Good Morning.

My dad was cleaning out the basement and found a couple of bags of my mom's fabric and polyester batting. My mom was not interested in keeping any so she offered them to me.

I was just taking the polyester batting out of one bag. At the bottom of the bag was fabric. As I'm taking out what I thought was fabric, out comes huge white quilted squares!!! What a wonderful surprise! I haven't measured the squares but they look to be at least 20" square. My mom has sewn for years, but she never mentioned that she had done any quilting. I need to look carefully, but I believe that she has handquilted these squares. She does allot of counted cross stitch and the stitching on the squares is very uniform.

I would like to put these together into a quilt and surprise my Mom.

They are stinky and do have a few brown stains. They are white cotton with polyester batting.

Would you sew the squares into a quilt first and then launder or would you launder and then sew them together?

I have never used polyester batting, only cotton, and I'm unsure what to do.

Thanks!

Good One but I'm new so I can't help but can't wait to see the quilt

I had that problem before, I washed mine and I had bad luck with it. So, I say sew them together first.

Here are a few pics of the squares.

How awesome!! I'm glad you are putting them together for her as a surprise. I would put them together then wash. You will have a big mess on your hands if you wash first.
Treat the batt as you would cotton. No problems.

What a treasure, I think a lovely soft coloured sashing would really bring those blocks to life, what a wonderful surprise this is going to be for your mom :D

Very pretty! If you have a serger, maybe you could serge them or even sew a narrow straight stitch and then hand wash them and air dry if they smell is too bad.

I'll go against the crowd and say hand wash first, maybe soak overnight in an enzyme stain remover. Hang to dry. If the stains don't come out, you may not want them in a quilt, or you may want to arrange then so a well-placed applique will cover them. You may decide to dye the stained blocks to camo the spots. By sewing first, you are limiting your options.

I agree with washing first - soak them in woolite or something gentle like that. You can also try white distilled vinegar, dilute a LOT, boil the water, take it off the heat and put your squares in to soak over night. That is supposed to take all stains out of clothing

amazing find and what a great gift idea foryour mom!

I think I would wash first - probably by hand. If they fall apart, you would probably want to know now.

As for setting them together, here is an idea that I used for prequilted blocks that worked pretty well:

Decide which side you want a little strip to show on. If you want it decorative with a contrast, make it show on the front. If you want simply to put the blocks together next to each other, put it on the back with a harmonizing color.

Next cut strips about 1 1/2 inches wide. You could use packaged wide bias tape if you have a source. Then put the blocks together (we will say back to back), with the side of the strip included in the seam allowance. Sew it. Then open up the blocks. Fold the strip of fabric over the seam and either hand stitch, or top stitch. It covers the seam and makes a little sashing between the blocks.

Sew each row, finishing the strip covering the seam. Then, sew each row together, putting back to back and a long piece of 1 1/2 inch wide fabric included in the seam. Then fold it over the raw edges, and you have a completed top.

Is this clear as mud? Hope you (or someone) can use this method sometime.