Kay Anderson Posted February 14, 2009 Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 My sister found an old quilt top at a Goodwill store in Texas. This is all hand peiced and in one corner is hand embroidered (w/one strand of sewing thread!) Fd. 1914. We think this quilt may be that old! Some of the brown madder colored fabric, (only used on 2 blocks) has rotted away. Other than that the top is in great shape, and very well peiced too. She has asked me to finish this quilt for her and to repair the damaged areas too. My question is, "Would you repair those blocks?" One I have done, could not match that fabric at all, the other place was just a rip in the fabric. I fear that a lot of the fabrics may be rotten. When you quilt it would you use a long stich? I don't think the fabric could take heavy stitching. I would like input from any of you who have done such old hand peiced quilts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbigailE Posted February 14, 2009 Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 What a wonderful find! Is this quilt going to be used as a wall hanging, or on a bed? That might make a difference in how or if a repair is done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kay Anderson Posted February 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 Good question, I think my sister is going to sell it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyeQ Posted February 14, 2009 Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 I don't know about the repairing, but I've quilted a bunch of them. Some of them pretty thread bare. I, personally, try to put enough quilting, (usually quite a bit) to give it plenty of support. I haven't had a problem with the quilting hurting the fabrics. Check out my webshots, there's an album called antique quilts. One of the newer ones, greens and browns in stars, was very thread bare. It looked like the piecer had used fabrics from worn out clothing it was soo thin. It quilted up really nice and the family of the maker use it on their couch with no problems. HTH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kay Anderson Posted February 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 [/url][/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kay Anderson Posted February 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 oops, here's another shot. This is the emb on the block. It says Fd 1914 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted February 14, 2009 Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 Hi Kay, good to see you here on APQS Chat. I don't think I have seen you here before, but it looks like you must be a chatter You were kind enough to talk me through your stencil process and even invited me out to your house sometime to see your studio....still planning to do that, just haven't figured out when. I love vintage quilts! I think Tracye is right about a lot of quilting to nail it all down. Sometimes it is hard to keep with the vintage time period type quilting because it was not really dense... I know whatever you do will look great. Congratulations on your article in....was it "On Track"? I've tried to influence the gilrs here with your methods... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kay Anderson Posted February 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 Hi Mary Beth, Yes the article was in "ON TRACK" in the fall 08 issue. Did you look at the Fishy Quilt post I have here? I did the fish with my stencil method. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kay Anderson Posted February 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belbelle Posted February 14, 2009 Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 I had one quilt appraiser tell me you can make small repairs to rotted fabrics by CAREFULLY inserting small bits of Misty Fuse under the areas and then fusing the remaining threads and fabrics down. I think that would help stabilize the areas before quilting over them, but I'm not sure what it would do to the value of the antique, if that's a concern for you. I used this method on one of my own crazy quilts where the silks had "shattered", and I was more concerned with just stabilizing the fabrics than the long-term value of the piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kay Anderson Posted February 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 Thanks for the input Julie. Since I don't own the quilt I'm not sure what sis intends to do with it. Fuseing sounds like a very good idea. I'll be loading this one on the machine today and I sure need to get these repairs done first. Thanks to all you ladies. Love this forum and I'm learing lots. Oh, Mary Beth, the invitation to visit my studio still stands. Hope you can come. Kay:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbi Posted February 14, 2009 Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 Kay, I also recently heard that any new fabric you add changes the dating process of the quilt. The quilt would then be dated from the new fabric, not the old. Another thought on repair, what if you put a piece of netting as from a veil, over the piece and you have saved the piece from being replaced. Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenna Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 I've done many vintage tops by handquilting. I always do a LOT of quilting on them. They seem to be more stable that way. The less room the fabric has to move around the better. I guess with handquilting you get a better feel for what is going on with the fabric since you actually have it in your hands all the time. You might use about a 10 stitch length. Any longer would not hold it as well. Keep a looser tension on the thread if you can but a normal tension on the sandwich itself. JMHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindasewsit Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 Kay, What is your stencil method??? I am very curious!! I am starting to use stencils, and if there is an easy way or tip, I want to know about it!! I am learning sooooo much with my longarm!! More than I ever knew before about allot of quilting stuff!! I feel sometimes like I'm even new at quilting altogether, but I'm not. been dabbling in quiltiing for about 25 years!! I love learning all this new stuff(to me)! thanks! linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kay Anderson Posted February 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 If you are a member of IMQA you should have recieved a copy of our magazine. Last fall I did an article on "Making you own stencils". Please refer to page 18 of ON TRACK. Or you can see my website. www.threadtrail.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kay Anderson Posted February 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 http://threadtrails.com/ sorry, stiff fingers today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindasewsit Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 Hi Kay! I tried the making your own stencils from another thread here on this chat . They were talking about your article. It is fun and I have lots of ideas! Thanks! linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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