'QUILT GALLERY' LAUNCH BY JUNE BROWN

AT THE MEAT MARKET CRAFT CENTRE, NORTH MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

© June Brown

Ozquilt Network Newsletter Issue #30 DECEMBER 1998

Stitching and sewing is important in the lives of many people, both women and men, but mostly in the lives of women. Whether you think of your sewing as craft, art or a hobby it is a very beneficial activity. I tell my husband that my stitching stops me from nagging him! Some people say it helps to keep their sanity and many people become addicted to it.. just as I am! It gives our busy hands something to do while we have time to think, time to sort out a problem, time to dream of a wonderful holiday or best of all, time to plan another project. And all the time we are creating something.

Textiles are one thing that everyone has contact with every day. The clothes we wear, the towel we dry ourselves with and often the chair or car seat we sit on. Maybe this is why so many people are so comfortable working with textiles. Textiles have always been in our lives. They are wonderful to touch. Whether wool, silk, cotton or a man made fabric, there is something special about textiles. In fact one of the most popular type of exhibition to be held at the Exhibitions Gallery in Wangaratta (Victoria) is always textiles. This is probably the case elsewhere. If you saw the Amish quilt exhibition at the National Gallery, Victoria last year you would have seen how popular it was with the general public.

Quilting means a lot to me, it has given me many opportunities, many new friends, a reason to travel, a means to realize some of my creative ideas and an excellent reason to have a positive outlook on life. It has also given me an excellent reason to buy some wonderful fabrics! Textiles are part of everyones lives and this has been so for hundreds of years. Women have been making quilts for a very long time and in many countries. They have made them for several reasons..to keep their families warm, as works of art, as a method of recording history, a method of coming to terms with grief. These are still very valid reasons for making a quilt. Many women have saved fabrics to stitch into quilts and many quilts have had embroidered messages on them, messages that mark special times within a family, and so these quilts have served as historical records. It is surprising how closely quilts from different countries have been linked through the years or have been made using similar methods.

I read in a magazine article just this week the comment made by Jenny Bowker who is a quilter living in the Middle East. She asks: "Why do we need to make things that are beautiful as well as functional?" It is a good question and easily related to quilt making. You only have to think of some of the every day quilts which were made quickly and by simple methods but were often decorated by basic embroidery.

Of all the old quilts that I have the most feeling for it is these every day quilts, the utilitarian quilts. I am not sure why this is. Perhaps because of my paternal grandmother who was extremely frugal and saved everything from a tiny piece of string to a tiny slip of soap! I can remember her mending the sleeve of a jumper with the leg of a sock that had lost the foot section through hard wear.

Back to the quilts... I have noted that utilitarian quilts in different countries were remarkably similar. The old Amish quilts were very similar to the Australian wagga quilts as are the oldest English quilts. Interestingly, as far as I know the first wagga quilts were made by men who stitched together the hessian flour bags with string and used them for warmth when they were away from home droving or shearing. These bags of flour were milled at the Wagga Wagga Flour Mills in New South Wales, and so the name 'wagga' began. (Pronunciation note: ‘wagga' rhymes with ‘jogger'). Gradually the old Australian utilitarian quilts have generally become known as waggas and even the utilitarian quilts made as recently as the 1960's and 1970;s. I think this is a very distinctive name and nowadays covers quite a variety of quilts. Of course from the general nature of the times women used what ever textiles were available whether it was a worn blanket or new fabric samples from the local tailor.

The very first quilts that I made were from squares of dress making fabric and used as quilts to keep my two children warm. At that time I vowed I'd never make another quilt because I had so much trouble with the quilting. Since then I have learnt some easier methods!

About 18 months ago I was invited to join the Tumbarumba (NSW) Pioneer Women's Hut Research Team that is working on the National Quilt Register project which aims to list all quilts made in Australia or brought to Australia prior to 1965. You can visit their website at www.amol.org.au/nqr. This is proving to be a very interesting project with an amazing number of quilts being located, quilts of a wide variety. Again the wagga quilts are the ones that attract me most. Suiting samples were very popular and also dress making scraps either cotton or woollen. One quilt was made from silks given to the maker by a dressmaker who specialized in evening clothes. Many of these quilts had an old blanket in them for extra warmth and weight. It was believed that the heavier the quilt the warmer it was! There is one small quilt which is owned by a friend of mine whose grandmother made it; it is pictured on page 66 in Margaret Rolfe's latest book, 'Australian Quilt Heritage'. It is quite fascinating because it has an old jumper stitched on to it for extra warmth. This jumper has been opened out flat and forms part of the decoration. Evidently my friend Lyn's grandmother made a number of these quilts and the children used to call them Grandma's lead blankets because they were so heavy!

Another interesting cot quilt that I have been given was made from cretonne and filled with layers of old woollens for warmth. This little quilt kept a family of four warm when each was a baby. I recently showed this small green quilt to the girls at Wangaratta Centre Quilters. We have a clever cartoonist in our midst..namely Barbara McCabe, sometimes it is hardly safe to open your mouth! Barbara drew a cartoon about this new idea to stuff quilts with jumpers only she called it storing clothing in quilts so that you would have more cupboard space to store fabric!! Another quilt which is owned by Wangaratta Centre Quilters was made in the Sunraysia (Victoria) area. It is made from a variety of fabrics ranging from mattress ticking to dress making fabrics. The so called batting in this one is hessian which presumably was the type used on the (fruit) drying racks. Each quilt has its own special story, a piece of history created by women. Until now, much of the work including the sewing and quilt making done by women has gone unrecognized. This is part of the reason why this project of the National Quilt Register is proving so interesting and exciting. Ordinary women are actually being recognized for their part in the development of Australia. Recognized for the many hours of hard work rearing a number of children and supporting their husbands, using whatever resources were available to them.

Recently I visited Alice Springs (Northern Territory) where I found there has been a Women's Hall of Fame opened. Incidentally there are only twenty five women's museums in the world and we have two of them in Australia. This new museum in Alice Springs is most interesting and includes many of the achievements of pioneering women right up to the 1990's. It is well worth visiting if you are holidaying in that area. Of course you would enjoy visiting the Pioneer Women's Hut at Tumarumba as well because it has some interesting old quilts as well as other lovely old textiles.

The lady who instigated the setting up of The Women's Hall of Fame in Alice Springs is Molly Clarke. She is, I would think, over seventy five years old now. Originally she and her husband owned Andado Station which is south-east of Alice Springs and about two days' driving. During the 1960's their cattle had to be destroyed because of brucellosis and tuberculosis infections. They were never compensated by the government and, to cut a long story short, eventually they lost their property. Molly's husband has died and one of her three sons was killed. She has only a small amount of land which surrounds the original homestead, Old Andado Station. The home is made of corrugated iron, with some walls unlined. It must be very hot during the summer months when the temperatures sometimes reach 50mC (122mF). We were fortunate to visit her, an amazing old lady living in these simple and hard conditions. She was very lame when we saw her and I have since found out that she broke her hip earlier in the year while she was out cutting wood with the chainsaw. Incidentally, she does have a patchwork quilt on her bed!!

Here we stand today, women of Australia, women who are a continuing part of quilting, following on from our pioneering grandmothers. These brave women who started making quilts in this country all had differing personalities just as we have. They all made different quilts using different methods and different fabrics. The range of quilts made today also shows great variety just are our personalities show great variety. Many of us will have made our first quilt using traditional American designs and methods. Each one of us has developed our own style. Some now make art quilts, some specialize in miniature quilts, some continue with traditional designs in bed quilts but vary these designs. What variety. I encourage you all to follow your style. This makes life interesting and it makes our stitching interesting.

Let me read this short poem. It is called 'Variety' and written by an unknown author.

How much like a patchwork quilt we are,
Some of us are bright and cheery.
Some are quieter, more delicate and subdued;
Yet how well we blend together.

The quieter ones set off the colorful.
The brighter ones accentuate the pastels.
Often the more fragile pieces hold the sturdy ones together.
Blessed we are to be varied.

I can see that the sixteen quilters who are involved in Quilt Gallery have differing personalities and produce quilts of distinct variety. In many cases these quilts will match their personalities. I think this very fact of variety will be important to the success of your new venture. For anyone wishing to purchase a quilt there should certainly be something that appeals whether it has a traditional design or an original design or whether it is large or small, whether it is to hang on a wall or to decorate a bed. As quilts are sold the makers will be inspired to make more. It will give you all a great reason to stitch and create something interesting and beautiful all over again and with variety. I wish each of you happy quilting and great success with the quilts you make. I now have very great pleasure in launching the new Quilt Gallery!!

© June Brown

Editor's note: Quilt Gallery opened in September 1998 but was forced to close in May 1999 when the Meat Market Craft Centre closed. Carol Heath reports on the traumatic closure in Ozquilt Network Newsletter #32 JUNE 1999.