

Colby, Averil
1900 - 1960

Banner made from 81 hexagons of silk and satin stars joined together by brown velvet lozenges, mounted on a pole with a silk cord for hanging. The hexagons are hand-pieced and the papers are still intact. The banner is finished on the back with a coarse netting. The maker and date of the hexagons is unknown but thought to date to the late 19th/early 20th century. The loose hexagons were assembled together by Miss Averil Colby in 1960.

Averil Colby was a British quilt historian and quiltmaker, and author of three books on patchwork and quilting. Her distinctive style was to create complicated bouquets and swags from the careful arrangement of floral printed hexagons and diamonds.She had a great influence over the patchwork being produced in the 1950s and 60s. Her research and work was very important, as it was being produced at a time when the crafts of patchwork and quilting were generally disregarded.

90cm x 180cm