Fifteen historic quilts made from leftover material from Derry's shirt factories will be exhibited at the Knit + Stitch Northern Ireland textile craft show in Lisburn from November 12 to 15. The quilts, known as Derry Factory Girl Quilts, are drawn from Derry City and Strabane District Council's museum collection and private owners.

The exhibition is curated by Margaret Lee of Shirt Tales NI and is part of the Stitched project, which received a Northern Ireland Museums Council grant. The project involved assessing, conserving, and documenting quilts linked to the shirt and garment industries.

Shirt making was a major industry in Derry for almost 200 years, with thousands of women employed in factories producing clothing for global markets. Offcuts of fabric were often sold or given to workers, who used them to create bedcovers at home.

The quilts, sometimes called utility or strippy quilts, were often made from long pieces of available fabric with minimal cutting, resulting in bold patterns that reflected the materials on hand and the need to avoid waste.

The exhibition follows the Stitched project, which also involved volunteer quilters helping museum staff identify fabrics and construction techniques. Their knowledge aided in interpreting the collection and encouraged further research and oral history recording.

On November 12, curator Margaret Lee will be joined by Derry City and Strabane District Council archivist Bernadette Walsh and assistant archivist Lucy MacIver for a live stage talk about the quilts' history and construction.

Lucy MacIver said the quilts are a distinctive part of Derry's social and industrial history, made to be used and often from materials that might otherwise have been discarded. She said bringing museum and privately owned quilts together gives visitors a chance to appreciate their visual impact and the communities behind them.

The event is an opportunity for those with family connections to the shirt factories or memories of similar quilts to learn more about the tradition.

Knit + Stitch Northern Ireland runs at the Eikon Exhibition Centre in Lisburn.