2000-1-A suiting samples quilt
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This utilitarian quilt was made by Mrs Gethin of Cwm Belan near Llanidloes, between 1900 and 1920. She used suiting samples, perhaps from a sample book, a common practice when making everyday quilts for use around the home or for farmhands and other workers.
The woollen fabrics are in purple, black, beige, grey, and other sombre colours, but are well preserved in this piece. Many other such quilts would have been worn until they literally fell apart. The suiting fabrics used here were commonly made in the mills of Mid Wales in the late nineteenth century.
The piece, whilst simple, has been organised in borders around the central medallion. It is machine pieced and machine quilted in the ditch.
The quilt features in the book Making Welsh Quilts, byClare Claridge and Mary Jenkins, (David & Charles, 2005) where it is referred to as the “Hired Hand Quilt”.