About

Quilts stimulate memories of warmth, comfort and security. They are familiar objects, yet carry a range of hidden histories and untold stories about textiles, women's creativity and the lives of individuals and families. British quilts were often made for display as much as for use in the bedroom. Whether exchanged as commodities, made in professional workshops or created in the home, they became objects of immense family value, handed down through the generations.

'Quilts 1700–1945' comes from one of the world's most important and loved collections of textiles and decorative arts — the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. This exhibition presents over 30 quilted and patchworked bed covers and bed hangings, as well as sewing accessories, created over two-and-a-half centuries.

In addition, the exhibition provides a rare opportunity to view Rajah quilt 1841. This extraordinary patchwork — generously lent by the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra — was sewn by women on board the convict ship HMS Rajah, during their transportation to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in 1841.