Do You Repair Your Utility Quilts?
 

We keep a stack of quilts out for anyone to snuggle up with on the couch, or bed. They are quilted heavily so that they last longer, but eventually the binding starts coming off, or fraying and sometimes one of the critters chews small holes in them. (One pup does this in her sleep. It's kind of cute, but not that cute.) I'm thinking of rebinding some quilts and patching others, but is it all worth the effort. They are about halfway through their usefulness. Do you do regular repairs on your utility quilts?

I have before when the quilt pattern and colors look good with the chair or sofa. For others that are for any use I don't bother. They seem to last a long time though.

My early quilts I did, one has three tops on it, and my first quilt has had 3 bindings.
It is so fast to make tops and quilt quilts now it is a different story. When quite worn they go to outdoor dog beds, porch and garage, and then we have a ceremony at the burn pile when we burn limbs and brush.

One I made for my sister had been chewed, I couldn't bear to work on it after she passed so even though it was more heirloom type, I cut it up and have buired pets in it over the years.

I don't really have utility quilts as I think of them, 4 patches with big pieces for tents and picknicks and farm hands.

I guess it would depend on the quilt and "how" utility it is. I have what I call a utility quilt that rides around in my car just in case I need it for a cushion at a tennis match or a wrap during football game or heaven forbid a stuck in the snow incident. It is in good shape only faded from sitting in the sun. The quilts I leave in my my living room and bedroom for extra warmth, get circulated so often, they don't get worn.

I guess If a binding needed attention, I would fix it. A hole, I'd fix it. Really tattered and shabby from constant use, I'd turn it into a dog bed and donate it to a shelter.

I have a different perspective on my "use" quilts and accept that they will slowly fall apart especially as often as I wash them. I designate some for the idea that they will slowly disintegrate in the dog basket after their human time is done. So my answer is -- it depends.

For a quilt where the fabric on one side or the other isn't holding up well, I will recover which ever side with a happy fabric and either do some practice quilting or a basic grid of some sort. Typically I'll just cut off the old bindings and replace with new at the same time. I am facing the decision of what to do with a quilt I made my husband before he was my husband (so more than 20 years old). Have already put on a new back and redid the binding. Now some of the top fabrics are having issues but the back is holding strong... I think my answer is to make a fresh one for him and this to go on the sofa or something without further repairs.

One of my dogs (now passed) was a chewer. He ate many things from socks and underwear to holes in quilts, some quite large. For such times when a patch is required, I now just applique a heart shape on both sides big enough to cover the hole, adding some batting if needed. Doing it by hand means you don't even have to match the fabric shape. Sometimes bright red and sticking out like a sore thumb, other times (like when I do them for friends) coordinating with the fabric. Typically this sort of quilt is being used to protect a "good" quilt or is between layers and not seen -- so the bright/non-coordinating fixes aren't such a big deal and better than having your toe (or entire foot) land in the hole.

I miss Buddy. He was a true rescue, not just rehomed, and had a hard life before he came to us. Honestly he wasn't that great a dog. But he was my dog and I loved him more than my quilts. Our current dogs came to us because Buddy was so bereft after he lost his bonded dog companion, they were more his dogs than mine. He needed a pack and our current dogs needed a pack leader when their original daddy died, it worked out well for the time he had remaining.

i keep patching a quilt that went thru my nephews house trailer fire he loved that quilt and won't give it up . I just keep putting patches over the holes.

Only if I really love the quilt.

Yes, fix it so it can live through the second half of it's usefulness.

My son asked me to repair his 9 year old quilt. When I looked at it, the binding was fraying, the cotton thread I used to quilt it was breaking all over, and the fabric had little tears all over the backing fabric. I am making him a new quilt. We will make a cat bed with the old quilt.

I learned some lessons from this quilt. #1, I haven't been using cotton thread for machine quilting for a long time, and I think that was a good decision. #2, The backing fabric was a very "crisp" fabric. I will try to avoid that "crisp" feeling fabric in the future.

I had one on our bed, one of the first ones we made. Had all kinds of unsuitable material in it (I didn't know any better). Indian print bedspreads, lining material, you name it. I must have replaced half the pieces in it before I finally had to give it away.