One of my friends was intrigued by a postcard of a patchwork coverlet which was in the collection at St. Fagans: National History Museum, near Cardiff. I wasn't similarly smitten as I thought it looked rather chaotic and badly designed. Nevertheless I asked Elen Phillips, the Keeper of the quilts at the museum, if we could see it if an opportunity arose.
One day I received the call! Sue Prichard from the Victoria & Albert Museum was visiting St. Fagan's to choose suitable items for last year's Quilts 1700 - 2010. She was looking for quilts with provenance and the Darowen Coverlet had been taken out of storage for her consideration.
Sadly it didn't make the cut, which I think was a great shame because it certainly has provenance. I was totally captivated and decided to do some research which is now filed at the museum and was subsequently published in "The Quilter" (the magazine of the Quilters' Guild of the British Isles).
It was made by three sisters, the unmarried daughters of the Vicar of Darowen, a village in what was then Montgomery in Mid Wales. I believe it was made over a long period as it seems to chart the family's history in the village Their arrival in Darowen in 1801 (which is the first date on the coverlet) to the death in 1877 of Mary Richards, the eldest daughter and as both grandchildren had died young, the last survivor of a family of eight children. This unique unquilted coverlet then passed to distant relations before being given to the museum.
Surrounding the squares in the centre of the coverlet are church images and I believe these commemorate the demolition of a medieval church and the building of a new church in 1863. Perhaps this momentous occasion was the inspiration for the coverlet and the sisters then decided to add dates, initials and other images that were significant to their family?
What a good idea that is! Would it inspire you to begin a family record quilt?
The photographs are published with the kind permission of St Fagans: National History Museum.
One day I received the call! Sue Prichard from the Victoria & Albert Museum was visiting St. Fagan's to choose suitable items for last year's Quilts 1700 - 2010. She was looking for quilts with provenance and the Darowen Coverlet had been taken out of storage for her consideration.
Sadly it didn't make the cut, which I think was a great shame because it certainly has provenance. I was totally captivated and decided to do some research which is now filed at the museum and was subsequently published in "The Quilter" (the magazine of the Quilters' Guild of the British Isles).
It was made by three sisters, the unmarried daughters of the Vicar of Darowen, a village in what was then Montgomery in Mid Wales. I believe it was made over a long period as it seems to chart the family's history in the village Their arrival in Darowen in 1801 (which is the first date on the coverlet) to the death in 1877 of Mary Richards, the eldest daughter and as both grandchildren had died young, the last survivor of a family of eight children. This unique unquilted coverlet then passed to distant relations before being given to the museum.
Surrounding the squares in the centre of the coverlet are church images and I believe these commemorate the demolition of a medieval church and the building of a new church in 1863. Perhaps this momentous occasion was the inspiration for the coverlet and the sisters then decided to add dates, initials and other images that were significant to their family?
What a good idea that is! Would it inspire you to begin a family record quilt?
The photographs are published with the kind permission of St Fagans: National History Museum.
