Originally Posted by quilttiludrop
Most of us think about quilts lasting only about 20 years or so, but it's wonderful to have quilts that have lasted 60+ years. There are a lot of ingredients that go into having a quilt that really holds up well, not just thread.
Too true. I have a couple of my husband's great-grandmother's quilts (think Mennonite great-grandma here, they are NICE quilts). Unfortunately a few of the blocks one one of them are starting to fall apart. When I started really looking, it was the same fabric she used in different spots all over the quilt. This leads to a couple assumptions: either she used an old worn out fabric (but none of the other would be even close to that category) or the dye used on the fabric might be the actual culprit. We forget that dyes, soaps, light, temperatures, no matter what the source, can 140 years from now, actually cause fibers to decay. So sad. By the way, the sewing thread is hold up well and so is all that hand piecing and quilting.