Welcome to the Quilting Board!
After my grandma passed away, I was given a Lone Star she had made back in the 1960's. It laid perfect and I had great hopes of finishing the top to make a sort of generational quilt. Then I made the mistake of hand washing the star. It no longer lays flat. Is there anything that I can do to fix it? I appreciate any advice anyone has to share.
Try laying a large blanket on your dining table. Use some spray sizing (or starch) and lightly spraying and ironing the top with a DRY iron....no steam. If that doesn't work, then try steaming. If you're taking it to a longarmer they may be able to work out the areas that don't lay flat.Laying it out on a table gives you more flat area to help.
Dee
"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." by George Bernard Shaw
I am so sad that you washed a quilt top. Can you post a photo so we can see how much damage has been done?? I agree with what Dee had to say. You have to be patient and work on one small area. Keep you heat NOT on cotton otherwise you could scorch the quilt top. Just take your time and if you feel frustrated, walk away, doing something else and when you are up to trying again, then go back. I wish you the best of luck. ALWAYS wash a quilt after the three layers of the quilt have been secured with thread by quilting or tying with binding attached.
A Good Friend, like an old quilt, is both a Treasure and a Comfort
Part of the problem may be because the seams are no longer flat, so you may want to work from the back, following Dee's advice. If the selvages are frayed and tangled, you can cut the loose threads as you go to make it neater.
Can you tell if she blended fabrics in the top? 1960's it was not uncommon to have cottons and polyesters mixed in a top so it is possible you had some shrinkage in the cottons and none in the poly or poly blends if there are any in the top. Edited to add you can also try blocking the top. most instructions you find on the net are for already quilted quilts but the same principle applies. Google "how to block a quilt top" and you will get loads of hits.
A lot of imperfections can be quilted out. My lone star had a "A" cup volcano in the center that quilted out no problem. So depending on where it is no longer laying flat this may not be too difficult of a hurdle to overcome in completing the quilt. Would love to see pictures.
Last edited by feline fanatic; 09-02-2015 at 04:35 AM.
Thank you all for your replies! To clarify, this is just the star not a completed top. I do regret washing it and I did iron it afterwards. Those two combined are probably what caused the problem. The fabric looks cotton but it could be a blend. I'm not sure. I'm including pictures to try to help show what the problem is. It's like there is extra fabric now.
The colors work well together in the star.
If it was laying "flat" before you washed it, you might be able to block it back into shape.
Start by getting the axis lined up properly, and then you can pat/nudge the star points into better alignment.
It appears that the pieces may have gotten stretched at the V's of the stars a bit while handling and that's why you have that overlap. Try to block those V's into 90 degree angles - some of those angles look like they might be a bit larger than that now.
I think that also using correct sized setting squares and setting triangles will take care of some the problem.
Thank you so much for the diagram! I hope to try this in the coming weeks.
Lone Stars are my favorite quilt. In fact they are pretty much the only quilts I have been making lately.
It looks like the one fabric (red stripe) may be a homespun, which has more stretch that most cottons. I can see other areas where it looks like it's stretched around the star. Starching & pressing may shrink it back into shape.
I would try to block the center star as "bearisgrey" posted above. I would use "Best Press" or a good starch & stiffen it up. Give it a good spray, pat it in with your hand, let it set a minite or so to absorb in well & then press, trying to ease it back into shape. It will help to keep it from stretching more as you finish the quilt. I also starch the backing ( I use Sta Flo liquid starch, 50 water to 50 starch & soak the backing then squeeze it out & toss it in the dryer, then iron it). It makes it nice & stiff, which helps to keep it from stretching out as you quilt your sandwich.
Even if you can't get it all back in shape it may quilt out OK. Use a walking foot.
Good luck I hope you can get it fixed.
Just a thought - but I would spray on starch and dampen, and iron from the center outwards. You should be able to move the fabric into the correct shape as you go, and keeping those right-angles for the set-in pieces. You may need to stretch a little one way if the washing, or the way you pressed caused the puckering.
Good luck
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote