quilted cotton sateen, English, 1932; Rural Industries Bureau (RIB), Durham feather

Wholecloth cotton quilt, worked in red cotton thread in the 'North Country Feather' pattern (characteristic of the County Durham area). Rural Industries Bureau commission, 1932.

Made by Mrs Nina Pirt of County Durham. This quilt, along with T.133-1932 was commissioned by the V&A from the Rural Industries Bureau.

Nina Pirt - biographical information [from research undertaken by Anne Jeater, British Quilt Study Group, 2015-16 and given to the V&A during a Clothworkers' appointment,3/10/2017 ]

Nina Pirt was born Nina Welford, 1898, in Page Bank, near Spennymoor, County Durham. She married Joseph Pirt (b.1897) a coal miner and also of Page Bank, in 1916. Only known offspring is Miss Freda Pirt.

Nina and Joseph moved to Spennymoor, probably in the 1920s.Nina was one of the youngest of the Durham quilters who worked for the RIB. Most of the Durham RIB quilters lived in and around Spennymoor.

Nina died in 1981. Two quilts, one made by her and the other assumed to have been in her possession and probably made by her, were donated to Beamish Museum, County Durham in 1983 (accession number 1986-226-11 and 1986-226-12).

The Rural Industries Bureau (RIB) was established in 1921 by the Ministry of Agriculture and was funded through the Development Commission. Its purpose was to develop rural industries by providing technical advice and assistance to country workshops. It produced various booklets and reports and the quarterly magazine, Rural Industries. In 1968 the Bureau merged with the Rural Industries Loan Fund to create the Council for Small Industries in Rural Areas (CoSIRA). The Development Commission and CoSIRA merged in 1988 to form the Rural Development Commission.

T.134-1932