Changi Quilts

Three signature quilts made in 1942 by women and girls interned by the Japanese in Changi Prison, Singapore, after the fall of Singapore. The idea came from Ethel Mulvany, a Canadian internee who had been a Red Cross representative. Each quilt is made of 66 embroidered or appliqued squares signed by their makers. The quilts were passed to military hospitals, ostensibly for wounded men, and served to tell men held in nearby camps that the women were alive. Known as the British, Australian and Japanese quilts, two are held by the Australian War Memorial in Canberra and one by the British Red Cross in London.

Text from OyList