Casgliadau Arlein

Unfinished full-sized wholecloth quilt still attached to its quilting frame. Made in 1950 by Doris James (1923-2015), a hairdresser from Abertridwr. It was intended for a quilting exhibition held at St Fagans Castle in 1951, but was not completed.

Made of cotton poplin. One side pale green, other side cream. Filling of carded sheep's wool. Overall hand-stitched quilting pattern (running stitch) of rows of inverted tulip shapes filled with roses and leaves on a trellis ground, with single border of veined beech leaves in a zigzag layout. Quilting is nearly finished apart from one border. At top edge, tacking stitches attach the quilt to cotton twill webbing tape which is nailed to wooden bars, whereas on bottom edge it is pinned. The wooden bars have slots at the ends through which the two other pieces of wood (separate) are slotted to make up the quilting frame which can be fixed and adjusted with wooden pegs (of which four remain). Side edges are still unfinished: while working on it, its edges were tensioned in-between the wooden side bars with loops of cotton tape, to which the side edges are pinned. Over the last 60cms, pins and tapes are still in situ. Quilt is constructed of 3 panels of fabric: (full width of woven material = 92cm). Quilt is wrapped with pink fabric (contemporary).