Patchwork Quilts

Quilt, hand pieced and quilted and cut in half and made into two curtains. It consists of hexagons in the pattern known as 'Grandmother's Flower Garden' and is in cotton prints and white cotton 'paths'. Some hexagons are joined. The quilt is quilted allover in a variety of patterns in fine close stitching, chevron, single cable, palm leaves, hearts. The backing is cream linen and the padding is wool.
2430 x 1200mm
Ruth Wallace
A hand stitched top in randomly placed diamond shapes in mixed materials, mainly cottons. These are stitched to a flannelette backing. There is herringbone stitching around the border.
1250 x 930mm
Quilt of cotton hexagons, 6 form the petals of a flower with 1 in the centre. There are approximately 138 flowers in the quilt. It is all hand stitched including the edges on to deep blue backing. Wide variety of materials patterned and plain. Some were dress samples from John Wild in Wagga and some from her mother's (Betty Johnson, Wagga Wagga) dressmaking. The hexagons were stitched on papers cut from a glass template made by Celia's brother.
2370 x 2690mm
Helen Sparkman
Suffolk Puff quilt in a wide variety of cotton materials patterned and plain. There is no backing.
11900 x 1350mm
"The quilt is made entirely from over 7300 hexagons cut from scrap materials, and is hand stitched throughout using the 'English' method of quilting. Scraps of plain unbleached calico were used for the background with the pattern pieces cut from plain and floral fabrics in shades of blue. The design is medallion style, with a large central diamond surrounded by two concentric diamond borders beyond which are scattered different sized hexagonal rosettes, all made from hexagon patches in the same size. The pattern patches were cut from the offcuts of dresses and dressing gowns made at a friend's factory and from another friend's dress material scraps." [PHM] There is no padding. The backing is 'Actil' unbleached sheeting dyed pale blue and attached with a blind stitch to the quilt top. A central rosette set within a large diamond of hexagons decorates the back and is stitched through to hold the 2 layers together.
2720 x 1880mm
Patchwork quilt in silks and cottons, handsewn from very small fabric pieces, has 2 pieced repeat pattern blocks. The quilt centre groups 9 blocks made of squares. Surrounding them are pieced blocks featuring a star. The strips in between all blocks are made from 2 rows of squares with a diamond pattern making a lattice effect. The first border has hexagons with appliqued and embroidered cats. The second border of cream cotton has harnessed horses embroidered and appliqued. Binding is of green cotton. No padding. Backed with red cotton paisley print. Signed and dated: 'Mrs E. Keen, Junction Hotel, Fyansford, 1879'.
2660 x 2330mm
Child's coverlet, made of woollen squares from suits and jackets.
980 x 700mm
Canadian Log' design (log cabin?). It is a hand stitched quilt constructed from 6,240 pieces of silk, satin, velvet, cotton, brocade and corduroy. The type of padding is unknown and the backing is cotton with a floral design. 1920 x 1900 mm
Patchwork cot quilt made from hexagon patches in cotton, linen, silk and wool. Checks, stripes, spots, florals and plain are used, in a mix of bright and pastel colours. Backing is of dark brown cotton with an edge of hexagon patches on each long side. No padding. Hand sewn.
1296 x 839mm
Quilt made of squares of patchwork suiting, machine stitched with red diamond and rectangle motifs. Made of wool.
1950 x 1010mm
This utilitarian quilt has a top of mainly woollen used clothing randomly pieced in different sizes and shapes. It includes parts of a jumper, a pocket, a sleeve, the back of a coat, a trouser leg, a piece of 'railway issue' blanket. There are many layers and each layer is stitched together by hand. There is no difference between the padding and the top, it is all layers of pieces of clothes. The backing is an old cotton sheet.
1620 x 1300mm
Patchwork quilt made of hexagon patches in a variety of materials, including velvets, corduroy, cotton, underwearmaterial. No padding. The backing is made from scraps in squares and rectangles, including voile, cotton and probably old curtain material.
2134 x 1777mm
Patchwork quilt made up of machine pieced squares and rectangles of cotton dress materials. The backing is a large piece of furnishing material. The padding is an old cream blanket.
1750 x 1350mm
Quilt, machine construction using rectangles of mainly woollen materials with some corduroy and mohair. Initially 14 rows and then 2 rows added for extra warmth. 25mm bias cut yellow poplin binding. The padding is an old army blanket and the backing is printed cotton.
1500 x 1093mm
Crazy patchwork quilt made from pieces of velvets, plush and corduroy, in prints and plain. Patches are sewn directly on to a backing with feather and herringbone stitches in pearl thread. Quilt has a 1/2 inch binding of black velvet. Backing is a pea green cotton twill. One of the patches has the dates 1909 - 1948 embroidered on it.
920 x 920mm
"This patchwork is pieced from twelve contained panels of Crazy Patchwork. Each panel is formed of rich silks of various weaves and textures couched on to a calico ground, each patch overlaid to create interesting 'artistic' shapes and contrasts. The rug is backed with gold polished cotton and bordered in blue and green cotton to three edges, maroon to the fourth. Embroidery in several colours, but predominantly gold, is used to advantage in the variety of stitches which define the edges of the pieces, and occasionally on the patches themselves."
[Historic Houses Trust ' Sydney Quilt Stories' catalogue]
1880 x 1500mm
Travelling rug. Wool, cotton and velvet. Handsewn, partly filled with wool blanket and hessian. The top of this rug was originally a green crushed velvet overcoat. Various parts of the garment have been unstitched and spread out to form a flat surface.
2100 x 1050mm
Hand pieced quilt with geometric repeat pattern on both sides. One side has a wide red border and geometric piecing in red, blue and pale coloured printed cotton fabric. The other side has a similar geometric pattern but is worked in paler fabrics in pink, brown and pale blue prints. Pieced sides attached to cream woollen blanket [filling] with parrallel rows of machine stitching.
2160 x 2160mm
Quilt, in 2 parts, made from samples of different coloured velvets. It has 2 layers and is machine made. It became too heavy to sew on a domestic sewing machine so was constructed in two separate pieces. There is no padding.
2370 x 1550mm and 2230 x 800mm
Quilt of brown woollen patchwork on both sides.
1770 x 1750mm

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