Patchwork Quilts

Doncaster-Templestowe Historical Society
Patchwork quilt made of hexagons in silks, satins and brocades. Colours are soft, mainly creams and pastels, with some deep pink, yellow, dark grey and bright blue. Quilt is bordered with a wide band of light navy moire or faille. Padded, possibly with a blanket. Backed with cotton twill.
2420 x 1900mm
National Gallery of Australia
" 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
National Trust of Australia (NSW)
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.
Giuliana Bond
Log cabin quilt, machine pieced and assembled. Some fabrics are pieces from family dresses, with mauve crepe used throughout. The pale side of each block is silk taffeta and other silk pieces. Padding is flannelette, and backing is cream muslin from a petticoat of the present owner, worn when she was bridesmaid to an aunt and uncle. 1000 x 630 mm.
 Dianne Gorringe
Patchwork quilt/cloth with strong overall design of very small squares. The colours are navy, red, cream, green (khaki) and fawn. There is a wide fringe on all sides. There is no padding. The backing is cotton sateen.
1240 x 126mm
Annette Gero
Hand pieced frame quilt with centre frame of hexagons and radiating borders of cotton and chintz. There is a heart at each of the 4 corners on the second border. It is hand quilted. There is no padding.
1900 x 1900mm
The Pioneer Women's Hut
Machine pieced crazy patchwork quilt in plain, floral and striped cotton materials. Some pieces are seamed and others are sewn direct on to calico backing. Each piece is outlined in red stranded cotton in herringbone stitch.
2150 x 1770mm
Roslyn Beattie
Patchwork quilt made from different sized rectangles, in new materials, including cotton, lightweight velvet, lining silk, crepe, seersucker, and satin. All fabrics are of even weight. Colours are mainly light, with pinks, greens and blues predominating. No padding or backing. Quilt was not finished.
2050 x 1250mm
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.
National Trust of Australia (QLD)
Quilt made of tailors' swatches, machine constructed around a central frame that is mainly mid brown pieces. This is surrounded by rectangles of mainly charcoal greys and the outer border is navy blues. The backing is a heavy cotton with random green and cream and grey stripes.
1651 x 1220mm
Annette Gero
This quilt is of hand pieced hexagons randomly placed and stitched on to a linen backing. They are mainly dress fabrics and chintz with some hexagon flowers in the centre and corners in broderie perse. There is no padding.
2600 x 2600mm
Alicia Murdoch
Cotton quilt entirely of hesagons. Some are formed into rostttes or flowers and have a print border of 12 hexagons, an inner circle of 6 hexagons in a plain colour and a yellow hexagon centre. The padding is cotton wool and the backing plain off white cotton.
2210 x 1430mm
Patricia Cmielewski
Crazy patchwork quilt made from silk and cotton fabrics, in patterns and plains, in bright colours. Patches are arranged around a central diamond shaped patch in yellow which is bordered with light blue. All seams are covered with featherstitch and herringbone stitch. Patches were stitched onto a calico backing. A recent calico backing ahs been added and dark blue binding attached to the edge. No padding.
1555 x 910mm
Narelle Grieve
Silk quilt in diamonds with hexagon border. "Toward the edge of the quilt, the design of diamonds made into blocks offers an optical illusion, where the diamonds can be seen to form stars. The border is made up of these stars and half-diamonds, and the entire quilt is trimmed with lace and triangular flaps made of tiny hexagons." [extract unidentified magazine article supplied by quilt owner.]
The backing is maroon cotton. 1600 x 1600 mm.
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
Margery Smith
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
National Gallery of Australia
"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
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.
National Trust of Australia (TAS)
Patchwork quilt of cotton hexagons in a random mix of colours and prints, the predominant colours being blue, red, green, light yellow and pastels. Patches hand sewn. There is no padding and the backing is a grey wool blanket. The top is machine stitched around the edge to the blanket.
1645 x 1060mm
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

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