Mary Studholme’s Wagga

History

This utilitarian wagga quilt was probably made by Mary Studholme in Bendigo Victoria in the early 1930s and later owned by Victoria May Francis who was a niece of the maker. The present owner Yvonne Renfree, is Victoria May Francis's daughter. The quilt is not used and is kept in a display cupboard with other quilts.

"My mother Victoria May Francis (nee Hosking) was orphaned at 18 months of age. Her mother's sister, Mary Studholme took her and her three brothers and reared them. She herself was a deserted wife so times were hard. She cleaned and ironed for other people to raise money for her 'adopted' children and her own two daughters who were about 10 and 12 years older than my mother. She was also a good seamstress and made many of the children's clothes. I slept under this very heavy quilt as a child and my brother slept under another which fell to pieces with use."

[Yvonne Renfree, 5 July 2000]

Description

One side of this whole cloth quilt is a single piece of cretonne or similar with a pattern of autumn leaves. The other side is patched pieces of curtaining. The padding is old clothing, mainly knits, with some pieces of men's suiting showing through tears in the backin, and tacked to random pieces of curtain material. The quilt is tacked together to hold all the padding in and machine stitched to the backing.

1850 x 1100 mm