COMMUNITY QUILTS
Clayton’s Quilt Patterns
Lessa and Faye have kindly given permission for the use of the Clayton’s quilt patterns which have been designed and used in workshops over the years to raise funds for organisations in need.
Click here to go to the Clayton’s Patterns page to download the patterns.
Click here to download the SA Quilters Community Quilts Program Policy.
Quilts of Love have been made in South Australia by SA Quilters members since 1996. The Little Quilts of Love were inspired by a similar project in New South Wales and was started here in South Australia by the late Jean Pearce OAM. They were supplied to maternity hospitals to enable babies who were stillborn or died soon after birth to be wrapped with love. Fortunately over the years pre-natal and peri-natal care has improved and we now have far less need for the Little Quilts of Love.
We are also no longer able to accept any knitted goods as this requirement is being supplied by alternative community organisations.
In more recent years SA Quilters has been asked by the Lyell McEwin Hospital to make Isolette Covers and Crib Quilts to brighten their Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) and Special Care Nurseries (SCN). This has since been taken up by other hospitals throughout the state.
How can you help?
Due to the overwhelming generosity SA Quilters members, we have a number of various quilts in storage so we are asking members to please keep them at your home until we put a call out for more quilts as we have limited storage space. Hospitals also have limited storage so can only accept a few at any one time.
Isolette covers are needed and they are given to the parents when their baby goes home as the hospitals are no longer able to wash these (due to the high temperatures in the commercial laundries….the quilts would not last very long!). The most needed size is the 30in x 48in used by the Lyell McEwin Hospital. Please see below for instructions to make both sizes of Isolette Covers.
Isolette Covers – 30in x 48in and 32in x 32in
These are special purpose covers used by staff in NICU and SCN. They are used to lay over an Isolette to control the light environment of the baby.
The covers create a less clinical feel to the units. They should have wadding which helps block out the bright lights of the unit especially at sleep time. Please do not use bulky polyester wadding. The covers should be bright and cheerful.
Guidelines: Cotton fabric only. Covers may be pieced, panels or both and should be quilted. Cotton wadding is best so they can be washed if needed. Please ensure designs and any wording on fabric are appropriate for the covers.
Sizing is important as the staff need to be able to access the portholes and also be able to see the baby at all times. Lyell McEwin Hospital uses the 30in x 48in which are the most used size. Some of the smaller hospitals like the 32in x 32in covers.
Crib Quilts 26in x 26in
These are used in both the NICU and SCN in the open cribs. There is no limit to your imagination for creating colourful quilts to brighten up these units and make them feel less clinical. Please remember though that they need to be soft and cuddly so do not over quilt them or add heavy machine embroidery. Soft wadding such as Pellon or thin cotton is best. We also request that no embellishments or buttons are added so that nothing can harm baby’s delicate skin if they should lie on the quilts. Please ensure designs and any wording on fabric are appropriate for the quilts.
PLEASE NOTE: All quilts must have loose threads removed and be clean and stain free. They must not have any pet fur on them. Please ensure that all pins are removed.
LABELS: Labels are available for sale at SA Quilters meetings or can be posted. Packs of 5 are $2.00 and postage will be an extra $1.00. This helps the guild cover the cost of purchasing labels and it would be appreciated it if members could sew labels onto the quilts before handing them in….saves the co-ordinators a lot of time!
Quilts may be dropped for collection at the following supporting shops:
Jack n Jayde’s Sewing Centre 165, St. Bernards Road, Rostrevor
Widebacks 22 Farrow Circuit, Seaford
Tricia’s Discount Fabrics 11-13 Price Street Melrose Park
SA Quilters any monthly meeting
Please do not take any quilts directly to the hospitals as they have limited storage and only request quilts from coordinators as their supplies run low.
Thank you for your kind support, your contributions are so very much appreciated. Any questions or queries please don’t hesitate to contact the co-ordinators:
Jill Clausen Ph: 0403 016639
Therese May Ph: 0468 328966
SA Quilters is proud to support an initiative with the children’s ward at Flinders Medical Centre, established by Kay Lovell and Shirley Andrewartha and currently managed by Chris O’Brien.
We supply bright, cheerful quilts that are 40” x 48” in size, although there is some flexibility in these measurements as there are varying ages of children in the ward. There are also times when accompanying adults are offered a larger quilt if they stay with children overnight.
We like our quilts to be labelled with SA Quilters Quilts of Love labels, so please collect from the Flinders Kids desk at SA Quilters meetings or contact Chris to have some mailed out to you or to your group.
For more information about the Flinders Kids project please email Flinders Kids
The illustrated quilts are made using 10” blocks and instructions are below.
Check the width of your fabric, but if it’s 43/44” wide you should get 4 of all of your strips from each width of fabric cut.
For the Flying Geese:
Cut 30 5 1/4” (geese fabric) squares.
Cut 120 2 7/8” (background fabric) squares.
Cut 48 @ 1 1/2” x 10 1/2” high contrast strips.
Cut 24 @ 2 1/2” x 10 1/2” (colour 1) strips
Cut 24 @ 2 1/2” x 10 1/2” (colour 2) strips
There are plenty of online tutorials for making No Waste Flying Geese using the 5 1/4” and 2 7/8” squares. This is not the most accurate way of making Flying Geese BUT it’s fast and adding the simple strips allows for some fudging if your geese are a little inconsistent.
Assemble 24 strips of 5 Flying Geese.
Add high contrast 1 1/2” strips each side of the flying geese strip.
Add 2 colour 1 @ 2 1/2” strips to each of 12 blocks
Add 2 colour 2 @ 2 1/2” strips to each of 12 blocks.
Most of all have lots of fun and support a great cause.
Keep up to date on the Flinders Kids Facebook page.
SA Quilters supports Puddle Jumpers
Each year SA Quilters choose a South Australian women’s and children’s charity to support. In 2025 we have chosen to support the South Australian Children’s Charity, Puddle Jumpers.
Puddle Jumpers is a non-profit, non-government organisation committed to responding to the social development needs of society’s most vulnerable children and young people. We believe that all kids matter and deserve the right to engage in happy and fun experiences in their life.
Puddle Jumpers Inc (PJs) is a non profit, non-government organisation committed to responding to the social development needs of society’s most vulnerable children and young people; priority of our work is reserved for children who do not live with their birth parents.
We believe all kids matter, and deserve the right to engage in happy and fun experiences in their life.
Puddle Jumpers Inc commenced in May 2012, the first camp service ran in December 2012, a second camp and an activity day event was held in April 2013. Melanie Tate (Our CEO & Founder) devoted her time to the charity set up in a volunteer capacity to ensure children in need receive the services that they deserve.
In extension of those services, in February 2016, the first free food night was held at the original Puddle Jumpers premises in Forestville. Free Food Nights are still being held today at our current premises in Glandore to ensure that disadvantaged families and children are receiving the basic necessities that all of us deserve.
We aim to empower children to recognise and express their individual abilities, interests, and talents, and to provide each child and young person with a transformative opportunity to grow and develop their own capacities and competencies.We aim to build resilience in kids to enable them to believe in themselves, to believe that anything is possible and help them ‘jump over puddles’ that they have in their own lives.
We aim to enhance community cohesion, promote social inclusion, and encourage respect and tolerance for social diversity. We aim to provide opportunities for self-challenge and development and facilitate opportunities for new learning in a fun and safe atmosphere. We aim to share the happiness and adventure of being children and young people, and simply encourage kids to be kids, to ‘jump in all the puddles’.
We aim to provide opportunities for volunteers to be involved in their community and open their hearts to the wonderful world of helping others. We aim to provide volunteers with training, support and opportunities to expand their own development, promote social awareness, social compassion, and social leadership. Encouraging our volunteers to develop a social partnership to enhance both their own lives and the lives of the children and young people they engage with. We aim for volunteers to understand and value, the impact that their actions and hearts can have on others in the community, especially those in need, thereby enhancing young adults’ sense of social community, interaction and belonging.
Clayton’s Committee
Following the decision of the Clayton’s Committee to finalise their fundraising for Bedford Industries, Lessa and her team have continued to cut kits from their donated fabric.
These kits have been sold at various SA Quilters functions with the funds generated donated to the SA Quilters charity of choice for the year. SA Quilters are very appreciative of the increase this gives to the funds raised each year. Over $3,000 was raised at the SA Quilters 2023 Biggest Morning Tea to benefit Cancer Research and over $4,000 raised to benefit Backpacks for Kids in 2024.
We would like to thank Lessa, supported by her team, for their continued support of SA Quilters and charities in our community.
Faye and Lessa