Originally Posted by
roguequilter
roguequilter::
the photo of the full sized quilt i have examined with magnifying glass to try & discern the quilting motif used by maker. my inspection with the magnifying glass also showed that this over 150 year old quilt shows no wear on the knife edge finish quilt edges. i'd say that shows a bit of sturdy longevity to this type of quilt edge finishing.
I would tend to disagree with that assessment. In the case of antique quilts, they were not exposed to the rigors of constant machine washing which is probably more of a reason of lack of wear and tear on both the edge of the quilt and the quilt itself. Most antique quilts were rarely washed but aired out and rotated. Many antique quilts that have survived were probably not everyday quilts but ones made for a brides dowry chest and only laid out on special occasions. As a result the quilt was not subject to the wear and tear of an every day quilt. Additionally, most dyes used back in the 1800's were highly caustic to cotton fibers, which is why many antiques we see the fabric has just disintegrated from simple normal use combined with the nature of the dyes and the chemical reaction they have being exposed to cleaning (and remember soap back in the day was lye based). The curators of Bennington Museum strongly believe the Jane Stickle quilt (aka Dear Jane quilt) spent many, many decades stored away in a hope chest which is why it has survived.
A knife edge finish does work for many quilts and in some cases the only finish that would look good (or facing) but I agree, it is better suited to smaller items that won't see a lot of laundering and handling. I also find it much more tedious to do and it definitely requires pre-planning so you leave enough unquilted space around the edge to turn in.
There are so many factors that can lead to excessive wear on a quilt edge. Quality of fabric, is the fabric 100% cotton or a cotton poly blend (the blend would definitely wear longer and better), how often the quilt is laundered, hardness of water, type of detergent, type of washing machine, line drying as opposed to machine drying, and believe it or not, density of quilting. More dense will aid in a quilts longevity due to less stress and shifting on the fabric.
All things being equal, bias cut binding is definitely sturdier than other finishing techniques because the edge of the quilt, which by nature gets more wear and tear, is being protected by a cross hatch of threads (the warp and the weft are now on a diagonal, criss crossing the entire edge) as opposed to just the one or two threads that a straight of grain binding or knife edge produces. The exception would be if the entire quilt edge was irregular, like a hexie quilt where the hexies were left intact.