baby quilt ruined after wash
 

I am so sick about this finished baby quilt i just finished. I washed it because it had some spots on it from my sewing machine. As I took it out of the washer noticed that the appliqued duck was all frazzle. Now what can

I just finished this baby quilt of baby animals. I washed it because it had a spot on it. When i took it out of the washer the duck's head was frazzled. I am just sick. Do I have to do a whole new quilt or does anyone have a good suggestion to redo the duck only? The duck is machine embroidered appliqued.
Thanks for listening to my whining.Lol. Barb T.


[ATTACH=CONFIG]399985[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]399986[/ATTACH]

Your quilt is just too cute. I would do something about the duck, not make a whole new quilt. If it is appliqued, it seems as though your friend the ripper would take the original one off, although it would not be terrifically easy. Can you get a new duck? I am so sorry you have had this problem.

Can you take off the duck and redo it?

Throw a cute Easter bonnet on the duck?

Put a hat on him.

The quilt is so cute. I would only with sharp tiny scissors take out the duck ruined part and applique by hand something else (maybe the name of the baby???). Hand sew the applique like nothing happened.

blessing in desguise.. the quilt top would have been washed.. repair it.. please.. too cute to not have it as a gift. really you can solve this youself.. cute!

I like the bonnet idea...could also appliqué a flower or part of an egg shell or a bow over the area.
very cute quilt. So sorry you had to deal with this now. On the positive spin, what you end up doing will be added to your toolbox of tricks. Keep up the great work .

this was my first thought, too

Thats just what I was gonna say! Great minds think alike!

I think I would take the duck off and appliqué something else. I would be concerned the duck may have more issues as it is washed again.

How about a low umbrella sort of like a Sunbonnet Sue's? Though I agree with deedum - only if the rest of the duck is more stable.

The hat and egg shell sound like good fixes.

I agree, put a cute hat on him. It will be adorable.

I think the reason of the shredding might be the fabric you used; I sort of see that the fabric is not smooth on the chest of the duck. Is the yellow fabric the same as any other used in the blanket?
I have this set of applique animals and embroidered them once. What you can do is embroider the appliqued duck on a soluble stabilizer or a tear away and then applique by hand the entire shape on top of the one you have. It might be a little bit bulky so if I were you I would take the yellow fabric with sharp scissors and then applique. Don't get discouraged, remember that just you will notice any imperfection. I think the blanket is very cute and will be loved.
andrea

Bonnet for a girl, hat for a boy, broken egg shell if you don't know!!! Sooooo cute!!

What a shame - such a cute quilt. But be glad you discovered the problem yourself and not the new mother when she first washed it. She would probably feel awful that she "ruined" it. I'd use different fabric for the applique and maybe handsew in a new duck after removing the damaged one. It's odd that it reacted that way, but it likely will have more issues when it's washed again, if you leave the duck. His tummy looks as though it's pulling away also.

I would put a hat on the duck and hopefully that will be a "meant to be" fix.

I agree with those suggesting you remove the duck totally and applique one from a different fabric. If the fabric is so fragile with a first wash it won't hold up when gifted. Very cute quilt!

I love the suggestions so far. You could also simply make another ducky block, carefully cut out the old one, and hand sew the new one in place.

One of the problems with using a close satin stitch is that it tends to "cut" the fabric. Looks like this is what happened to your duck; the fabric was weakened by the stitching and pulled away from the stitches. Next time you might want to use a fusible (I like Misty Fuse because it doesn't make the fabric stiff) and a satin stitch that is wider and not so close together.

Also, did you was it in a top loader? The middle agitator is rough on fabric, especially when a fold gets caught. A front-loading washing machine is more gentle.

Edit: I didn't realize that these are machine embroidery. Not sure my comments about the satin stitching apply, as I do not have an embroidery machine.

This idea gets my vote too.

My first thought was ,,,how about a hat for the duck. I think that would be cute...just a thought :)

Judy in Phx, AZ

I was going to say a bow, how funny

Put a hat on him or use the seam rippers. You might consider another bit of stitching for all the other animals, too. It's going to get washed a lot. If it had to frazzle, it's a good thing it did while still in your possession.

Quick trick if you are too frustrated... Get an iron on appliqué and place it where the duck was. There are a lot of cute ones out there. I made my son a Irish chain and added a mater(from cars movie) iron on appliqué and it really held up well.

What type of fabric was the appliqué made from?

This happened to one of the baby quilts my DD received at her baby shower. What I did was cut out the fabric inside the applique just leaving the satin stitch. The shape was easy to see it was a fish. It looked great. I checked the other appliques and the ones that looked pulling from the stitch I cut those out too. The quilt really looked like it was suppose to be that way. Some of the applique filled in some not.

My thoughts exactly. Some kind of a hat.

The hat sounds like the perfect fix. So sorry you've had problems with such a darling quilt.

Aww, I hate to see things like this happen.
I Love the idea of adding a hat, hides the flaw & adds more whimsy to it.
Don't the new owner of the quilt, they never need to know :)

Thank you all for responding so quickly. There a lot of good ideas to redo it or adding something. I took the seam ripper and undoing the satin stitches . Then I made the duck a little bigger and will applique it on top. I had to do this in my embroidery program. Hopefully this will work.
Oh, I used a tea towel to give the duck a fuzzy look. This is my first time doing it with that type material. I won't be doing that again.
Thanks again.

Could you carefully cut the yellow part of the duck out and re-make the applique out of another yellow, leave and turn under an eighth of an inch? When you are satisfied it fits inside the satin stitch, apply an iron on to the back and carefully, maybe with one of those small applique irons, affix it in place. Then do a hand applique stitch around the duck, right up against the inside of the satin stitch. You might just want to iron the middle of the duck to hold it in place so you can pull the fabric right up to the satin stitch, and then iron the rest after you've done the hand work. If you are careful with your stitching not to go completely through the quilt, it won't show on the back.

Think the hat is the way to go !!

Hat idea is great. The quilt is adorable and worth saving.

I agree..just put a cute little hat on it.

Such a cute idea. I would go with that. Just a little appliqued bonnet.

I vote to put a cute hat on the duckling also.

I think a hat would be cute!!

I think that a little hat would make it cute.

I agree with the others. I'd put a hat or something on its head to cover up what happened.