Cleaning Vintage Blocks
 

A friend gave me 5 vintage courthouse steps blocks made from what appears to be Civil War type fabric. They are stitched on muslin by hand and are dingy and stained in places. Aside from Orvis, what can I wash the blocks in to try and clean them.

There is also a Drunkards Path block, red & white, with stains, but I am afraid the red will run if I wash it. Will the color catchers stop this?

After washing them, the fun part begins...what to make with these blocks. They are 10" blocks, but I have only 5 of them so I will have to add fabric. As luck would have it, I have another friend who restores vintage quilts, so I can ask her to date the fabrics and perhaps have her help me choose fabrics to use to showcase the blocks.

Any and all suggestions are most appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Anita

If the blocks are really old I think I would just take them to a reliable framer and have them placed in a shadow box frame under glass like an old document, maybe add a card with all the information you can gather about them and hang them in my sewing area out of direct sun light. Or contact a quilt museum for more information, on cleaning, sewing with them, and the best way to showcase you treasure. I'm sure they will be more than willing to help you.

I just tried to get stains out of an antique quilt. I used the a quilt soap "Restoration" out of Lancaster, Pa. and followed what was on the label. Hardly anything happened to the stains. Then I used Oxi-clean and some of the stains came out and it whitened it some. (I did not let it dry inbetween) Then I used Mom's old-fashioned method, spraying water on the stains, turning it upside down and laying it on the green grass in the sun. Wonderful!! I did it 2 different days, spraying the stained areas and not letting it dry. I am very pleased with it. It is so nice and soft. She told me it is the natural chlorine and Grandma had used this method on the old cloth diapers and it kept them white. Try it, I am very pleased.

this is very interesting! thanks for sharing. i'll have to give it a try.

Ok, need clarification. You spray the stain, then turn the now wet stained side to the grass and put the dry side up?

I have used a product called "Linen Wash". I use it to wash my antique dollies. I was amazed when one of my former clients (I don't machine quilt anymore due to my disability) ironed her quilt top without removing the blue be gone markings. I soaked her top overnight. I was amazed that the blue be gone was TOTALLY GONE! Since the linen store I bought it at closed 5 years ago, I am not sure where to find it or that it is till being made.

THANK YOU very much for your suggestion Ragamuffin. Sometimes the best cleaning hints are from our Grandmothers!

I think you got plent of suggestions about cleaning. As for putting them in a quilt, you could set them on point and make a nice wall hanging with just 5 blocks.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Anita

Lay them in a heavy solution of Oxy-clean. Push them up and down a bit for slight agitation. Rinse and let dry flat. They'll be brighter, the stains may come out, and they'll smell as fresh as a daisy

Your post surprises me, because I have always been very satisfied with Restoration. Just this morning I soaked a circa 1930 quilt top in Orvis, and rinsed it until the water was clean. The muslin in this top was still very uniformly brownish, and I wasn't sure if it was really that color or not, so I soaked it for about 5 hours in Restoration in the bathtub, rinsed it out, and now I can plainly see the muslin is typical unbleached muslin, but definitely not brown anymore. The colors are nice and bright now, too.

You can buy Linen Wash on Amazon. :)

I would be careful washing them. Some years ago I washed a circa civil war top. It was a 9 patch and each block had a solid brown in it. There were 5 browns in each block. I washed it carefully and every brown just disappeared. I was told that browns of that era were not stable and after years would not hold up. So be careful.

I'm always happy to get rid of storage smells and stains, but I think what I like most about some of these cleaners is how bright the fabrics are again after years of storage.