I agree with the other, go ahead and machine quilt it. Try to research how period quilts of this type are quilted. Color catchers are a life saver. I don't know what you used to clean off the spot. Quilts should not be washed using Woolite or normal laundry detergent. There are many specialty soaps for fine linens and quilts. Good luck!

I would wash it with color catchers and you can buy them a most grocery stores and then machine quilt it with a simple design. I would let her know about the color problem and that you are going to wash it before you quilt it.

Isn't there a product called 'retayne' that is supposed to 'set' bleeding colors? Quilters help me out here, do I have the name right or is it 'synthropol'? I would try that first which ever it is.

You can't tell me that if quilters of that era had had the opportunity to machine-quilt their quilts, they still would have chosen to hand quilt them. Does this mean that since my grandmother cooked on a wood-burning stove, I have to forgo using my microwave? Should I still use a hand-wring washing machine, just so I can stay consistent with history?

Another point: I've read fascinating articles on quilt history that state some quilts actually were machine quilted using the old wad-and-shove method that is still used today on DSMs.

If the original quilter cared what kind of quilting it deserves, she wouldn't have donated the quilt top to a fundraiser. Just sayin'. :thumbup:

Ooo, Peckish didn't like my comments. My thinking is in the next sentence in my statement recommending hand quilitng. Since it was hand pieced, it deserved to be hand quilted--a thing of the era of the fabrics and colors of the quilt. Being consistent in the project. The one who hand pieced the quilt didn't have the lovely machines of today either! We weren't told if it was donated to the bazaar by the one who put it together so perhaps it is no importance to anyone how it is actually finished. Of course, machine quilting will be a lot quicker and perhaps will be more satisfactory with it being offered at a bazaar. If I were to be my quilt, I'd prefer it be finished consistent with the era it was made--hand pieced/hand quilted.

Yes, that is where I got mine

Good luck on this one.

I think that you should give it back you her and ask her to wash it and see how it comes out and then if she still wants you to finish it then go ahead. But I would let her see how the fabric turns out first.

Sorry if I came across too strong. :o It wasn't that I didn't like your comments, it was that I didn't agree with them. And I might actually agree with you about the hand quilting IF the quilt hadn't been donated to a fundraiser. But quilts tend to not sell for much in fundraisers and auctions, and I think all the time spent on hand quilting would go unrewarded by the price tag.

If it were me I would use Synthropol with Color Catchers AFTER quilting or tying, soaking it in hot water in the bathtub, then pressing most of the water out on the sides of the tub before carefully lifting out. I would then put in the washer on a delicate cycle to cold water rinse and spin and lay flat to block and dry. Good luck. I haven't had any bleeds on the fabric, but plenty of color caught in the Color Catchers. Hope this helps. Retayne as I understand it is to set the color in hand dyed fabrics, as synthropol is used to suspend the dyes so they can be safely rinsed away. Correct me if I am wrong please.