Originally Posted by
GrammaNan
What if you tea-dyed some muslin for the new background? Would that come closer to the original muslin? It would help to have a picture. I think your project is definitely worth pursuing.
I, too, right away thought of tea dying the muslin, but I'm thinking after the top is finished, washing it first to get the old muslin back as close as possible to it's original color, then tea dying the whole top, so all the muslin will blend together better? Before gently washing the top, I'd do stay-stitching around the entire edge.
I do really like the idea of using different shades of muslin
and mixing in some solids as that, IMHO, would add lots of interest without having to change the original old blocks at all.
Before I trimmed the larger blocks down, I'd consider adding borders to the smaller ones to make them as large as the others. Perhaps using some of the different shades of muslin/solids for the borders.