My grandmother was recently admitted to long term care and is in the final stages of Alzheimer's.
As a result, the ranch has to be sold and everything sorted through. This quilt top was found in grandma's possessions. Mom and her sister's have never seen it and they know grandma wasn't a quilter. They are thinking she possibly got it from her mother when she died. So the quilt can easily be over 100 years old. The colored pieces are machine pieced together with about 1/8 inch seams. The seams that join the colored pieces to the muslin are all hand sewn using little tiny stitches. The piecing of the quilt is perfect and all the seams match up. We're thinking most of the fabric is from feed sacks. Mom wants to finish the quilt since it is so beautiful and so much work went into making it. She plans on leaving the edges alone and not adding a border, but simply finish off with binding. She is concerned about the seams coming undone and is unsure how to quilt it. Does she send it to a long arm? Does she follow the integrity of the quilt and hand quilt it? If she hand quilts it, she is afraid she won't get enough quilting to prevent the seams from coming undone. And even then, how would she quilt it? If she sends it to a long arm, would stippling be a good way to secure all those tiny seams? I told her I would post her questions here and let the experts help her. So, how should she quilt this work of art? What do you all suggest? Also, should she use regular cotton fabric to bind it, or is there something else that she should use that is soft like the cottons in this quilt. Thanks!
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Close up of the stitching on the quilt - both machine and hand.
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