Ranchwife

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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mom-6

Oh that is so pretty! It is almost like the one I had for many years. Mine was a gift to my dad awhile before he and my mom got married in the 30s.
When I was a teenager we had it hand quilted by an elderly lady in our town. She echo quilted each of the sections of the rings and around the edges of the background pieces. Then she did fairly widely spaced cross hatching in the center of the background pieces.
We found a similar solid to one of colors in it that she used for binding. I'm pretty sure that a cotton batting was used. There was no problem with seams coming apart or with the batting bunching in the thirty years that I used it before it literally wore out. It was used on my bed/our bed (after I married) the entire time and was washed by machine several times a year during that time.
Oh the memories!

Ranchwife

Just to clarify, the colored parts were echo quilted, and the muslin part was cross hatched?

Nammie to 7

That is absolutely stunning. I'm glad she isn't going to put a border on it - quilts are dated based on the newest fabric in them so not adding fabric will keep it's value. I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother - too bad she isn't able to tell you about the quilt. It must be heartbreaking to have to sell the ranch also. Hope all goes well with all these changes in your life.

Ranchwife

She had a fairly major stroke on Friday, so when that happens, time is short. She will most likely not live much longer, so selling the ranch might not be needed. She isn't physically gone yet, but grieving is so hard on all of us, especially grandpa. Projects like these keep us grounded and are so precious to have.

mom-6

The muslin was also echo quilted around the edge of the area then cross hatched inside that boundary. . .only two or three lines across each way in the large areas and I think I remember it was just an elongated X inside the border of the football shape.

QuiltnNan

if you aren't sure about the integrity of the seams, you could fuse a lightweight fusible to the back of it. then, i'd birth the quilt instead of a binding. as previously suggested, i would echo quilt just inside the arcs. it's a real treasure. sorry about your DGM's health.

HillCountryGal

So sorry to hear about your grandmother. This part of life is never easy.

The quilt is beautiful! Please handquilt it.
I've inherited two quilt tops. One is a whole cloth that's got beautiful embroidery in the middle. The other is all the state flowers. Again hand embroideried. Figured someone has put in all this handwork and it's only fitting I finish them doing the same. Like QuiltnNan's idea using lightweight fusible backing. As I'd think once the quilt is washed, the handpiecing would pull apart.

JustAbitCrazy

One way to support the seams from coming undone is to quilt along each one with small stitches, within and through the seam allowance fabrics underneath, either by hand or machine. I do see some 1930's fabrics in the quilt, so your timeline is accurate, I think. Another way to keep seams intact and preserve the life span of any quilt is to only soak when you clean the quilt. Never agitate, either by hand or machine. Also, never dry clean. So sorry about your grandmother's health problems. It may be good therapy for you to finish this top, and it will certainly honor whoever created it.

ptquilts

Ditto - it would be so beautiful hand quilted. You may have to resign yourself to washing it by hand as well. I am sure you will treat it as an heirloom, so it won't be getting too dirty.