Sorry to hear about the quilt. In the 1940's, I made some pretty plaid dresses for myself and my little sister. We always wore dresses to school. The plaid had black in it, and the black parts soon starting fraying and falling apart. Like someone else said, the black must have had something in it that compromised the fabric.
As for your quilt, I much agree with opening the hand stitching of the binding and putting new fabric on. Don't know if I would try to snip the black away as much as possible or not. That's up to you.
But to put on your new fabric, use Washable School Glue to lay it on. Finish the binding, and then tie it, but not with yarn or floss. Use your sewing machine. Some call it machine ties or tacking. The glue will hold the fabric in place as you stitch in the ditch from the front about every six inches or so. Do about three stitches forward, three stitches backward, and three more stitches forward. Then move to about six inches away and do that again. These ties end up being almost invisible from the front. I have looked at some quilts that I did like that and wondered if I really quilted it. I had to pull on the top fabric to see that, yes, it is quilted.
You will be able to do that on any home sewing machine. Just roll the quilt the long way as you get toward the middle. I just did a quilt 88 inches wide on my Featherweight. Got right to the middle.
Good luck to you, and I love your quilt.
Last edited by maviskw; 03-16-2014 at 05:02 AM.