Jane McGrath made this quilt 30 years ago from a tartan fabric sample book (c.1990). It was one of her first quilts. Jane was inspired to quilt by her mother Shirley Critchley. Jane recalls her mother being a very talented quilter, with one example being the “Unpicked Jumper Wagga” which can be found within the National Wool Museum’s Collection (REG 8283). Shirley taught Jane the basics in quilting and assisted her in preparing this quilt. The quilt is backed with material from disused woollen skirts. Jane could not recall what material was used for the internal insulating fabric. Jane donated the Tartan Fabric Sample Quilt to the National Wool Museum in 2021. The quilt had been languishing in her cupboard for many years and had found its way to the op-shop pile, as her children had no desire to inherit her quilts. The top layer of the quilt consists of five distinct rows of tartan samples appliqued together. The rows of tartan samples are broken with a boarder of white, grey, and brown fabric which runs in parallel lines. This fabric is also used to bind the quilt together at the edges. The internal insulating fabric of the quilt is not known. The backing fabric is a grey coloured wool originating from disused skirts. The Tartan samples contain stripes of varying width and colour. The samples have been arranged so that the stripes run diagonal on the quilt. Many different colours have been used. The predominant colours are red and black, with lessening amounts of blue, yellow, white, green, and grey featuring. quilts, tartan fabric samples, upcycle, shirley critchley/jane mcgrath collection

This quilt was created by Ms Shirley Critchley, c.1960. it was made in a wagga style from unpicked knitted jumpers that Shirley would repurpose. Some of these jumpers were from her daughters out growing their garments, while others were from jumpers Shirley would find at opportunity stores. One of Shirley’s daughters, Jane McGrath, followed in her mother’s footsteps and begun quilting with Shirley’s guidance. One of Jane’s first quilts, the “Tartan Fabric Sample Quilt” is located within the National Wool Museum’s collection (REG 8282). Multicoloured wagga style quilt. The quilt’s top layer is made from unpicked knitted woollen jumpers. These jumpers are in a variety of colours including yellow, blue, green, and red. Some blocks are a single colour, while others have been knitted with a different secondary colour such as grey or white to give noise. The quilt has an unknown insulating fabric. It shares its backing fabric with the material used to bind the edges together. This material is a woollen blanket in a tartan pattern of a blue background with green and red lines. The quilt is sized to suit a single bed. quilts, wagga, upcycle, shirley critchley/jane mcgrath collection, woollen jumpers

This coat was produced from wool first shorn in c.1928. In 1928 Mr Mal Groves took over the Dutchman Station near Port Augusta in South Australia. Whilst out riding in some rough country he came across a sheep that had been left by the previous owner of the station. As he carried shears with him, he sheared the sheep and left the fleece rolled up and partially covered by rocks and wood, as he had no bag to carry it back with him. He intended to come back for the fleece, but forgot about it until he came across it some forty years later. It was still in good condition (despite having experienced extreme temperatures and rainfall whilst in the open), so he showed it to Elders who arranged to display it at agricultural shows in Adelaide, Melbourne and Geelong. The Gordon Institute of Technology, Geelong, offered to spin the fleece into a fabric and make a coat for Mrs Groves. The fabric was tailored into a coat by Lindsay and McKenzie of Geelong and presented to Mrs Groves in July 1968 by the South Australian manager of Elder Smith Goldsbrough Mort Ltd. It is not know how the coat came to Elders from the Groves family, but Elders displayed the coat under the heading "The Fleece That Would Not Die" before donating it to the National Wool Museum in 1997. A video giving the history of the coat and a text panel used by Elders were also donated at the same time.Coat, brown wool. Long sleeves, knee length with three circular brown buttons and two external pockets. Lined in brown satin, with a blue and red label at the base of the collar.Wording: Solo;Method: Embroidered;Location: Label at base of collar, inside coat Wording: PURE WOOL;Method: Printed;Location: Label on side seam, inside coatfashion wool - characteristics wool processing textile mills textile mills, lindsay and mckenzie elders limited gordon technical college, royal adelaide show - exhibition (31/08/2001 - 08/09/2001), groves, mr mal groves, mrs, dutchman station, south australia, fashion, wool - characteristics, wool processing, textile mills

A cloth sample book, containing samples of Cumberland "light kid mohair" suiting fabric.textile design, cumberland, cloth - worsted, mohair

A cloth sample book, containing samples of Cumberland "extra light super 100's" suiting fabric.textile design, cumberland, cloth - worsted

Sample swatch book,100% merino extrafine Zegna Baruffa fabric.textile industry weaving, zegna baruffa, cloth - woollen, textile industry, weaving

Sample swatch book,100% merino extrafine Zegna Baruffa fabric.textile industry merino sheep weaving, zegna baruffa, cloth - woollen, textile industry, merino sheep, weaving

Sample of fabric produced by Collins Bros Mill for use in Physician brand blankets, c.1930s.TRADE MARK / PHYSICIAN / REG NO 16997 / SPOTLESS FINISH / FREE FROM FILLING / GUARANTEED PURE VIRGIN WOOLtextile production, collins bros mill pty ltd

Sample of fabric produced by Collins Bros Mill for use in Physician brand blankets, c.1930s.TRADE MARK / PHYSICIAN / REG NO 16997 / SPOTLESS FINISH / FREE FROM FILLING / GUARANTEED PURE VIRGIN WOOL "PHYSICIAN" Regd.textile production, collins bros mill pty ltd

Sample of fabric produced by Collins Bros Mill for use in Physician brand blankets, c.1930s.TRADE MARK / PHYSICIAN / REG NO 16997 / SPOTLESS FINISH / FREE FROM FILLING / GUARANTEED PURE VIRGIN WOOL "PHYSICIAN" Regd.textile production, collins bros mill pty ltd

Accompanied fabric samples donation.Baruffa/ Zegna Baruffa- Lane Bergosesia/ VALLEMOSSO-ITALYtextile industry textile mills, zegna baruffa, textile industry, textile mills

This wagga has been made of regular sized, machine sewn patches of mens suiting fabrics. The fabrics would almost certainly have been sourced from a sample book of fabrics for mens suits, owing to their regular size and the fact that many have the same pattern but vary in colour.Wagga, made from samples of mens suiting in machine sewn patchwork.patchwork, wagga, fabrics, mens suits, pattern, necessity

Weaving sample folder: "RANGE No 6" contains sheet detailing 3 "FANCY WORSTED SCREEN FABRIC" patterns with 1 pink, 1 orange and 1 green cloth samplesWAYNE BUGG RANGE No 6 (ink) FANCY WORSTED SCREEN FABRICweaving textile industry textile design, weaving, textile industry, textile design

Weaving sample folder: "RANGE No VI" contains sheet detailing 3 "Fancy Worsted Fabric" patterns with 1 blue, 1 brown and 1 black speckled cloth sample.K.W. KAM (ink) RANGE No VI (ink) Fancy Worsted Fabric (ink)weaving textile industry textile design, weaving, textile industry, textile design

Weaving sample folder: 3 "RANGE NUMBER 6 FANCY MOCK LENO FABRIC" patterns with 1 green, 1 light brown and 1 blue speckled cloth sample.John Inveronity (ink) Range 6 (ink) RANGE NUMBER 6 FANCY MOCK LENO FABRICweaving textile industry textile design, weaving, textile industry, textile design

Weaving sample folder: 3 "FURNISHING FABRIC" patterns with 1 brown, 1 yellow and 1 blue checked cloth sample.FURNISHING FABRICweaving textile industry textile design, weaving, textile industry, textile design

Weaving sample folder: "RANGE 2 WOOLLEN UPHOLSTERY FABRICS", "C. URQUHART". Booklets contains the following 2 paged inserts: "WEAVE REPEAT AND PATTERNING FOR PATTERN 1" sheet with orange patterned cloth; "WEAVE REPEAT AND PATTERNING FOR PATTERN 2" sheet with brown patterned cloth; "WEAVE REPEAT AND PATTERNING FOR PATTERN 1" sheet with yellow/green patterned cloth.RANGE 2 WOOLLEN UPHOLSTERY FABRICS C. URQUHART WEAVE REPEAT AND PATTERNING FOR PATTERN 1 WEAVE REPEAT AND PATTERNING FOR PATTERN 2 WEAVE REPEAT AND PATTERNING FOR PATTERN 3textile production weaving, textile production, weaving

Weaving sample folder: JOHN YANG (1967) RANGE 2 and contains "LADIES COATING OR FURNISHING FABRICS" pattern sheet and 3 patterned cloth samples (light grey, medium grey, red).JOHN YANG (1967) RANGE 2 (ink) LADIES COATING OR FURNISHING FABRICStextile production weaving, textile production, weaving

Weaving samples folder: 3 "FANCY WOOLLEN COATING FABRIC" patterns with 3 patterned cloth samplesW.H. Clamp (ink) FANCY WOOLLEN COATING FABRICweaving textile industry textile design, weaving, textile industry, textile design

Weaving samples folder: 3 "FANCY WOOLLEN (MENS SUITING RANGE)" patterns with 3 black/grey cloth samples5651 (ink) FANCY WOOLLEN COATING FABRICweaving textile industry textile design, weaving, textile industry, textile design

Weaving samples folder: FURNISHING FABRIC RANGE 3" A3 pattern sheet and 3 cloth samples (green, red, orange).F.G. DEAN 1968 (ink) FURNISHING FABRIC RANGE 3weaving textile industry textile design, weaving, textile industry, textile design

Origins are unknown, however it may be possible that since the creator of this quilt has used larger than usual pieces of suiting material, they may have worked as or knew of a tailor for their fabrics.Quilt made of large strips of men's suiting fabric. Machine stitched. Red flannel backing.quilting history, patchwork history, running stitch group, running stitch collection, quilting - history, patchwork - history

Part of the "Wagga collection". Made from squares of patchwork suiting, machine stitched with red diamond and rectangle motifs at strategic positions. The diamonds look like they have been inserted in the fabric pieces where a dart has been cut and opened out.Quilt made of squares of patchwork suiting and fabric offcuts, machine stitched with red diamond and rectangle motifs at strategic positions.quilting history, patchwork history, running stitch group, running stitch collection, quilting - history, patchwork - history

This book dates from the 1940s and was part of the Running Stitch collection of quilts, probably because it was common for women to acquire these books from travelling salesmen. This sample book is an example of the type made by textile mills and given to tailors to sell fabric for made to measure suits. With little money to spare during the austere years of the war, women often acquired these books from tailors when the fabrics were no longer available. They made use of the fabric sample pieces to make quilts. The Australian Woollen Mills was an example of a woollen mill which went into worsted production making good quality English-type suiting. They were very successful until the 1960's when the oversupply of worsted fabrics from Europe and Asia led to the decline of the industry in this country. This book was displayed in the Running Stitch exhibition "Wool Quilts Old and New" of 1985 where it was catalogue entry number 40.Australian Woollen Mills Crusader fabric sample book, c.1940sKnight / QUALITY SELECTED / SUITINGS / of / Crusader / CLOTH / NEVER SOLD OUT Crusader / CLOTH / Makes the best suits "Crusader" / WORSTEDaustralian woollen mills pty ltd running stitch group, cloth - worsted, running stitch collection

Advertising sign (probably a point of sale sign) for Federal Woollen Mills blankets.Advertising sign for Federal blankets.Federal / THE SUPERIOR BLANKET / 100% PURE WOOL / NEW "DEEP-NAP" FINISH GIVES / NEW DOWNY LIGHTNESS ... / NEW WONDERFUL WARMTH / MADE IN AUSTRALIA BY / FEDERAL WOOLLEN MILLS / MAKERS OF / Federal / Fabricstextile production, federal woollen mills ltd, sign

Sample of the mix and match fabric introduced by Mr Fred Moylan (who later purchased a mohair farm).textile mills history, weaving, moylan woollens company, moylan, mr frederick halcomb a.m., textile mills - history