My name is Linda, I live in Monument, Co. I have a very old, very tattered, very worn quilt. I hate to just throw it out, but I don't know what I could use it for. The edges are ripped and many of the pieces are so worn that the batting shows and some the batting is worn also and the backing shows through. Any idea?

Hello and Welcome :D:D:D
Can you cut smaller squares out of it, and make a wall hanging? Add more to it for a lap quilt?
You could always use it in a Quilt As You Go pattern, and replace the backing on the squares, too.

Somewhere I saw where a quilter cut out the best blocks (ouch!) and incorporated them into pillows. Course being so fragile you probably wouldn't want to use them but they would be pretty on a chair or sofa, especially if the quilt had sentimental value. I have several old quilts that are in pretty bad shape that I should do something with but just can't seem to cut into them. One my great-grandmother made and the other is from my grandmother. Right now they are sitting in a closet. If I cut and framed them or used them somehow, I could see them but... Maybe someday.
Wendy

Welcome to the board from Southern California!

You can batch it over one layer of new cloth add some new flapped triangles around it in between after removing the edges which is not good .
For the inside you batch flowers or birds as applique.

I made teddy bears out of mine.
The great great grandmother (82yo) of one of my friends made each of my DD one when they were babies. She stuffed them with cotton out of a mattress. I broke several needles trying to sew through some of the cotton.
They are raggy but they are cute.

My sis and I laid out one from our grandma and decided where to cut out a "good" square for both of us to frame.( behind glass). It was hard, the quilt was so worn. The squares we ended up with still had spots worn thru to the batting but it only adds to the charm of the piece. When I get my camera back I'll take a picture of what we did.

PS: we still have the rest of the quilt, one of us is going to reproduce it sometime in the future.

I made placemats.

I have an old "sweet Heart "quilt my grand mother made- I'm over 70-That I am trying to reproduce because I've never seen the pattern anywhere. Its a UFO If I ever get it done I'll get someone to post it. This gives me inpiration to a continue

Before you cut it up, you need to decide whether the quilt has sentimental value to you, or (in the case of a really old quilt) is it historically worth saving. If either is true, take it to a quilt guild or to a preservation specialist and ask for recommendations. It might be fairly easy to restore it as a quilt, which is what it was meant to be. I would only cut it up as a last option.

Do what I did, I had one of my grandmothers quilts and I copied the patten and made a top quilt and use the old quilt for the batten. I still have the quilt and the memories for years to come.

I have an old quilt that is not in the best of shape, but that did't stop me from displaying it. I look at that quilt, like someone with a lot of character. Maybe you could fold it, with the best parts showing, and put it on a shelf or in a cupboard with an open door.

Howdy Neighbor! I'm in Grand Jct :)

I agree. There are ways of preserving old quilts.

Hi and welcome from Oklahoma.