I made this quilt for my mom a few years back. It was made as a memory quilt. My dad's auto shop became my mom's antique shop when my dad couldn't run the auto shop anymore. The large border is from the curtains she used along the workbench on one wall in the antique shop. The solid red is from the curtains she had on the windows. I added the white. I made it all by handstitching and now the fabric at the seams are pulling apart. I don't want to take it all apart to redo it so I thought maybe I could use binding to sew over the seams.

But I would like any suggestions on how best to preserve this quilt. She wanted it for a lap quilt on the couch but she has hardly used it. It frayed like this shortly after I gave it to her. It has been in storage since. The stitching is not pulling out rather the fabric has pulled out of the stitching. Not sure why. The fabric was not that old when I used it. Well on second thought now the reds are about 20 years old but they are 100% cotton.

Maybe use a medium or large ric rac over the seams. I think it will be well worth the effort to repair/restore. Be sure to show us what you decide.

Excellent suggestion!

My mother recently gave me some heavy velvet drapes that she had on her windows for about five years (they were backed with blockout handstitched in the corners). Whilst the fabric looked unfaded and still plush it was terribly weakened. So I was unable to use if for quilts. UV light will destroy most fabrics, without them necessarily fading, so maybe that is the case here.

Erstan's suggestion is a good one, but maybe some extra quilting too. This may support the fabric and stop it pulling quite so much.

Will watch with interest, as I think this is going to be useful to others and maybe someone else has managed to find a good solution. By the way it's a lovely quilt.

Thanks for the suggestions. I am often asked if I ever do quilts as eveyone knows me as the Miniature Lady. I had totally forgotten this one when I was answering. I did it with love for my mom. We are not on the same wave length most of the time! LOL and I wanted to do something that would mean something to her. So it frustrated me when it frayed like this. I need to make it better. Just need to figure out the best way to do that.

I would put fray check on the area's and then maybe top stitch new sashing . Or make new narrower sashings to top stitch on. this would reinforce the old fabric maybe even bias tape... or the width of 1/2 inch bias. You could use wonder under ( cut in skinny strips) to secure it exactly where you want it while you sew it.

How sad. Hope you are able to repair it.

I thing "earthwalker" may have touched on something. Just day to day use & polution can cause fabric to weaken, it doesn't have to be in direct sunlight. It's too bad your quilt needs extra TLC.

Cute quilt - look like it can be saved. I would do a LOT more quilting on it. The seams are having to support way too much which is what looks like lead to the splitting of the seams. When the fabric is this old, it needs some support. Kind of like some of us....

Shelley you probably have a point. I don't know how to quilt other than STID so it didn't get any quilting other than STID. But it didn't get any use either. She folded it on the back of her couch and that is all. Then it was stored.