Domestic Wagga Quilts

Annette Gero
This domestic Wagga is two layers of woollen army blankets with the top layer in rectangles joined in rows. The backing is hessian bags that originally contained meat meal.
11650 x 1130mm
Marian Russell
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
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
The Pioneer Women's Hut
The top is machine pieced patches of used clothing. The backing is large pieces of dress materials and either end patches similar to the top. The padding is a chaff bag or similar with patches of worn, matted children's jumpers sewn directly on to it.
1400 x 1150mm
West Tamar Historical Committee
Wholecloth quilt with both sides of floral cotton. The padding is thought to be hessian bags.
2060 x 1300mm
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
Machine sewn reversible quilt. Side 1 is rectangles of men's suiting samples in mainly grey, navy and black, stripes and self patterns. Side 2 is men's suiting samples but also includes woollen rectangular pieces in plain blue and deep pink. There is a hand sewn binding of fine orange-brown wool. The padding is hessian and cotton.
1460 x 1100mm
Muriel Hartmann
Domestic Wagga made from sugar bags joined together and covered with army blankets. Machine construction. Patching evident. Sugar miller's brand visible on one bag: " M--AQUIN, 70lbs, --- SUGAR, BUNDABERG"
1753 X 1347mm
Margaret Eisenhauer
Wholecloth quilt covered with floral cretonne both sides, deep pink and yellow flowers on a cream background. The padding is hessian/jute type bags joined.
One of a pair but the other quilt is larger.
1800 x 900mm
Wangaratta Centre Quilters Inc
Irregularly patched from a variety of cotton dress prints, checks, plains and mattress ticking. 1920s and 30s fabrics. Both top and back are similar. Hessian padding. Originally two single quilts, now stitched together.
1850 x 1720mm
Rosemary Blake
Single bed quilt made from sugar bags stitched together covered with a ticking type fabric. This inner layer is then covered with muslin, dyed yellow. It is similar in construction to 80RB but much lighter as the sugar bags are lighter than the heavy jute potato bags.
1520 x 990 mm
Annette Gero
Domestic Wagga made from wheat bags sewn together and covered with large pieces of material.
1400 x 1230mm
Kathleen White
Patchwork quilt (one of a pair) made from hexagons in cottons, rayon, and taffeta, to fit a single bed. The quilt has a pleated ruffle or flounce of pale green fabric. Patchwork machine sewn onto backing, flounce sewn by machine.
Rosemary Blake
The inner part of the quilt is made from potato bags stitched together. These have been covered with a ticking type fabric held to the bags with large stitches using a string type thread. This whole inner layer is covered with muslin, dyed orange. The dye is thought to have been a Dolly dye. The quilt is very heavy. There are small hand stitches in each corner through all layers.
1770 x 1520 mm
Mal Crawford
The top is an old army blanket, the backing is jute bags and the padding is old woollen material and parts of the maker's mother's fake leopard skin coat. It is hand sewn using a darning needle and fishing line.
1880 x 1132mm
Fred Keen
Patchwork quilt with front and back made from different sized patches of used woollen clothes, stitched in a random manner. Fabrics include men's trousers, and tweeds, checks and plains, in navy, grey, browns and fawn, and some red and white check. Backing is from larger pieces, including large patches of a dark pink, some green and some navy rectangles. Filling of wheat bags and part of a travelling rug was removed because it was too heavy.
1600 x 1000mm
Joyce Lacey
Wholecloth utility quilt covered with good quality cotton printed with posies of pink, blue and green flowers and leaves, the top side has darker colours than the reverse. Filling is made from old blanket pieces, cardigans and pullovers stitched to an old blanket. Top and back machine stitched together.
1601 x 991mm
Kristine Gray
The original quilt has had 3 covers, 2 of which are still on it. The first quilt, a domestic Wagga, is made from pea seed bags and an old sheet covered with red paisley cretonne. This has been recovered with a red/yellow/brown paisley cotton twill in a pillow slip construction. One side of the next outer cover has a strong vibrant loosley floral pattern with a black background and a border in black, yellow and aqua. The other side is a large piece of cotton with a pattern of abstract rectangles and there are other floral and geometric cotton pieces. There was a fourth layer, a slip cover that is no longer on the quilt.
Margaret Eisenhauer
Wholecloth quilt covered with floral cretonne both sides, deep pink and yellow flowers on cream background. Padding is hessian/jute type bags joined.
One of a pair but the other one is smaller.
1800 x 1325mm
Domestic Wagga made from bags with a top of irregular patches of cotton material, mainly from dress scraps, and a backing of calico.
1578 x 1094mm
The Pioneer Women's Hut
The top is a wholecloth, coarse, bluish cotton, furnishing weight material, probably part of a curtain. The backing is half the same material and half is part of a brown travelling rug. The padding is 2 heavy pieces of coarse jute bag roughly sewn together with twine.
1600 x 1360mm

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