Quilts

Barbara McCabe
Patchwork quilt made from squares of woollen fabric scraps from dressmaking. Squares are stitched together in no particular order. Colours are bright, with pink, yellow, green, brown and light blue predominating. Fabric is plain, checks and stripes. No padding or quilting. Backing is a cotton bedspread, striped in pinks and magenta.
2530 x 1640mm
Ryder Lundy
"Hexagons pieced over cardboard hand-sewn together. Each rosette was then machine quilted 1/8th to 1/4 inch from edge of rosette in shape of each rosette. Quilt is mainly cottons with a few rayons. Some checks and stripes are used but mainly florals. Has been machine quilted in rosette shape using green on green fabrics, lemon on lemon, orange on orange and red on red." [Ryder Lundy] There is no padding and the backing is gold curtain fabric extended at the end and one side with matching taffeta. 2220 x 1270 mm.
Mare Carter
Child's Patchwork quilt of pieced repeat blocks in red print and white cotton, in 'Bow Tie' pattern. Qult has cotton backing, and wool filling. Some patches are fraying. The quilt has 'Mary Lactitia Thompson' embroidered on it.
1905 x 1296mm
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
Unfinished patchwork top made from hexagon patches in the 'Grandmother's Flower Garden' pattern, in glazed and unglazed cottons and some twill fabrics. 7 patches for flowers with white and some cream patches forming paths. All fabrics are patterned and date from c.1825-1840, including pieces of toile de jouy, stripes and florals. Colours are predominantly reds and blues with some green, brown, purple; one flower is in chrome yellow, 8 flowers are in turkey red indicating probably the latest fabric. The quilt is hand sewn and the papers are in tact in most patches.
1508 x 940mm
Queenscliffe Historical Society Inc
Patchwork quilt made of 1 inch hand paper pieced hexagonal patches (English technique), with plain and floral patterned blue fabrics in clusters at regular intervals throughout the taupe coloured patches. Centre of quilt has a cluster or 'flower' of 4 rings of patches, the centre group embroidered in blue satin stitch: 'MW 1938'. Border consists of 3 rows of medium, light and dark blue hexagons. No padding. Backing is of blue cotton sateen.
2185 x 1372mm
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
N.S.W. Parks and Wildlife Service
Large double sided quilt of rectangles and squares of men's suitings, patterned and plain on both sides. The top has a central motif of a circle of three segmented rings radiating from a single hexagon. The outer ring is all tailors' samples and the inner rings are a variety of materials. There is some featherstitching in red. The quilt is sparsley machine quilted.
Lorna Calder
Patchwork quilt of multi coloured silks and brocades. Crazy patchwork borders, mainly rectangular fabrics pieced together in diagonal patterns, radiating from a central frame embroidered with flowers. Many pieces are extensively embroidered in a great variety of stitches and motifs; butterflies, sunflowers, cats, daffodils, crown, pawn broker's symbol, 'money to lend', 'good night', the initials of family members and 'mater 1890'. The quilt has a deep border of maroon sateen. There is no padding visible but it is possibly a blanket. The backing is green/gold silk with a self stripe with red cotton damask showing underneath, possibly an earlier backing.
2165 x 2165mm
Susan Shannon
This hand pieced and hand quilted hexagon quilt is in a pattern often called 'Grandmother's Flower Garden'. The background is white and there are concentric rows of double rosettes each with a yellow centre. The colours start in the centre of the quilt with pink and then follow the rainbow. Paper templates were used. The padding is cotton (American) and the backing is cotton floral poplin.
2360 x 1730mm
Sandra Jones
Crazy patchwork quilt in silks and velvets. Centre circle of embroidered flowers and outer border of diamonds in tunbling block pattern. Most pieces have embroidered flowers and all joins are embroidered in fancy stitches. The owner's mother had a pink silk quilted backing and a thick edge cord added to the quilt by Rocke's of Collins street Melbourne c.1960
1620 x 1595mm
Guna Naoumidis
Wholecloth quilt made of gold satin with a backing of beige coloured cotton. The padding is wool. The quilting pattern is an all over diamond pattern, framed in a border of straight and wavy parallel lines. It is hand quilted.
2000 x 1820mm
National Trust of Australia (TAS)
Crazy patchwork quilt of pieces of plain and patterned silks in bright and pastel colours, each patch edged and decorated with a variety of embroidery stitches, including star, spider, french knot and feather and herringbone variations. 2 patches of early aniline dyed blue silk. Motifs of tennis racquet, horse shoes, fan and some embroidered flowers. The patches are stitched to coarse linen. There is a wide border of red plush velvet turned to the underside. There is no padding. The backing is red polished cotton.
1550 x 1435mm
Mary Robertson
Domestic Wagga made from 3 bags joined (the bags feel lighter than the jute wheat or flour bags) and covered back and front with floral cotton featuring large roses in red and oranges. The cover is machined.
1750 x 840mm
Albury Regional Museum
Patchwork quilt or cloth made from pieces of woollen material used for regimental uniforms in England last century. Star pattern in colours, red, pale blue, green, maroon, yellow [white] and brown. Hand pieced probably by more than one person. Red fringe machined on. Red flannelette backing in poor condition. Two layers, not quilted.
1780 x 1700mm
Fiona Gavens
Hexagon quilt constructed over papers; all seams oversewn with featherstitch embroidery. Materials are vyella and clydella scraps from childhood dresses of the maker's first four children, augmented with scraps from a dressmaker and a book of samples. There is no padding; backing is plain, pale blue, brushed cotton.
2200 x 1720 mm.
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
Small possum skin rug with the centre area greyish skins and 2 narrow borders of reddish brown and dark brown pelts. The skins are hand sewn with white thread. The backing is woollen material, light brown with dark brown woven stripe. 1380 x 1040mm
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 (SA)
Hand stitched unfinished crazy quilt with patches placed around a centre hexagon pieced in log cabin type strips. Materials are mainly silks and satins and pieces are mounted on grey cotton material. Seams are overstitched in herringbone stitch. 1520 x 760mm
Margaret Wright
Crazy patchqork quilt, handsewn, composed of six large squares of patches in brocade, velvet and silk in random shapes and sizes. Patches are stitched to others by blanket stitch in yellow thread. Some patches have surface embroidery, e.g. a dragonfly, flowers, music notes, and names, 'Minnie', 'Loyetta' (house in Ballarat), 'Diana'. There are also five small cream bobbles. Colours are red, gold, brown, pinks, greens and blues. Padding is flannel, and quilt is backed and edged with maroon or burgundy ribbed silk.
1461mm x 687mm
Alysoun Ryves
Red Applique on an off white background. All applique is by hand using herringbone stitch. Three different red materials are used for the applique each printed with a different tiny all over pattern. There are 3 different applique shapes: the 9 major shapes have 8 points; the daisy pattern has 8 petals; the edge pattern is used along the top, left and half of the bottom edge of the quilt and sometimes has 4 points, sometimes 3 and sometimes 2. There is a tiny red piping around the quilt along the bottom and both sides. It is hand quilted in 100mm long zig zags 12mms apart all over the quilt. The quilt is signed twice on the front, once in ink and once in embroidery. It is signed 'Anna Edwards Jan 1858'. There is no padding and the backing material is similar to the off white background material of the top.
2270 x 2180mm

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