Typically Australian Quilts

Quilt has a centre panel of white velvet roses and green leaves with embroidered spider webs, on red velvet. Two side panels are in crazy patchwork in plain and patterned silks and velvets. All patches are edged with feather, herringbone or blanket stitch. Many patches are embroidered, including 'Minnie', 'Good Luck', birds, flowers, anchor, boat, fish, shell, spider web, crown,, 2 crossed flags, tennis racquets, Australian motifs including wattle. The centre panel has a row of ruched olive green ribbon each side and the whole quilt has a border of dark blue velvet. The padding is cotton wadding and the backing is cream cotton printed with red and pink chrysanthemums and green leaves.
2113 x 1995mm

Utility quilt with wholecloth top and backing of twill upholstery material. Machine construction. Padding is 2 layers of wool blanket. Stitched through all 4 layers.
1474 x 1093mm

Patchwork quilt made from squares of wool, cotton, tweed, corduroy, tartan and stretch knit fabrics. Colours are mainly reds, greens, blues, pink and orange, mostly solid colours with some checks, stripes and florals. Padding is an open weave hessian material. Backing is a loosely woven cotton, pieced, buff coloured with a woven red and orange thread. Machine pieced, machine quilted in a large rectangle.
1601 x 915mm

" 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

Grey woollen army blanket backing with multi-coloured pieces sewn in a random way; includes pieces of jumpers, socks, rugs with crochet flowers added etc. Quilt is a rectangular shape, the colours are mainly blues, pinks and maroon. Bottom third of quilt and part of one side are made from a striped rug, the remaining two-thirds are made from pieces of recycled clothing and decorated with crocheted flowers.

"The quilt has been machine- pieced from rectangular swatches of men's woollen fabrics in shades of blue, grey and black, and in various weaves including stripes, checks, chevrons and spots. The swatches are offset at right angles to each other in such a way as to create strong zigzag bands of light and dark along the length of the quilt. The join at the corner of each swatch is marked with a hand-stitched cross in red cotton. The backing has been removed, showing the pinked edges of the suiting swatches. A yellow-brown piping band, possibly the remains of the backing, is sewn around all four sides." [PHM]
2080 x 1620mm

Double sided quilt made from mainly rectangular pieces of woollen tailors' samples and suiting materials. It is machine sewn and there is no padding.
1670 x 1220mm

Machine sewn wholecloth quilt with padding of several layers of part army blankets. The cover has been made from fabric widths of 700mm. Machine quilted.
2100 x 1800mm

Covered on both sides with corded floral chintz, probably originally curtains. Not attached to padding. Padding is worn grey blanket onto which has been stitched (with large running stitches) a variety of unpicked and part woollen garments, including a navy overcoat (with pockets), handknitted garment (possibly a singlet) and herringbone tweed skirt. The cover and lining are currently separate, outer stitching unpicked by the donor for washing prior to donation and not re-attached.
1780 x 1040mm