PATCHWORK, QUILT BEDCOVER
Hexagon English paper piecing (EPP)-historically called mosaic patchwork-is a hand technique where fabric is basted over paper templates and whip-stitched edge to edge to build rosettes and larger fields. Our two sections, using cottons from the 1850s-1860s, still retain their original papers and tacking stitches-rare survivals that reveal process and help date the work. Makers typically recycled dress offcuts and costly remnants; fine printed cottons and silks were too valuable to waste, and papers were often cut from letters or account books. For many women, EPP was portable, sociable, and purposeful-done at the fireside, on visits, or in sewing circles-balancing thrift with creativity.
Documented in Britain by the early 18th century (with early dated coverlets worked over papers), the method spread widely in the Georgian and Victorian eras and was especially popular from the 1830s to the 1860s. Pattern books and women's magazines circulated geometric layouts, and hexagon fields-later nicknamed "Grandmother's Flower Garden"-became a hallmark. EPP taught accuracy, colour arrangement, and patience, allowing quilts to grow block by block as time and materials allowed. These sections record both economy and artistry: careful hands turning treasured fragments into ordered pattern, comfort, and beauty.
Details
Details
Embroiderers' Guild of WA Textile Museum
Embroiderers' Guild of WA Textile Museum
Other items from Embroiderers' Guild of WA Textile Museum
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