???? working with antique wool blocks
 

I am looking for some advice.... I am working with some antique wool crazy blocks. they were most likely pieced early to mid 1900's.... I am making some table runners out of them, to share with the family members of the person who started them....

I have trimmed them to a consistent size of 10" and using some wool yardage, I've sashed them at 2" finished... then added a 4" outside border. I used a 1/2" seam and graded the bulk out of the seam....

My questions... 1) should I use wool for the backing? 2) wool batting or warm and natural batting? I have never worked with wool batting before. 3) quilting will be by hand.... I want to keep it simple, as the blocks have a very antique, yet contemporary feel to them with simple herringbone type embroidery at the seam lines. Should I leave the center of the blocks w/o quiltling.... quilt just a bit in the ditch to anchor a bit? I am planning on a single direction diagonal on the sashing and border edges. 4) what do I bind it with? or should I do an envelope type closure and quilt the edges?

Thanks for the help.

I would do a little research and try to find out what someone would have used in that time period. If you can't find any information like that then you could do wool or another fabric that picks up one of the colors on the front. If I remember correctly, though, crazy quilts were brought into vogue originally by ladies that were able to afford fancy fabrics. Maybe even a nice piece of velvet would be a nice touch for the backing.

I would probably want to choose a lower loft batting like warm and natural. I think that would be more period appropriate but would still look a little bit contemporary. Wool batting is going to give a nice puffiness and define the stitches nicely but depending on the blocks the quilting might be lost. As for the binding, I would do a knife edge binding; nice and clean.

I'm not sure about the quilting. Do you have a pic that you can post?