'Wagga' patchwork quilt
Object No. 85/994
Quilt, 'Wagga', patchwork, wool, Kathleen Parker, Woonona, New South Wales, Australia, 1936
Loading...
Summary
Physical Description
Quilt, "wagga", patchwork, wool, Kathleen Parker, Woonona, NSW, 1936 Wagga quilt, machine-pieced from old woollen suiting fabrics; some hand stitching is visible along a few of the joins. The quilt has three layers. The top layer has a rectangular centre of different grey fabrics, pieced together randomly, and the border is made up of irregular rectangles of navy blue fabrics. The backing is of striped cotton, and the lining is made of corn bags. The three layers are machine-stitched together at the edges, holding the filling in place. There is no quilting. The quilt is in reasonable condition, though through its years of use there are some stains and holes and some areas where the material is thinning.
DIMENSIONS
Width
1660 mm
Depth
1610 mm
PRODUCTION
Notes
The design of the quilt, as expressed in the arrangement of the grey and navy fabrics was by the maker, Kathleen Parker, born Kathleen Ward in 1913 in Coledale on the south coast of NSW. The family later moved to Woonona. Kathleen met her husband William (Bill) Parker during a competition at the Woonona School of Arts & Crafts. They went to live in Corrimal where Bill owned his own greengrocer store and was later employed as a coal miner. They had one daughter. The quilt was made by Kathleen Parker (nee Ward) at Woonona, NSW, early in 1936 - soon after her marriage to William Parker. Kathleen, or Kit as her husband called her, used patches cut from a collection of old clothes stored in her mother-in-law's laundry. These old clothes were kept to patch the boarders' work clothes. Kathleen sewed the quilt in a week on an old second-hand Singer treadle sewing machine with a box-top lid which was bought by her brother. Kathleen had learned of waggas and how to make them from her paternal grandmother, who described how they were made when she was a young girl. Kathleen (Kit) Ward married William (Bill) Parker in 1935. She made the wagga for him in early 1936.
HISTORY
Notes
Kathleen Parker made the wagga for her husband Bill to take with him on camping and rabbiting trips to Robertson. She says she made it as a novelty, and because as a new bride she wanted to make something to please her husband - she also says she wanted to save her new blankets. Bill Parker also kept homing pigeons and horses; he hired out the horses at a riding school at Windong camping area during the school holidays. He often spoke of his beloved wagga to his friends, regarding it as something special that no-one else had. He used it constantly until his death in 1974. The wagga was owned by Bill Parker until his death in 1974, and subsequently kept in the family until the maker, Kathleen Parker donated it to the museum in 1985.
SOURCE
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs Parker K, 1985
Acquisition Date
24 June 1985
Copyright for the above image is held by the Powerhouse and may be subject to third-party copyright restrictions. Please submit an Image Licensing Enquiry for information regarding reproduction, copyright and fees. Text is released under Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivative licence.
Image Licensing Enquiry
Object Enquiry