Crazy Quilt

History

This quilt was made by Elsa Beavis in Melbourne for Pat Stevenson c. 1958-1959. It is still owned by Pat Stevenson and is still used. "Elsa Beavis was the needlework teacher in charge of the subject at Flemington Girls School when I started teaching there in 1958. Elsa had made a similar quilt for another staff member and when requested agreed to make one for me. I was to provide the materials. So I gathered fabrics left from my dressmaking, my students dressmaking and pieces collected from my working time in the dress trade [in] 1954 and 1955 at a sportswear and casual clothing factory. My mother provided the two old worn sheets that form the backing to the patchwork. Elsa Beavis was a lady who did all types of needlework. I had done much embroidery but never met cross stitch and traditional forms of counted thread work, to which she introduced me. Of a Norwegian extraction, she made exquisite traditional folk dresses for dolls with the traditional decoration. Many prizes were won by her at the Royal Melbourne Show in the years I knew her. She later married a widower and became Mrs Elsa Williams, living at Gladysdale and teaching at the High School in Yarra Junction Victoria. Unfortunately I lost track of her, but I owe her a lot, as my mentor to the wider world of textile arts."
[Pat Stevenson, 14 March 1998]

Description

Crazy patchwork stitched on to an old sheet. Machine constructed with two sides similar. It is made from left over dressmaking materials of the fifties. The two sides with cotton wadding in between, are bound together with a 55 mm pink and white gingham binding.
1803 x 1398mm