to which is appliqued red material in an elaborate cut out design. Radiating rows of mainly red and blue triangles. Other materials include, white with abstract plants scattered across it, pink with pin print white dots, white and maroon herringbone with small white flowers with maroon leaf sprays spread 25mm apart. The border is a strip of red not hemmed but with selvedges on the long sides. The quilt is all hand sewn with small back stitch, running stitch and hemming.
Fred Wood
Patchwork quilt made from a variety of printed cottons over 70 prints, using shirting and dress fabrics, fabrics also from pyjamas, curtains, aprons, tablecloths. The centre medallion is a square within a square with white borders, the inner frame made of sawtooth triangles. This is surrounded by pieced triangles, square within a square and crosses. Outer frame of sawtooth triangles, and outer border pieced of squares and triangles. Colours are pinks, blues, burgundy and pastels, with floral, stripe and check prints. Lining of cotton. Backed with a printed cotton. Quilt is bound on all edges.
2430 x 2250mm
Jillian Towers
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
National Gallery of Australia
"A medallion or framed quilt in design. There is a central field of small patchwork diamonds, and from this radiates plain stripes of fabric bordering areas of patchwork panels. The edge of the quilt carries bands of red cotton, which are slightly larger at the top and bottom edges, and here the band is additionally decorated with appliqué diamonds. The fabric of the patchwork is cotton in fine plain weave of pale coloured florals and small geometric designs. The framing and border stripes are of bright red twill weave cotton. The small diamonds of the central field are hand sewn, with more use of machine stitching around the outer edge of the quilt.
The quilt is not padded. The patchwork is fully lined with a printed plain weave cotton fabric with a design commemorating Queen Victoria's Jubilee. The design is based on a repeated grid of circles. In the centre of each circle is a cameo of Queen Victoria, surrounded by images of the national flowers of England, Scotland and Ireland: the rose, the thistle and the shamrock. The edge of the front face of the quilt is trimmed with a red and white cotton braid." [NGA] 2380 x 2220mm
Annette Gero
Frame quilt or coverlet with centre frame surrounded by floral printed panels. The centre is cotton chintz block printed material in madder colours. It is hand quilted.
2700 x 2700mm
Annette Gero
Hand pieced frame quilt with centre frame and borders of squares set on point. There is a blue patterned border. The backing is white and it is finely quilted. "The fabrics themselves are all absolutely typical of the period [1830 t0 1840] and many, if not most, of them can be found as illustrations in historical textile reference books - in this respect the quilt is virtually a book chapter in itself and has a particular value to a quilt historian. At about this period in England cottons and chintzes were being produced in great quantity and were relatively modestly priced." [Annette Gero]
2540 x 2540mm
Jenny Martin
Hand pieced frame (medallion) quilt. Small hexagons in centre surrounded by triangles and then rectangles. Fabrics are often end of roll pieces with maker's marks. Small prints in mainly creams and browns. The backing is pieced pyjama fabrics. There is no padding. 2130 x 1670mm
Jenny Martin
Frame (medallion) quilt with plain red centre and radiating rows of floral dress patches with the outer border large pieces of furnishing fabrics. Various colour ways of the same pattern so possibly came from sample books. There is no padding and it is machine quilted. The backing is patchwork with large pieces of florals and furnishing fabrics. 2190 x 1760mm
Powerhouse Museum
"A double sided rectangular patchwork quilt with blanket inlay. On the face side, the patchwork pieces are arranged in long rectangular strips, laid 'log cabin style' and dimishing in size, around the rectangular medallion. This is composed of a column of 5 patches with narrow strip borders. The colours are strong in the centre of the quilt and become softer toward the edge. The patches that make up individual strips are the same toning with a variety of dot, stripe, check and small floral patterns. The quilt has been hand and machine stitched.
The reverse of the quilt has been similarly structured, with rectangular and square patches forming borders around a central rectangle. The patches however are arranged in rows of the same fabric but in different colourways. Most fabrics are striped with a secondary floral pattern while others are bolder. The presence of fabrics in different colourways suggests they may have been taken from a swatchbook." [PHM]
1920 x 1630mm
Powerhouse Museum
"Medallion quilt pieced from square, rectangular and triangular pieces from plain and patterned cottons. Central motif is appliqued in red cotton on white background with kangaroo and emu on either side of a shield. Four stars are randomly placed on the white background. There is no padding. The backing is pieced together from different types of white material." [PHM]
2265 x 1975mm
Powerhouse Museum
"A rectangular patchwork medallion quilt or coverlet, machine sewn from delicately coloured plain and printed cotton shirting fabrics in fine stripe, spot and check patterns. The fabrics were probably obtained from a manufacturer's superceded swatchbook. The design is of medallion type with a central rectangular panel surrounded by three deep borders, all separated by narrow strip borders. The central panel and deep borders are made from small triangular patches that form dynamic geometric patterns of squares, diamonds and chevrons. The quilt is backed with patched white cotton fabric, probably sheeting, and is bound around the edges with cotton strips."
1810 x 1700mm
Joyce Lannin
Handsewn quilt with central appliqué scene of Japanese women and Mt. Fuji. Appliqué flowers form a border around the centre panel and three rows of open fans a second border. Each fan is different. The padding is cotton and the backing is polyester sheeting with a border of fans. 2380 x 2355 mm
Powerhouse Museum
"A medallion style, handpieced cot quilt with dark and light checkerboard patterning of rectangular cotton printed fabrics, probably taken from a fabric sample book. Two frames of pink cotton strips printed with navy blue polka dots outline the central block and separate the outer rows of patches. The quilt is edged with narrow strips of brown floral cretonne and dramatic triangular 'flames' of red floral cretonne attached all around. The seams joining the patches are oversewn with blue featherstitch embroidery, and the quilt is backed with printed cotton." [PHM] There is no padding.
1480 x 1235mm
Virginia DeFriest
One of a pair for twin beds. Frame quilt entirely in rectangles of squares radiating from small central rectangle. Alternating rows of plain and patterned cottons. All squares are on edge. Padding is cotton and backing is plain white muslin. 2220 x 1540 mm.
Virginia DeFriest
One of a pair for twin beds. Frame quilt entirely in rectangles of squares radiating from small central rectangle. Alternating rows of plain and patterned cottons. All squares are on edge. Padding is cotton and backing is plain white muslin. 2220 x 1540 mm.
Fran Williams
Double sided frame quilt. All cotton. Extensive hand quilting, cables, overlapping circles and a large circular quilting design in the centre. The padding is a cream and blue blanket. It is very heavy.
1810 x 2140mm
Fran Williams
All cotton frame quilt with 6 borders. Extensively hand quilted. The backing is cream cotton. There is no padding.
1840 x 2440mm
Dubbo Museum & Historical Society Inc
Frame quilt with central square of floral patterned chintz with a yellow background, surrounded by borders of squares and rectangular pieced fabrics, dark pieces mostly alternating with light. It is hand pieced and flat quilted.
Nell Bell
Double sided patchwork quilt in coloured patterned cottons. Side A has frame pattern aound a central pieced rectangle containing a piece of lace curtaining. Colours are ornage, brown, yellow, green, red and black. Side B has windmill blades (4 blades) in printed cottons with solid colour centres appliqued on to a dark brown background. Hand and machine sewn. Padding is fleece wool in an old commercial eiderdown.
1829 x 915mm
Jillian Towers
Wool quilt with central check, pieced,tied, frame. Irregular hand pieced borders to frame.There is no padding. The backing is white huckaback, perhaps an old bedspread, with a pieced border down two sides where the quilt has been folded back
1920 x 1340mm

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