Quilts

Irene Pascoe
Utilitarian cot quilt. The padding is layered reused woollen materials, parts of old blankets, part overcoats. These are stitched together with string and knitting wools The top and backing are printed cotton. There is a frill all around and buttons have been used to anchor the padding layers to the outside cover.
1169 x 915mm
Margery Creek
Snow Ball' cotton quilt made in the USA. Feed bag materials and dress materials. Hand pieced and hand quilted. Calico border and backing.
2058 x 2007mm
National Trust of Australia (WA)
Frame quilt in cottons with a centre motif of pieced 8 point star surrounded by borders, 2 from red/white material printed to represent Tumbling Block patchwork. The remaining borders are, one plain, one of pieced squares, one of pieced large triangles with squares in the corner. The outer border is plain. The padding is wool and the backing is cream cotton. It is elaborately quilted.
2400 x 2260mm
The Pioneer Women's Hut
Patchwork quilt made up of 100mm multi coloured squares in a variety of materials including cottons, synthetics, lurex, plain and printed. Each square has dacron padding and is then joined in strips and the strips joined. All hand sewn. The backing is blue synthetic whole cloth 60mm of which is returned to the front to form a border.
1500 x 1200mm
Margaret McMillan
Cotton log cabin double bed quilt. Each square has 52 pieces (i.e. 13 pieces x 4 to make a square). There are 192 squares so a total of 10.092 pieces. There is probably no padding. The backing is calico with a floral pattern done in running stitch.
2200 x 2200mm
West Australian Quilters' Ass
Reversible Durham quilt made with nine pieced strips of deep green polished cotton joined together. Very finely hand quilted in an all-over traditional English quilting design. It is padded but the type of padding is unknown. 2220 x 2020mm.
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
Rug made from skins of black quolls. The skins are dark grey-brown with black areas and each skin has cream spots. The skins are mainly machine stitched together with a few roughly hand sewn. The backing is maroon felt and this extends beyond the top with a scalloped edging. There is yellow ric-rac braid hand sewn on the back seam. 1300 x 885mm
Wendy Springbett
Patchwork quilt made from alternate squares of light green and medium green cotton headcloth. The light green squares are hand embroidered with Australian native birds, the medium green squares are decorated with pulled thread designs. No padding. Backing and binding of medium green headcloth. Made from patterns published in The Adelaide Chronicle.
2650 x 1573mm
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
Margaret Wilson
Hand stitched appliqued quilt or banner. Different hand stitching indicates applique was probably done by several people. There is no padding. The backing is calico.
2230 x 2140mm
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.
Margaret Lyons
Padding for a utilitarian quilt that originally had a wholecloth cover. The padding is up to 3 layers of woollen scraps and pieces of used clothing, including hand knitting. White cotton tacking and overcast stitches hold all layers in place. The backing is a cream wool blanket with woven stripes.
1580 x 1200mm
Irene Treneman
Cotton quilt, checks, plains and patterns. Machine construction. Rectangles stitched together in strips and then strips joined. The backing is a cotton print. There is no padding and no quilting.
2420 x 1220
Tess Davidson
Hand stitched quilt of suiting materials. Centre rectangle also suiting materials but arranged with a smaller scale, is edged with a cord of red fabric covering string. The outer red border has been renewed by the owner and closely matches the original. The backing is ticking. There is no padding.
2390 x 2110mm
Fran Williams
Frame quilt with the centre frame featuring stars. These are English pieced and then appliqued on to the background using straight stitch on the machine. Borders are squares, rectangles and truangles. Mainly cottons. There is no padding. The backing is an old white bedspread similar to a Marcella.
1900 x 1930mm
Helen Blandford
Bassinet quilt. Pink satin top and backing overlaid with lace. Machine and hand sewn. The padding is possibly a nappy. It is part of a set that includes a pillow cover.
585 x 509mm
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
Kaniva District Historical Society
Wholecloth cot quilt of pink silk with an overall paisley pattern in grey and black. Pink-purple fringe along one edge.
1677 x 1677mm
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
National Gallery of Australia
"This is not a true quilt, but a pieced coverlet with a lining. The entire front face of the quilt is of pieced hexagonal and part hexagonal printed cotton patches. Pieces are joined with hand sewn over casting stitches of many different coloured cotton threads. The joining of the patches forms a 'daisy' pattern in some areas and in others it is random. The edge of the front face of the quilt carries a 40mm strip of cotton Chinoiserie which is then folded to the reverse of the quilt and becomes part of the lining. The template for the hexagon patches remains in many of the patches: writing paper and news print." [NGA]
The work is not padded "The lining at the edge of the quilt (for approx.175mm) is a plain weave fabric of a Chinoiserie design. The centre field of the lining is a rectangular panel of a twill weave brushed cotton fabric with a striped floral design." [NGA] 2215 x 2070mm

Pages