delicate fabrics?
 

Hey all, as I posted over in my intro I'm from KY but my hubby (of nearly 24 yrs!) is originally from India. His mother passed away suddenly last year, his sisters were wanting to give away most of her clothes but she had some amazing pieces that I requested to keep. My family tradition is to make quilts out of old clothes, not just to re-use but also as a remembrance. I'd like to do something similar, she had some things with lovely embroidery (some probably hand-worked), but as you may imagine the fabrics are all over the place.

I asked a quilting enthusiast club in the nearest big city (Dubai), the woman I spoke with suggested it might be possible to use these fabrics if I fused them to some kind of interfacing? Well I'm back home in KY for a visit; I headed over this morning to JoAnn's to see what was available and there are shelves of what looked to me to be fusible backing fabric of all different kinds... I was totally lost!

So I'm looking for advice.. is this a project even to take on, or should I try to come up with something else to do with these?

Here are a couple of pics of what I was able to save:

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So, different kinds of fabrics, different weights, and only one or two seem to be cotton of the type that I typically associate with quilting.

I think for a design I have decided on something simpler, like this Indian quilt:

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Any thoughts, ideas or advice would be fantastic.. I'm here in the US until mid-August, better if I get any materials while I'm here than try to find them there, or worse have them shipped and pay a bazillion dollars in delivery fees. lol

Thanks in advance for any help!

Kate

I bought but haven't used yet some Pellon fusible interfacing 906f for a t-shirt quilt I'll be doing. It is very lightweight so won't add a lot of weight to a quilt. I think it might work well for your project.

Some of your fabrics look very fragile so a heavier(thicker) interfacing might work better to stabilize it for a long time.

They are so pretty - I think I would just look at them for a while.

Maybe you could find some similar fabrics/garments that had no sentimental value and experiment on them?

Are you able to wear any of the garments?

Or use them as scarves?

If the sisters wanted to give the clothes away, then I would feel okay with keeping the garments I have all for myself.

The first thing you need to figure out is if you want to make functional quilts that will be used as quilts or quilted wallhangings you can make for each family member as a remembrance. I honestly think some of those gorgeous pieces are only suited for the latter, especially the sparkly ones with many sequins. You also need to figure out if the sari fabric can take the heat from the iron to fuse the interface. I believe most sari are made from cotton but many are more like gauze type fabric. They should be ok. Where you can run into trouble are the embroidered fabrics as you have no way of knowing what the thread was made of. I would bet it is a mixed bag of silk, rayon and other synthetics. Then there are the sparkly bits, the sequins and such which probably will have no tolerance for the heat, even low heat.

If I were going to attempt this, rather than a fusible interface I would use starch. You can easily make your own out of corn starch or you can buy Sta-Flo liquid starch. But that would be a pain to transport back to UAE. I would research making your own and make it heavy so the fabrics once dipped and dried are as stiff as card stock. Then you can easily cut your squares, sew them together with no worries of stretching and the starch will make all the fabrics behave like they are same weight. Once your piece is all done layered and quilted you can dunk it in cold water to dissolve the starch. The only drawback to this method, is you may not have a functional (utilitarian) quilt when done.

Another option is to separate the ones that are questionable about handling heat. I bet you have enough that you could test each piece. Then use the ones that can tolerate heat and buy pellon 911FF fusible featherweight interfacing made for light and delicate fabrics or JoAnnes equivalent store brand, which is much less expensive but also not quite as nice quality as the Pellon name brand. That should stabilize it enough but keep in mind the interfacing will add weight to the final quilt as well as your beautiful sari fabric may lose some of its drape but you will have a utilitarian quilt that will stand up to normal use and washing. Save the real pretty sparkly ones for throw pillows or wallhangings.

Welcome to the board and I hope you come back to show us what you made of these stunningly beautiful saris.

Speaking of home made starch, here is a topic that just got posted!
https://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f...h-t298421.html

I, too, am concerned about the heat required to fuse the interfacing. Personally, I would purchase a lightweight neutral colored fabric, either a cotton or a poly lining and line each block before assembly. Just cut the lining (prewashed) the same size as the quilt square and zigzag them together with a very long stitch. Be sure the pretty side of the fabric is on top. Then you can treat it as one fabric and make your quilt the way you wish. You might need 3/8" seams to allow the zz to be inside the seam line.

I agree with Irishrose2..........beautiful delicate fabrics, I'm afraid the heat of the iron would ruin them. Post your results please.

Very pretty fabrics. If they are silky I would use a cool iron, hot would melt them.

I use fusible knit interfacing for delicate fabrics (also called tricot interfacing). Use a pressing cloth, either muslin or parchment paper.

You could use the cotton as IrishRose2 mentioned and even do a crazy quilt, mixing the smaller pieces (maybe left over) to make it. Then you could use some embroidery stitches and add to it. That way the cotton underneath the fancy fabric would hold it all together. I would love to see a crazy quilt made out of all those fabrics. Good luck!

Lightweight fusible interfacing will do what you need. The sales person at Joanne’s should be able to help you get the right one. The fusible is on one side, the other side is smooth & soft. Adds stability to lightweight fabrics and stretchy fabrics. I use it a lot on silks before cutting. They are Beautiful pieces. I hope you show us what you make. :)
You fuse the interfacing to the back of the fabric, and use a pressing cloth ( I use muslin) following the instructions with the interfacing I’ve never had any problems with melting any fabric. Fusible interfacing is used on silks and many delicate fabrics all the time.

Beautiful fabrics! Good luck with whatever you do, the fabrics have already stood up to wear and tear as garments. I'd also use fusible interfacing with a press cloth. If you have an embroidery machine, there are good crazy quilt programs out there that won't take forever or maybe your machine has lots of decorative stitches.

Wow, those are beautiful pieces!

My sister made a quilt out of sari fabric. She isn't the best seamstress and the blocks came out wonky. If all of the fabric can be washed and can stand up to the heat of an iron, I would probably back all of it with SF-101. It is a fusible interfacing that to me looks like cheap cotton fabric. I purchased a whole bolt with a good coupon at JoAnns some time ago. A lot of the sari fabric seems to stretch some. I too am not sure about using the fabrics with sequins in a quilt that will be used. Save those for a wall hanging. It will be a beautiful quilt. I can't wait to see it.

I really appreciate all the ideas; maybe what would be best is to try several of the techniques y'all have mentioned and see which one seems most workable. I think I would prefer a quilt we would use, but I'm not fully committed to that idea either..

My last trip home my mom had an old quilt made by my grandmother that she wasn't sure what to do with, it was a quilt of simple squares made from old fabrics and remnants and things, some of the squares had worn away with use (and age).. I found a pattern and we were able to turn the usable parts into a coat, which I love.. so now that I'm thinking of your comments, and that project, I'm keeping my mind open to other possibilities..

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Your coat is really something!

Your coat is wonderful!

A lightweight fusible is a possibility. I can give you a brand that is lightweight and often used in silk tie quilts, but it will have to be later today when I can go find the bolt. The biggest issue with using a fusible is the possibility of melting the fabric, as fusibles require heat. What you would want to do is purchase just a yard of the fusible, use a piece of muslin or other fabric as a pressing cloth, and test the fusible on *each* of the fabrics before committing to it. This means you need to cut a test piece out of every one of the fabrics. It is the only way to know if the fusible will be safe for every fabric, and it will prevent you from ruining a large piece of fabric. What a fusible interfacing does is add stability to fabrics that tend to be slippery and/or stretch. It also adds substance to a fabric that is very thin and lightweight.

Using a heavy starch is an alternative way to stabilize the fabric so you can piece it. Because some of the fabrics are very thin, I would also line the entire quilt top with lightweight muslin before sandwiching. You would want an inexpensive, very lightweight muslin and you would want to wash and dry it twice before using to make sure it has shrunk completely. I would not line each block with muslin. Instead, I would wait until the entire top is finished, then spray baste the muslin to the entire quilt top. Then sandwich as usual and quilt. The quilting will permanently join the top to the muslin so that the fabric is stabilized even after you wash out the starch.

As long as all the fabrics used in the quilt have survived washing on their own, it's fine to mix the fabrics in a quilt. Because of the differences in fabric weights (some heavy, some light), I would always hand wash and lay the quilt flat to dry.

If you want a utility quilt rather than a show quilt, you might want to consider making two quilts -- one with all lightweight fabrics, and one with all heavier weight fabrics. This is because these fabrics will wear differently when subjected to actual use (such as sitting on the quilt, wrapping it around the body, etc.).

If you are planning on sharing your fabrics for the rest of the family as remembrance pieces, why not try to make some lined pillows out of the more delicate fabrics? I would be cautious/hesitant of making a quilt with such delicate fabrics, unless it would be something seen and not used, like a wall-hanging. You could make some pretty art type quilt wall-hangings out those beautiful fabrics.

Lots of good advice given. There are fusibles meant to be used on silks. You won't, however, find them at Joann's.

You don't state what level of quilter you are. If you are a beginner, I'd hesitate to take this on as the slippery fabrics and having to watch you iron temps, etc. will be a challenge. Getting a good 1/4" seam allowance on cotton fabrics is probably enough of a challenge for a beginner. If you have some experience, you might be able to accomplish it, but it will still be a challenge.

Another thing you might consider, is to make collages out of some of the fabrics and frame them. Putting the fabrics behind glass helps preserve them and keep them clean and unharmed. I've seen several of these done with partial pieces of fabric that were very striking.

Those fabrics are gorgeous. I can see why you want to make something out of them. And your jacket is awesome!

The best lightweight visible is French fuse because it is 60" wide I use it for all t-shirt quilts available at Backside fabrics

My friend had silk cushions from when she lived in Maylasia and the silk had started to split, I used ultralight fusible interfacing used for garment making suitable for sheers and silks to stabilise then made into a wall hanging.

Such gorgeous fabrics.
I can't wait to see the quilt you make with them :)

Janelle

Contact Cindy Needham and see what she uses. She works mostly with vintage linens, silk etc. and has good advice and experience. Personally I would make wall hangings a lot of what you have looks to fragile for a quilt that would get any use. Cindy’s contact is http://Www.cindyneedham.com best of luck.