WELSH QUILT WIVES

Evening Star, Issue 20057, 24 December 1928, Page 12

WELSH QUILT WIVES

FARMHOUSE INDUSTRY , Probably the least known of the Welsh rural industries is that'of quilt making. There is nothing picturesque about the quilt wife, as there is about the coracle man or the hand weaver, for her work is done in a bedroom, often in spare moments, ■ and her product rarely leaves the bedroom except for its annual washing. Yet there must have been thousands of quilt makers in Wales fifty.years ago (says a correspondent of the London ‘Observer’). Perhaps they number hundreds now, and though-their numbers' have dwindled there is a chance that encouragement and the discovery of new markets may lead to a revival. Though few people, even on tho borders of Wales, know ■ anything of the quilt wives, most people have seen the sort of quilt they produce, for it preceded the eiderdown, and has both survived the popularity of the more expensive covering and shown the way to a cheaper substitute. Tho cheap “eiderdown” of , to-day has wadding instead of down for its filling. For many years tho Welsh quilts have been made with wadding or with sheep's wool, but whereas tho style of the eiderdown arrange its warm lining in fairly big patches, tho Welsh quilt is padded, with many narrow strips of the quilting material worked into fine and intricate patterns beneath tho top. covering of art. cloth or silk. Imagine, then an eiderdown whoso panels have been split up into much smalloi and more detailed designs of scrolls and / circles, fans and tents, leaves and triangles there _is roughly a picture of the quilt which saved Welsfi farmers the cost of many blankets Jong before the days of eiderdowns. All the work on these quilts is done by hand, and as tho size of the quilts makes ordinary handling of them in the course of making practically impossible they are made in frames which allow strips about 2ft wide to be worked at a time. When one such strip is finished it is rolled up on tho back bar of tho frame and so the next width of material is brought forward for working. Great care is necessary to keep the. patterns straight and regular when working on a big scale, and”there must be no serious mistakes, for when once the quilt has been started it cannot be taken out of the frame until it is finished. In the past this industry flourished without any real centre or market. It spread itself through country homes in South and West Wales, and much■ of its products • never came to market at all. Quilts arc still made for sale privately to friends and neighbours. Thousands of them must have served as wedding presents, with smaller editions for christenings. .Working _at the frame was tho proper occupation ol farmers’ daughters when bad weather in the winter kept them from work out of doors. A fanner’s wife who learned the craft as a girl said; “In tho old days every farmer’s daughter was supposed to have a quilt in the frame. It was kept in a spare room upstairs, ami every half-hour of leisure was put in at mailing the quilt. It might last all the winter through, but at least one quilt should have been made in the course of the winter.” Conditions of farming which encouraged this sort of homo industry have nob changed much in Wales. There i,-> ,-till a great deal of family farming. At the last census in 1921 it was found that in Cardiganshire there were 5,6113 sons and daughters of farmers wbrking on ihc farms, and. only 2,766 farm labourers. The ratio in Carmarthen was about the same. Farmers’ daughters still have the leisure, 1 in winter which might be employed in this industry, but few of them seem now to bo following tho example.of their mothers. 1 met one old quilt wife near hero who has made over 500 quilts since her husband died, who is actually supplying quilts to friends ami relations at'Cardiganshire. The - term “quilt wife” is therefore steadily ceasing to be a misnomer. In tho most llourisiug_days of tho industry a more appropriate description womd often have been “ quilt maid,” but it is chiefly The old women who are carrying on the work to-day. They.have brought their industry with them from the West, where it originated, eastwards into mining valleys and industrial areas, and in some cases have taught it to members of the urban popuation among which they settled.

There are, of course, many quilt frames still in use in West _ Wales, though few of them are supplying any market outside their immediate vicinity. Some in Carmarthen are exporting tlieir products, and in the western part of Glamorgan a small number aro working for the wider markets. In the valleys that run northwards from Cardiff and in Monmouthshire near-by the'enthusiasts aro to be found. The Rhondda Valleys, now in such desperate straits owing to coal depression, have a few women 'making comfortable livings out of their quilts. One of these, who lives near the head of the main valley, .is producing a quilt a week, and is sending her work ns far afield as Australia. Another is concentrating on the finest work in silk and sheep’s wool, and is _ making only cot and perambulator quilts. At St. Mellon's, Monmouthshire, there is a farmer’s wife who is an enthusiastic worker, and has not only introduced the industry to members of the local women’s institute, but is trying to arrange for evening classes in the craft this winter.

Generally, I have found no tendency even among women in the distressed areas to take up the industry. Such stimulation, however, as may come from the provision of new markets might easily produce important results, and experiments like the joint production of a ’ quilt by six members of the St. Mellon’s Women’s Institute must help to create interest. One worker in the Rhondda district has made a living" out of the sale of quilts to poor people in the locality on the instalment plan. Recently her market has been broadened by the Royal'lndustries Bureau at prices that convince her that her fortune is made if only she can livo long enough to harvest it. There can bo no doubt about tho quality of the product. Some of tho designs may be a little too intricate and .imaginative for a quiet taste, but as they are worked in neat stitches, and not*in gaudy colours, this point matters less than it might. But the quilt seems to wear for generations. I have been shown some made .oyer fifty years ago, and washed every year by the present owner for the last thirty-five years, that will serve for many- years more* Most of the quilts to-day are being made-on the old plan, with lots of material of good quality. The average measurement, is ,2-jyds by 2jyds, and such a quilt takes, 14yds of material, 3Jlb "of cotton wool, 400yds of cotton, ami may be sold here, if covered with sateen, for about £2 ss. This seems to have been so much a home industry as to -have been very ■largely neglected by.-Wales. The National' Museum of Wales here has no ■such quilt in tho typical Welsh bedroom exhibits., It shows rather the heavy, woven quilt. Nor does tho

most recent work on Welsh rural industries make any mention ofi quilt making. Yet, here are the relics of tho industry which, with a growing demand from beyond the boundaries of tho principality, may possibly revive. [ I