Down Under Quilts - Issue 134, 2009

DS: Why did you decide to create
this book?
AG: My first book documented only the
quilts that were in the exhibition, and as I
had filing cabinets of photos of wonderful old
Australian quilts at home, I decided to put it
all together in another book. I had no idea
the book would be so huge, nor that it would
take three years to produce. It was a massive
amount of work to write all the stories,
check all the facts, make sure all the photos
were able to be reproduced, research the
wonderful early fabrics, and most importantly,
obtain copyright permission for every photo
in the book (160 full pages of quilts and 300
supporting photos of the women who made
them, old newspapers, old photos, old
patterns, details of fabrics etc).

DS: What made you decide to include
patterns of some of the old quilts?

AG: Well-known Australian quilter Kim McLean was teaching at our local quilt store in 2000 when my first book Historic Australian Quilts was published. There were a lot of quiltmakers who had said they wished that the patterns of the historical quilts had accompanied the book. Kim loved one quilt in particular, a medallion quilt made by the Roebuck ladies in the 1800s during their arduous sea voyage to Australia from Scotland, and she drafted the design of this quilt from the photograph and proceeded to make it, followed by a number of other reproduction quilts from the book. Two of these quilts won prizes in Houston – The Founders Award was awarded to the quilt The Roebuck Quilt Redone (The Roebuck Chintz Quilt) in 2002, and in 2003 second prize in the Traditional Pieced category was awarded to the quilt Hexagon Stars (The Frederica Josephson Quilt). Both of these patterns (and another

27) are in the new book.

Kim came to me in 2003 when she heard of my endeavours to produce the second book, and offered to recreate patterns from some of the old quilts. The concept of including patterns, so quilters could re-create some of these beauties, was so exciting. We wrote to everyone for whose quilt Kim wanted to write a pattern and asked for their permission*. This was

one of the most difficult tasks, logistically, but serendipitously it opened pathways to some wonderful stories and strange coincidences – such as unknown makers were found, second or third quilts turned up from the same family, or the same fabrics started to appear on three or four quilts.

DS: What was your favourite part of
producing this book?

AG: I really enjoyed unearthing each quilt’s true history. It was at times laborious, but mostly fascinating. Just as I thought the story of a quilt was finished, a whole heap of new information would fall into my lap! Finally, after three years, the publisher said, “Stop – we can’t make the book any bigger – it’s heavy enough as it is!”

So, that’s where I stopped; more than 240 colour pages of old Australian quilts, their makers and stories. The book covers quilts made by convicts, Governors’ wives, Gold Rush immigrants, wealthy shop owners, dressmakers, church ministers, WWI diggers, people who were forced off the land during the Depression, WWII Australian prisoners of war, rabbit trappers, artists’ wives and last, but not least, a mum who made all her children’s clothes and never threw anything away.

DS: What will quilters love about
this book?
AG: I think that Australian quilters will see
stories that resemble some of their own
families, whether they had an ancestor who
quilted or not. There is so much Australian
history in the book which touches us all.
As well, quilters will be amazed at how
wonderful the old Australian quilts are
and how they are so different from the
quilts found elsewhere in the world. The
book not only reflects the quilts found in
this country but also the social history of
countless ordinary people. The thread
that holds this Australian history together
is that each story includes the making of
a quilt – it draws on women’s memories
and diaries, their letters to relatives, official
records, newspaper and magazine articles
of (then) current domestic influences and
some of the old magazines which provided
the quilt patterns.

To order a copy
of the book
visit www.annettegero.com,
or contact Annette at
a.gero@unsw.edu.au,
or write to Annette Gero,
PO Box 398, Neutral Bay
NSW 2089, Australia.

*The copyright that is owned by the creative individuals who make something is rightfully theirs. Annette and Kim were very diligent in ensuring that all rights were respected of all inclusions in the book. Copyright laws are now “death plus 70 years”.