}The Rajah quilt, which was made by female convicts on board ship from
England to Australia in 1841, is a large and complicated patchwork coverlet
consisting of an appliqué centre surrounded by twelve frames.
have measures by Nail. Interestingly,
the basic unit size for the 1718 coverlet
belonging to The Quilters’ Guild is 41/2in or
2 Nails or H/Q.
Books on needlework tools suggest that
most households would have had a wooden
yardstick which thrifty housewives would use
to check the yardage supplied by packmen
or pedlars. Originally rough notched sticks,
they became more formal printed measures.
Lace was sold by a six-yard length,
measured by traders on buying days. The
Mill on the Floss, by George Eliott relates the
tale of Bob, the packman, who used his wide
thumb to determine the cutting point of his
fabrics. Housewives who haggled would be
given a short measure by Bob, by cutting the
fabric on the wrong side of his thumb. The
story does not describe how Bob measured
the fabric, but he had a stick to help carry
his pack. Maybe this was his rudimentary
measuring tool – or did he also use his arm’s
length for measurement?
Needlewomen may also have used
notched stiff paper or old cards or sewing
tables with an inlaid guide. There were also
pliable lapboards mounted on flat muslin
intended to be rolled for travelling which
had inlaid yard rules of contrasting wood.
Wooden instruments with sharp brass edges
and hairpins, long and straight-edged, may
also have been used as a guide for tracing
straight lines.
The Quilters’ Guilds’ Documentation
Project of the early 1990’s showed that of
sixty bedcovers examined that were made
between 1800 and 1850, 34 followed a
geometric pattern of either hexagons ( 20)
or squares/triangles, etc... ( 14). Clearly, their
makers were able to create a satisfactory
template and cover papers to make their
motifs in the English patchwork tradition. A
further ten were described as appliqué and a
similar number followed a frame or medallion
layout. The latter provided the greatest
challenge for the patchworker.
The Rajah quilt, which was made by
female convicts on board ship from England
to Australia in 1841, is a case in point. This
large and complicated patchwork coverlet
consists of an appliqué centre surrounded
by twelve frames.
We know the women were given
scissors, needles and thread for their
voyage to Australia, but no measuring
devices other than a piece of tape. Clearly
A comparison between a tape measure from the first half of the 19th century showing inked measures
on a silk tape with one from the early 20th century showing inches. Picture courtesy of Sue Goodman.
