Cushion cover
Maker & role
Mrs Ellen Robey, Maker
Production date
circa 1894
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Object detail
Production place
Measurements
0 - Whole, L: 47 x W: 47cm (L: 470 x W: 470mm)
Credit line
Gift, 1991
Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Caption
Cushion cover featuring a log cabin design, velvet, 1884
Description
This cushion cover has been created using a patchwork method known as log cabin work whereby the pattern comprises of sixteen squares made from silk/cotton velvet. It was made by Mrs Ellen Robey, Wellington, New Zealand as part of her trousseau and later given to her daughter Miss F. Robey. The cushion was featured in an article titled 'Bits and Pieces', The Sydney Mail, November 7, 1934, p.22.
The design is made by sewing strips in sequence around the sides of the square, varying the values between light and dark. Log cabin patchwork is simple to construct and easily made with either scraps or metreage and was a popular form of women's home craft in the late 19th Century.
Log cabin patterns have been found in inlaid wood designs, weavings and embroideries as early as the 1700s in England and popularity for Log Cabin quilts in the early 19th Century was influenced by the discovery of mummified Egyptian animals, found with Log Cabin patterning and dyeing of the strips of linen wound around these royal funerary objects. It is possible the term 'Log Cabin' came from the post Civil War westward advance in the U.S. and the romance of log cabins on the prairie.
A characteristic of Log Cabin patchwork is that each square is worked half in dark fabrics and half in light fabrics from opposing corners. The squares are then arranged so as to maximise this contrast. In this cushion cover the squares have been arranged to form a striking central diamond. Velvets have been used following an Aesthetic Movement derived interest in rich fabrics.(Sheri Burke 1998)
The design is made by sewing strips in sequence around the sides of the square, varying the values between light and dark. Log cabin patchwork is simple to construct and easily made with either scraps or metreage and was a popular form of women's home craft in the late 19th Century.
Log cabin patterns have been found in inlaid wood designs, weavings and embroideries as early as the 1700s in England and popularity for Log Cabin quilts in the early 19th Century was influenced by the discovery of mummified Egyptian animals, found with Log Cabin patterning and dyeing of the strips of linen wound around these royal funerary objects. It is possible the term 'Log Cabin' came from the post Civil War westward advance in the U.S. and the romance of log cabins on the prairie.
A characteristic of Log Cabin patchwork is that each square is worked half in dark fabrics and half in light fabrics from opposing corners. The squares are then arranged so as to maximise this contrast. In this cushion cover the squares have been arranged to form a striking central diamond. Velvets have been used following an Aesthetic Movement derived interest in rich fabrics.(Sheri Burke 1998)
Accession number
L91/107
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