Patchwork Quilts

Hand pieced and quilted quilt in silks, wool and cotton dress materials. The centre is a hexagon star in pink and yellow with black points. Most of the body of the quilt is pieced in Tumbling Blocks with an outer border of triangles. The backing is pieced from large rectangles of blue satin, rust-brown moire taffeta and brown-grey silk in a 'rectangle within a rectangle' pattern. The quilting is all over and finely done in yellow thread in a variety of patterns including snails, petalled flowers and hearts.

Patchwork quilt of hexagons, handsewn, in print and plain cottons and rayon. Central star group has diamond shaped groups of patches, with smaller flower shapes, an inner border of a star shape in yellow hexagons, and an outer border of hexagons in vertical bands. Colours are mainly blues, reds, greens and yellow, the 'paths' and border are a pink print. The backing is herringbone stitched to the border or sashing, which has mitred corners.
2400 x 2340mm

"This quilt follows the traditional hexagon patchwork pieced pattern, which are then joined and sometimes edged with a contrasting border. The edges of the quilt have been turned and then scalloped edges made of identical patches to the main body of the quilt have been attached to the edge. The quilt is fully lined, and the lining is visible front the front face through the gaps between the scalloped edge. The lining is attached to the patchwork with a row of stitches along the edges; there are no stitches in the centre field. The fabrics of the quilt are plain weave cotton in simple floral and geometric designs. Most of the fabrics are monochromatic. Several different colour ways of the same fabric are evident which could suggest some fabrics were from manufacturer samples. The lining is a William Morris print.
Each of the patchwork pieces (there are several thousand present) are sewn together with very fine overcasting stitches. The quilt is entirely hand sewn. There is some evidence that templates from the hexagon pieces possibly blotting paper, remain in situ���The quilt is not padded or quilted. The lining is fine twill weave cotton printed in pink and pale purple. The design follows William Morris's 'Strawberry Thief design'." [NGA] 2075 x 1911mm

Hand pieced hexagon quilt or table cover with centre motif of hexagons within hexagons. The remainder of the quilt is mainly hexagon rosettes. The materials are silks and brocades and it is pieced over papers in the English tradition.
1710 x 1600mm

Crazy patchwork quilt pieced from velvets, satins, braids, taffetas, cottons with some decorative stitching. A ruffle and the backing are in ruby red satin. There is a dacron type padding.
1620 x 1200mm

Patchwork quilt made from hexagons 63mm across in a variety of cotton prints and plains. The bright coloured patches came from children's clothes and dressmaking scraps. The 'set included a large cot cover, a pillow cover and a circular stool cover. No padding. Backing of unbleached calico. Hand sewn.
2300 x 1840mm

" Reversible patchwork quilt of woollen suiting in grey, blue, navy, maroon and brown. The fabrics appear to be new tailor's sample pieces (the sizing is still present on the fabric, signifying it has never been washed). The patches are rectangular and vary in size. Both sides have different designs. The front of the quilt has 4 rows of 12 vertical rectangles then below this are 4 rows of 7 horizontal rectangles followed below by 4 rows of 11 vertical rectangles. The reverse of the quilt has a section at the top and bottom composed of 5 rows of 9 horizontal rectangles. The central area is made up of a centre section of 6 rows of 5 vertical rectangles; flanked on either side by a column of 10 horizontal rectangles and two columns of 8 smaller vertical rectangles.
The patchwork layers are joined at the edges with machine stitching. The patchwork layers and padding are machine quilted on the front down 2 vertical lines following joins in the patchwork; therefore not being totally straight. The lines are more noticeable on the reverse as the 2 sides do not match. The front face is displayed at the NGA.
Between the patchwork layers is a striped cotton blanket in black, sky blue, white and cream." [NGA]
2082 x 1386mm

Hand sewn quilt of mustard cotton printed with very small red and brown buds and 16 blocks of red and white patchwork. These are set on point with alternate squares of the mustard print. The backing is a single piece of red and white check, with a black border. It is hand quilted.
2480 x 2200mm

The top of the quilt is squares of white fabric alternating with pieced pink and white blocks, with three borders of pink, white, pink. Heavily hand quilted, including circles and lines. The backing is cream and there is a glazed cotton machine sewn edging.
2480 x 2200mm