Ever Made a Quilt With Linen?
 

An interior decorator cleaned out his old fabric samples and gave them to me. There is some really beautiful fabric, but no quilting cottons... mostly upholstery and curtain fabrics of all kinds. Some of these fabrics were marked at $200 per yard!!! Who can afford that? Apparently, people who use an interior decorator around Washington, D.C.

There are alot of linens. I wonder if I can use these to make a scrap quilt? Would I need to stablize them like a t-shirt quilt? How would you use them?

If you are going to use them in an art quilt or wall hanging, go ahead. If you want to use them in a quilt, I would pre-wash in the sink or a mesh bag in the washer. Linen tends to fray more so I would use a larger seam and/or shorter stitch length. If really thin you can use a light weight iron on stabilizer. I have used a lot of fabric samples. Some have a label adhered to the back with fabric content, etc. You can easily remove these by reactivating the glue with a hot iron. I usually start with the paper side and no steam, but you may need to experiment a bit.

I'd sandwich that bird print and quilt around the leaves, birds, trees etc. then wash it or whatever test you want. if loser, toss it, if winner use in a pillow. Then you would know.

I've used a lot of linens and upholstery fabrics in wearables. I would wash anything you intend to use before hand. Linens can vary a lot depending on the quality but in general ravel quite a bit. I'd experiment a bit before putting them in a whole quilt.

Linens ravel very easily, so another vote for a wider seam allowance. And linens also wrinkle big time. Try a doll size linen rag quilt. It might work.

Before moving I used to live near an interior decorator, she had ( bolt ends she would sell for $5 each. ) I used many beautiful linens for quilt backs. 15 years later they are still Beautiful!

My family quilt ca. 1780 in the museum at Colonial Williamsburg has a background of linen and it's wonderful.

From my daughter who uses mostly linen in her costume making, here's the best way to wash linen:
Fill a tub with COLD water.
Layer the linen if it's in yardage in back and forth gentle folds (or just flat if you are using suitable sized squares) - eliminating fold creases by this gentle folding method and NEVER pressing down on the fabric! Do NOT press down to get all of it wet.
Let soak as long as possible or overnight; this will allow the fabric to become completely wet without your manipulating it and will allow the fibers to swell and fill which helps prevent creases.
Fill the washer with the hottest water possible. Add regular detergent and agitate briefly to mix well.
Remove the wet linen from the full tub by folding again, layer by layer, into a rectangular laundry basket and moving it then to the washer.
Wash on hot. Dry on hot.

**The first part of this process is important because it helps to eliminate creases when the linen is washed by allowing the fibers to relax.
**The washing and drying eliminates shrinkage when you use it. It also tightens the weave a bit, softens the feel, and helps with fraying.


I think you'll love using linen in your quilts!

Jan in VA

Thanks Jan... I'll try that.

By all means use them! I've used linen clothing in with cottons in upcycled quilts.

I wonder if there is any fabric treatment on the linen? I have some cool linen, too but I don't like the idea of fabric treatment where I sleep.

I sew most of my clothing from linen of different weights. The only time I used it in a quilt was as backing on a child's quilt. I use enclosed French or felled seams in my clothing to deal with the ravelling. Occasionally I will serge on curved lines, but not always, because the enclosed seams look more finished. Both methods hold up to frequent washing.

Linen is not as stable as quilting cotton. It has a lovely fluidity that is greatly diminished with quilting. I have seriously thought about sewing a pieced linen coverlet made of large squares joined with felled seams.

I saw a quilt done in upholstery samples and it was absolutely stunning. The texture of all the different fabrics was beyond belief.