Journal

Tirzah Garwood’s Patchwork Quilt made for Peggy Angus

In the exhibition Tirzah Garwood: Beyond Ravillious at The Dulwich Picture Gallery in London is a vibrant patchwork cot quilt which she made for her friend the artist Peggy Angus c. 1940.

Peggy rented a cottage called Furlongs on the South Downs and it became a gathering place for artists.  Tirzah would take her marbling tank there and set it up in the laundry, everyone would sleep on straw filled mattresses, happy to trade running water and indoor toilets for the amazing landscape.

Tirza painted this portrait of Peggy sitting on her bed at 122 Adelaide Road, London in 1949 (though Peggy touched up the face and hair as she didn’t like the portrait) when she was living across the road.  The quilt is cot sized and was probably a gift for one of Peggy’s children, Victoria and Angus.  It was well used and was repaired for exhibition.

Tirzah was a skilled needlewoman and as with her embroideries she was drawn to Victorian styles.  She had discovered an old Haberdashers in London’s Kings College Road, it was run by two sisters who had inherited the shop and in the stock room Tirzah found Victorian and Edwardian dress materials - tiny print patterns on cottons and calicos.

She bought them to make clothes for herself and her three children and they have obviously found their way into this patchwork.