Typically Australian Quilts

Bob Sloan
Double sided quilt made from all wool worsted suiting samples. Machine construction. There is no padding.
1840 x 1330mm
National Musuem of Australia
Patchwork quilt with alternate squares of green and fawn cotton headcloth. Various Australian wild flowers are embroidered in coloured threads in the green squares. In the fawn squares there is a stylised flower and leaf pattern outlined in embroidery. The border, front and back is green headcloth. The backing is printed cotton with a floral design. There is some padding.
1610 x 1610mm
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
E Shuttle
Wholecloth quilt made from orange cotton cretonne for back and front. Padding is made from old blankets stitched together. The quilt weighs 16 lb.
1423 x 1118mm
Margaret Hedges
Crazy patchwork quilt with small patches in velvet, silk, brocade and cottons most with hand embroidery over the seams. There are many motifs such as flowers, butterflies, birds also dates, initials and names of local properties. It is padded with a thin soft material and the replacement backing (old) is satin. There is a wide rose coloured frill on all sides.
1680 x 1380mm
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
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
West Tamar Historical Committee
Wholecloth quilt with both sides of floral cotton. The padding is thought to be hessian bags.
2060 x 1300mm
Lurline Lydiard
Unfinished crazy patchwork quilt. Materials are mainly silk, velvet, woven ribbons, woven brocades. Hand embroidery using many different stitches also machine embroidery eg frog. Some individual patches have names, initials, dates probably relating to family members. There are also place names several of which may refer to Australia. Apart from the embroidery on individual patches there are overlaid a number of floral displays across parts of the quilt. Backing is flannelette with selvedges of blue and pink. 1300 x 1300mm
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.
Ruth Collins
Patchwork quilt of rectangular wool and cotton tailors' samples, in browns, greys, navy, black and beige, in plains and patterned weaves. Padding is a woollen blanket, and the backing is a patterned cotton.
1956 x 1702mm
Agnes Pratten
Thick padding for a wholecloth quilt constructed from pieces of old woollen clothing. The backing is a calico sheet. Originally had a cretonne cover.
Diana Cameron
Small patchwork piece possibly made from salesman's samples. There is no opening in the back so it is not a cushion cover. There is no padding. The backing is green polished cotton. There is a 40mm fringe around the edge.
520 x 520mm
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
Kristine Gray
Double sided quilt. One side is frame with borders of wool rectangles mainly offcuts of men's suiting from tailors' shops. The other side is mainly flannelette in stripes and patterns similar to pyjama material. The padding is pieced patches of worn jumpers that were too matted to be unpicked. Machine construction.
1700 x 1490mm
Ida Blenkiron
Wholecloth quilt made from turquoise and red plaid brushed cotton, with a filling of a marcella bedspread with cut up pieces of knitted and crocheted garments stitched on top by hand and machine. Garment pieces are pink, red, yellow, black and pastels. Sleeves, collar and pockets can be clearly seen. Backing is an old blanket.
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
June Brown
Rectangular cot quilt of green floral cretonne with pleated frill. Machine made. The backing is the same material. It is tied not quilted. The padding is old woollen jumpers.
1050 x 610mm
Muriel Mackenzie
Wholecloth utilitarian quilt with velour type material top and cottage weave curtain material on the back. The padding is a 'bush blanket'. Machine sewn and quilted.
1677 x 1144mm
The Pioneer Women's Hut
The quilt is constructed from machine pieced diamond shaped striped flannel materials. The backing is the same. The padding is not visible but is thought to be worn out woollen clothing, unpicked and ironed flat.
1520 x 970mm
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

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