Patchwork Quilts

Marie Pye
Quilt of scrap hexagons. Hand pieced over papers with some papers still in place. Materials used include seersucker, plisse, chambray and various other textured cottons used in dressmaking. The owner has restored the quilt. The backing is a soft cotton in indigo blue and the padding is flannelettte. "I machine tied the quilt in its restoration using cream cotton at the intersections so that it doesn't impinge on the interesting fabrics and the overall scrap effects." [Marie Pye]
2590 x 2170mm
Ann Hockey
Patchwork quilt made of small squares pieced from four triangles. Each square is 90mm and is joined to the others by a herringbone lacing in yellow rayon crochet thread, so making an open mesh between each square. The quilt is edged with thick yellow rayon corded braid. Each square is backed with gold coloured cotton. No padding.
1730 x 1430mm
Busselton Historical Society
The strip quilt is handsewn and quilted. Quilt top has 13 panels or strips of 3 different cotton lawn floral prints. Some fabrics are now wearing. Backing is of plain white cotton. The padding is wool. Quilting features a triple row cable design with flower motifs.
2100 x 1800mm
The Embroiderers' Guild of S.A.Inc Museum
This Adelaide Chronicle wildflower quilt has alternating squares of green and fawn headcloth embroidered with Australian wildflowers on the fawn squares and stylised floral motifs on the green squares. It is bordered and backed with the same green material. It is padded.
2350 x 1530mm
Sharlene Rogers (for Nadia Brookes)
Pieced squares, each square with a cross and 4 small squares in red. Crosses are in rows alternating 2 shades of blue and 2 of brown. Cream background. Now unlined but remnant blanket like material in corners. Originally had a cotton frill. Quilt was made from scraps of material used for making children's clothes.
Fay Burgess
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
Brenda Bird
Suffolk Puff quilt made from a variety of scraps of dress materials including cottons and terylene. It is backed with white cotton sheeting and edged with a frill of white terylene. There is a matching pillow sham.
1740 x 1300 mm.
Gwen Cordinglay
Patchwork quilt made from hexagon patches in silks and rayons, in pinks, blues, red, yellow mainly, with pastels. No padding. Bordered and backed with green satin.
1829 x 1372mm
Narelle Grieve
Folded log cabin, foundation pieced. Machine constructed. Materials are cotton, wool, rayon, flannelette, silk and twill. There is no padding and the backing is cretonne. 2700 x 2100 mm
Ruth Hansen
Cotton patchwork quilt in an all over pattern of diamonds in a wide variety of patterned and plain materials. Many seams are oversewn in feather stitch which goes through to the backing of calico.
1625 x 925mm
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]
National Gallery of Australia
"The quilt consists of 12 blocks of crazy patchwork with an embroidered border. The quilt is made of 167 different fabrics; most of these are silk. These velvets, printed silks and satins are beautifully embroidered with flowers, household items and Kate Greenway images of children at play. Many of the motifs have a strong influence from the Aesthetic Movement. The edge of the quilt carries a border in maroon silk decorated with tendrils and daisies in very fine embroidery.
The patches are joined with hand sewing and embroidery, however the 12 panels are joined with machine stitching (chainstitch machine stitching). The blue silk lining was hand sewn into position with silk thread." [NGA]
"The quilt does consist of three layers but the central layer is not padding. The crazy patch pieces were sewn together and this was lined with white cotton fabric prior to the embroidery at the edges of the 12 panels being placed. This in turn was lined with a fine blue silk." [NGA] 1810 x 1460 mm
Margaret McMillan
Cotton log cabin double bed quilt. Each square has 52 pieces (i.e. 13 pieces x 4 to make a square). There are 192 squares so a total of 10.092 pieces. There is probably no padding. The backing is calico with a floral pattern done in running stitch.
2200 x 2200mm
Irma Whitford
Pieced repeat block in 'Dresden Plate' pattern in a variety of fabrics with pink and pale blue predominating. Scalloped outer edge. Machine pieced and hand quilted, with echo quilting of four petals between the 'Dresden Plates'. The padding is polyester, and the backing is white calico. 2600 x 1630 mm.
Robert O'Hara Burke Memorial Museum
Miniature crazy quilt either for a baby or a doll. Plain and patterned materials including velvet, satin, sateen and brocade. 4 patches are embroidered and the central patch has a hand painted flower. Each patch is embroidered around the edge with a variation of feather stitch. It has a brown binding and lace edge. The backing is twill cotton.
490 x 390mm
Mare Carter
Patchwork quilt, all cotton including cotton filling. Pink and white. Large plain pink blocks with white pieced blocks in between in arrow type pattern based on rectangles. Hand sewn and hand quilted
1931 x 1728mm
Euroa and District Historical Society
Handsewn cotton hexagons in a wide variety of patterns. Centre oval of hexagons with 2 outer rings. There is no padding and the backing is white cotton.
2490 x 2200mm
Sue Batzloff
Patchwork quilt for a child made from suiting pieces from the Castlemaine Woollen Mills in Victoria. One side has dark rectangles in greys and navy, the other side uses pieces in light browns, cream and rust, with dark grey. The edging is also made from suiting. No padding Machine sewn.
1347 x 1271mm
Val Wilkinson
Scrap quilt made from a myriad of different materials, cottons, silk types velvets etc. Alternate rows have triangles and odd shaped pieces with in between rows of squares and rectangles in smaller pieces. It is completely machine pieced. There is no padding. The backing is blue slub rayon and is brought to the front to form a border.
2200 x 1520mm
N.S.W. Parks and Wildlife Service
Double sided quilt. One side is different shapes including rectangles in various sizes in wools and men's suiting material. It is hand pieced. The pther side is mainly cottons in florals of different patterns joined in strips of varying width and machine and hand pieced. There is a 25mm binding. The padding is an old blanket.

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