colonial girl quilt
I recently became a snowbird, and moved to South Texas for the winter. When we got to our other house, I found 19 Colonial Lady (?) quilt blocks in one of our closets. No idea how long they had been there, shoved all the way to a back corner, but they look to be from feedsack fabric. They are all hand embroidered to large muslin squares. However, most of the muslin appears to be poor quality, as you can literally see through it.
I could have backed it with a sturdier fabric if that was the only issue, but the bigger problem is that when I found these on the closet shelf, they were folded in half, and it looks like maybe some critters had been chewing them.
On the left side of each block, there is approx 3 inches of the muslin that has been eaten away, so now these beautiful blocks are unusable as is.
If I trim off the ragged edge, then it diminishes the muslin to about 1/8th away from the skirt of the lady. There is not enough room on the other sides to make it equal, although I might be able to sash it but the teeny seam allowance makes me hesitate to do that.
I have thought about this for a while, and I think my best option might be to cut away the appliqued pieces, and attach them to a heavier fabric. If I go with this option, then I lose the embroidered neck and arms. Currently, there is a book embroidered in the hands. I could add the umbrella that I am used to seeing, but obviously, they would not match the ladies' dresses. I would like to embroider the neck and arms, to keep it in the same style, but I have not been able to locate a pattern for just the neck and arms. I tried searching under Colonial Lady, Parasol girl, Bonnet Girl, and I get amazing pictures, but no actual patterns
After all this rambling, my question is: does anyone know where I can buy the pattern for the neck and arms so I can try to salvage these blocks? I know that quilts are only as old as the newest fabric, but someone spent a lot of time on these, and the needlework is beautiful. They remind me of a quilt that my grandmother had , so I hope someone can point me in the right direction.