Tailors' samples Quilts

Ida Blenkiron
Rectangular quilt with front and back made of rectangles of cotton samples of shirt materials, in checks, stripes and plains. Colours are soft muted reds, greens, blues, yellows and browns, and pastels. Construction is 3 to 4 rows of rectangles joined across the quilt. Padding is probably an old blanket. There is a row of hand quilting approximately the width of one patch in from the edge, holding the layers together.
1870 x 950mm
The Pioneer Women's Hut
Double sided utility quilt made from machine pieced squares of tailors' samples and men's and boy's suitings. The padding is 5 or 6 layers of pieced used clothing including darned, threadbare socks, part jumpers, blanket pieces etc.
2090 x 1340mm
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.
Jindera Pioneer Museum
Quilt made of 26 x 13 rectangles of woollen men's suiting samples. Each rectangle is about 70 x 130 mm. Wide variety of patterns, mainly stripes, and colous. The padding is part of a worn cream blanket and joined pieces of woollen clothing. The backing is a well worn piece of brushed cotton. Machine made.
11900 x 1870 mm
Glenda Wilkinson
Small quilt made from pieces of heavy weight wooollen coat material cut into strips and machined together. It is reversible. Each side is made from different materials but in similar colours of aqua, blue, green and beige. The 2 layers are quilted together with a few machined lines of straight stitching. It has a folded and machine stitched edge. There is no padding.
950 x 790mm
Annette Gero
Double sided quilt made from mainly rectangular pieces of woollen tailors' samples and suiting materials. It is machine sewn and there is no padding.
1000 x 940mm
Powerhouse Museum
"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
Annette Gero
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
Annette Gero
Machine stitched quilt with the top constructed from men's woollen suiting pieces.There are many repairs and the cream patches are recent additions. The padding is layers of blanket pieces. The quilt is very heavy.
1800 x 1600mm
The Pioneer Women's Hut
A buggy rug of machine pieced patchwork of men's suiting samples. There is a large diamond of patches in the centre, bordered by rectangles. There is no padding. The backing is wholecloth tartan wool.
1910 x 1580mm
Jean Gilbert
Patchwork quilt made from cotton, wool and synthetic upholstery fabrics cut in rectangles, stitched in strips then sewn in rows. Down each side is a wide border of beige wool. Colours are soft mainly pinks, blues and light browns, in florals and self patterns. No padding. Backing is blue cotton. Fabrics may have been used for bedspreads as well as for upholstery.
1956 x 1194mm
Annette Gero
Strips of mainly patterned cotton dress materials joined to form 3 blocks to make the quilt top. Each block is outlined with a plain deep blue border. The backing is calico. There is no padding and it is not quilted.
2300 x 1520mm
Annette Gero
The top of the quilt is suiting samples arranged in rows and every second row has alternate dark and light cream rectangles. The back is a patchwork of dress materials. It is machine sewn. There is no padding and it is not quilted.
2160 x 135mm
Jean Gilbert
Rectangular pieces made from tailors' swatches and machine pieced in strips. Some pieces darned. Main colours blue, grey and brown. No padding. Backing is floral cotton with orange and brown flowers.
1879 x 1220mm
Quilt top of patches of tailors' samples and men's suiting pieces in dark colours, mainly black and grey. Machine construction. It has a border of rose coloured velveteen and the backing is a single piece of cream patterned flannelette.
The quilt is made from dark coloured tailors' samples. There is no padding and the backing is pieced scraps of cotton.
1950 x 1650 mm
Quilt of men's suitings. Machine stitched, red backing.
1800 x 1100mm
Tailors' samples quilt. Random sized rectangles joined in rows. There is a 3cm wide pleated frill of navy woollen material. The padding (synthetic) and the backing (green and white striped cotton) are recent. 1900 x 1850mm.
Machine pieced patchwork top of Tailor's samples with a backing of patches of furnishing materials. There is no padding.
1930 x 1530mm
Utilitarian quilt made from roughly square patches of tailors' samples and men's suitings. The backing is calico and a border has been formed by turning the top under. The padding is ticking and pieced reused clothing.
2000 x 1400mm

Pages