All Shapes and Sizes

  • Mrs Bilings Coverlet

The Quilt Museum and Gallery is celebrating the design and draughtsmanship skills of quilters through the ages as its first main exhibition for 2015. All Shapes and Sizes is a stunning collection of quilts that reveal complex, geometric designs that are pieced to perfection.

“It’s quite staggering to think that many of these quilts were pieced by makers who most certainly would not have had access to the tools and knowledge that today’s quilters take for granted”. How they achieved such precision with limited resources baffles quilt enthusiasts and is a topic of much debate. If only quilts could talk…”, commented Heather Audin, Museum Curator.

The exhibition showcases a fascinating and varied selection of items from The Quilters’ Guild Collection including The Billings Coverlet (1805-1810) - a Tour de Force of geometry with each of its fifteen frames executed precisely and displaying very small and difficult piecing. Equally impressive is the Concentric Row Hexagon Top (1880-89) which incorporates over 2000 hexagons and is real testament to the patience, fortitude and needlework skills of yesterday’s quiltmakers.

Quilt Historian and teacher Celia Eddy will be leading two practical workshops entitled ‘Patchwork and the Spirit of Geometry’ on the 20th March and repeated on the 21 March at the Quilt Museum and Gallery. Visit the Quilt Museum and Gallery website for more information www.quiltmuseum.org.uk/events