WOMEN AND QUILT WORK

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 99, 28 April 1928, Page 15

WOMEN AND QUILT WORK

Lady ]lkostcn has spent a great part oC her. life introducing craft lo tho women 6£ Warwickshire, and as n. thank offering to her, '128 women of Warwickshire havn mado a wonderful crossstitched bod f(ui)t and presented it to her. Last year it was decided lo mako a quilt that would rival medieval craftsmanship and bo a,n example for centuries to come. No woman was to pay uioro than a penny towards tho cost, niid tho work was to bo spread in Hoctioim botwoim tho members of 81 women's institutes in tho country. Tho quilt was begun early in 1!)U7, and all and sundry have worked upon it, while it has gono tho rouudfl from cottage to cottage. Tho design was drawn from many sources—heraldic in charactor, representing flowers, dragons, and quaint borders. Tho eulive work, consisting of a quill seven feet long and. eight foot wide, a. pillow cover, and v panel live fret .square to hang on tho wall above Iho bed, was worked in black. Lady .Ilkeston was deeply moved at the gift of those women, and, npoakiiiK at tho display of homo crafts at tho Imperial Institute, South Kensington, organisod by tho National Federation of Womon'H Institutes, sho «aid: — '.'1 should like ovory woman in Loudon to woo what tho Warwickshire women can do. lam qnito convinced that it can bo placed alongsido tho great cmhroidory of tho Middle Ages—especially tlio old "Italian work, which is treasured in tho museums in every national capital." Thoro woro many other rotnarkablo quilts on viovv, including a group mado by the wives of Durham •minors. It is a good thing to know that thoro are still some women in the world who know how to sew, for of Into years it, has almost become a lost art.