First Quilt Repair Job - maybe the last one!
 

A young woman in my office came to me with a handmade quilt wedding-gifted to her by a friend. Modern design, big squares, nice choice of pattern, placement, color and print. roughly 5'x6'. The DH washed it and it ended up with ball of batting, some fraying, and an empty sack. She hoped there was something I could do. Of course I sailed into it thinking, no problem...but then

1. It turned out the quilter had forgotten to quilt the sandwich, but just machine-tacked 1/2" long tacks with a .5 stitch size - in only three places - which is why the ball of batting. And the fabric was not as strong as the tacks so one had ripped right out.

2. When I considered how to take it apart, discovered that she used the pillowcase method, no binding.

3. When I painstakingly took out the seams and opened the quilt innards, I learned that she was unfamiliar with the quarter inch seam concept, and that some of her fabric was not the best #threads to inch and it had frayed a lot inside and pieces needed to be reinforced somehow.

4. Because the 1/4" seam not adhered to, nothing was really flat or squared, and the quilt itself was not a rectangle, and a lot of the outside pieces were that fraying fabric.

5. I noticed that some of the 15" square pieces had 10" square pieces machine appliqued onto them, adding another dimension of slight wonkiness, and that in constructing the quilt there were a good number of Y seams not so well executed.

OMG! I was over my head for sure! But I had said I'd do it, and I wanted to respect the quilters efforts and design but make a repair that they could wash again and again. So

1. I carefully ironed it, laid it out and measured over and over from different points to determine the best way to square it up and cut off the frayed edges.

2. I went to my fave LQS and bought the best-quality fabric in a close match, and bordered the quilt on front AND back.

3. Layout of the sandwich was difficult for sure, but I got three sides good and one just didn't show the border on the back. I used 505 spray.

4. I didn't want to get flashy at all (not that I could LOL) so I SID to give structural stability, then went over the weak seams and used a little decorative squiggle stitch. I have never quilted one of the modern big-pieces quilts and it is truly the wide open spaces, so I meandered. I tried highlighting the appliqued blocks with square outlines, but the fabric was nowhere near flat enough.

5. At this point I was in a hurry so decided to use Clarissa's clever flange machine binding, which I have used before and looked great. Hahaha. This time - maybe the thickness of the flannel backing - it didn't really come together properly and I had to unsew it a couple times, which took longer than hand-sewing the binding in the end.

I 'signed' it with my initials and a heart done in machine embroidery. I am glad to be finished and proud I got through this high-stress project, and I will never volunteer to to a repair again!!!

I would love to hear others stories who have done repairs to damaged quilts. Thanks for listening to mine!

Wow - you are a dear to have done that! I think you learned a lot in the process - I hope your co-worker appreciated the work you did on that.

I have learned - the hard way - to always ask to see what is involved before committing to doing anything.

If it is something like what you have just described - I try to avoid it like the plague. My life expectancy is too short to deal with things like that now. (Maybe - just maybe - for one of my kids or grandkids - other than that, NO NO NO!)

Holy cow! Did you charge for this? The only time I got close to doing a repair was for my hairdresser. Her dog had dug thru the blocks in the center of the quilt so he could get cozy & burrow inside! In addition to repairing the top, the batting and backing would need to be replaced. I took the quilt home, studied it, then typed up an itemized estimate and returned it with the quilt. Haven't heard back.

Wowser! You should print out your post & give it to your co-worker so she will appreciate all the work you put into it. The only repair job I did for a co-worker's daughter was not on a quilt but on a comforter. Her dog chewed a hole in it so there was an area about 5" square that needed to be repaired. She was not particular at all about how it was to be repaired so I suggested an appliqued heart over the area (she LOVES hearts). The comforter was white so I appliqued a red heart with blanket stitch & she absolutely loved it. Thank goodness she's easy to please. :)

Wow! That was not a repair, that was a reconstruction, and I'm sure much better than the original. How sad, that someone "thought" they were a quilter and gave such a mess as a gift. Don't you feel like getting the sewers address and sending a book----Basic Quilts - How To Make! I would also tell the bride how to wash a quilt and not necessary every week.....overkill!

Osewme, one would think that someone would appreciate knowing how much work went into something, but when it happened to me the response was "yeah, but what a great learning experience for you. Think of how much easier it will be for you in the future when you do these kinds of things" .... ummm.... yeah. The learning experience was "I will NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER work with a client's old fabric ever again." Because you're never supposed to say "never", if I do, I will ask to inspect the entire piece at length, not just a quick peek at it with only the best part showing. I will do a burn test on it because in spite of the fact I was told it was from the 1940's, it definitely wasn't because it was a poly blend and those didn't exist in the 40's. And, no matter how simple of quilting is being asked for, I won't take the job for less than $650 -- at even that's a bargain. It took me WAY too long to find usable pieces of fabric, to stabilize it (poly is not as readily stabilized as 100% cotton), square it up & add fabric to it to get it the right size. And stupid me, I thought it would be a quick, easy quilt (just add border, sandwich & quilt with a 2" crosshatch) so I only charged $50/quilt ... she wanted 3 of them. Worst job ever. It took me 20 hours just to do stabilizing PER QUILT -- I was on the Customer Support line with Pellon because I didn't realize their products are only designed to work with 100% cotton fabrics & it didn't bond properly. Total nightmare.

And T-shirt quilts are nearly as evil. Now I stick with new fabric & my own designs and am so much happier. When a dear friend showed me a 100+ year old quilt she had inherited from her mother, I commented what a stunning quilt it was with such intricate hand quilting & suggested she really needed to take it to a restoration specialist. I told her that when she was ready for that, I'd be happy to help her find & interview one.

It is a hard lesson learned. I always said no.

I applaud your generosity and kindness for helping this woman. Tell her that it wasn't an easy repair and then give her basic instructions to care for her quilt.

Try not to belittle her friend's ability but say that her friend's quilt was a beautiful and thoughtful gift. Ask the co-worker to pass along to her friend, this advice: "she needs to follow the recommended amount of quilting for the batting because the batting didn't stay put after washing and it needed to be taken apart and re-quilted."

Wow, you are BRAVE!

Ok, I got one. The wife of my daughters varsity coach in college as ask me if I would restore an old antique quilt she had. Trying to gently squirm out of it I said, gosh , you live in Williamsburg VA, home of antique quilt museam and restoration why don't you get them to do it?. Oh, they charge too much, and I don't want it done THAT good. Now, my daughter was on scholarship, with her husband controlling who gets it or not each year. I was trapped, or tricked, or abused...don't know which, but I did it. My LQS had a boLt of Turkey red that resembled the damaged fabric. I did it, the points were a bear. To bad I didn't take an After picture. It was a beauty when it was done. The sad part was, I barely got an unenthusiastic "thank-you", when I was done. But my daughter did stay on
scholarship all 4 years and our quilt club got a good story to tell, and every time some one had to fix anything on a quilt they were working on and began to mumble, some one would say, "oh, I don't want it THAT good" LOL.
http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/...psqa2oe0lk.jpg
http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/...psouotzt3c.jpg

I have one right now that's been waiting for several years. It was made by a deceased grandmother for my SIL's girls so I know how precious it is. It was a simple quilt made with no piecing. Just front and back fabric birthed and tied. But there's a very large spot in the center that's worn and shredded. I have a plan to split it into two quilts (one for each granddaughter) and cover the worn spots with appliqué. It will also need additional machine quilting to stabilize the quilt. But I'm really nervous to tackle this project so I keep putting it off. They probably think they'll never get it back.

Oh, my, what a job! God bless you!

An acquaintance of mine recommended me to a friend of hers to assist with some antique quilt tops. I am in a guild, I love to make tops, not so much the quilting part. I told her I would look at them and give her advice or guide her to someone with more experience than I have. She was very laid back, made by a distant relative, no hurry, been on her shelf for 30 years or more. Needed batting, backing, quilting and binding. Ok, I can "wrangle" for her and get it done.

Wellll, she had washed the tops! Called to ask how to iron them! NO! Don't iron, press, up and down. Brought them to me on hangers and well pressed. Most of the mess of thread had been clipped. A few squares needed repair.
All four were string pieced on the bias! Some were large squares, some 3", Not a one was square! Borders were wonky and wavy and didn't match the quilts at all on one of them. (I had removed the really bad border on one before quilting, will have to remove another 2" border that is smaller than the quilt and caused puckers on another)

I took them to LQS and we picked out backing and binding fabric, then took them to Long arm quilter and she did the best she could. I am going to do the binding myself. She gave me money up front, gave me a $50 tip and said keep whatever money was left over if any. Well, she was VERY generous!

I would do this again, and I have learned a lot more about quilting!

Sounds like you did a nice job with your repairs.

I did a baby quilt for a family member that was quite a job but I was happy to do it and it turned out okay. Owner was thrilled with it. Here's the link to the thread with my story and a picture of the quilt. http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...d-t275374.html

thank you so much for your post... my sis asked me to fix a quilt that my brother in law's grandma made for him. Its quite the mess, but you know it's grandma's so they don't want to let it go

Now I have your experience to help me out :)

And IrishgalfromNJ I will read up on yours too

I think the person who made the crappy quilt should have had to fix it for her. But what you did was very sweet and admirable.

I definitely will not fix quilts! I've done some minor repairs on quilts that my sister gave us for wedding --hand quilted and hand stitched--but forget the 1/4" seams! Some gave way and had to be gently re-stitched. Ditto on a g-ma's FG that was made by my g-ma--a dog tore a couple of the hexies and I had to again gently ladder stitch together. So when my SIL asked for help refurbishing her g-mother's quilt, I asked to see it first and then took her to a LQS that specializes in antique quilts. We all agreed that cleaning with Restore very gently, laying flat to dry, then displaying folded on the end of bed out of sunlight was best idea! When people have these antique family quilts, do they really use them on their beds?

Generous of you to go to all that trouble. Happy for you that it is finished!

I fix anything: farmers overalls, machine shop work shirts, snowmobile suits, wool mittens. I find it's a like a puzzle and I do my best to make anything usable again.

My son gave me the quilt his daughter and I had made for them. One side had quite disintegrated. About a 2 foot by 4 foot piece needed to be replaced. I actually found some of the fabrics still in my stash but had to find something "almost" matching for one border. I told him when he puts it back on the bed, be sure and put the new piece in the same place so that the wear is put on the new pieces. I don't want to do that again to the same quilt, and by the time these new pieces wear out, it will be time for a new quilt.

I did a major repair job like you did on a quilt that someone had gifted to my brother-in-law. He washed it and it was not quilted close enough to be washed and the batting was in bunches. I had to take it all apart, square it, put in new batting and because it was constructed with seams every which way and size I decided to tie it rather than quilt it. I bought fabric to put on new backing, new binding and the batting and the pearl cotton I used to tie it. I gifted it back to my brother-in-law as a Christmas gift. He was pleased to get it back since it had fabric in it from his son's clothes when they were little. I do think he thought I was being a little cheap however in not giving him additional things for Christmas. He had no idea how many hours I spent deconstructing and reconstructing it along with the significant money spent on the materials. I'll never do a job like that again.

I agree - I wouldn't take any more repair jobs - I don't think people realize all the work put into the quilt let alone repairing somebody else's mistake. Kind of you, but hope and suggest you don't do it again.

You are such a great friend to do this,that was so much work for you and I bet for all the time you spent on fixing this quilt you could have made a brand new top..

Here is my story...

I also was asked to fix a quilt by my special needs nephew, I couldn't say no to him.. it was not because it was falling apart but because it was a picture quilt and most of the pictures were fading or peeling away from the fabric, I told him that I couldn't put the pictures back on the quilt top but I could try and fix it..after really looking at it and the work involved in ripping all the block with the pictures on off, (I hate ripping) I ask him if I could just make a new top with some of the fabric and he said that would be fine..but he wanted the back fabric on the new quilt.. It was good that the quilt was not quilted but just a tie quilt with no binding. I just cut all the ties and very carefully cut the seam around the quilt and it can apart. I am still working on it and have the new top done and just have to sandwich it and quilt it..

The problem I am having is with the back, where the ties were it left larger holes were the thread went through the fabric, and as he loves this fabric I really can't replace it..He gets his mind on something and you can't change it LOL..I am hoping that after it is all quilted you won't notice this and after washing it they will close up..

Anyway, anyone that have taken on a job of repairing a quilt my hat goes off to them! It is not a easy job, but we all do things for the people we love and it does make the job a little easier knowing that they will love the quilt forever..

It does make it easier when one is fond of the person one is doing the repairing for - - - - - -

QuiltLady,
I normally would never recommend washing a quilt in warm water, but in this case, that might do the trick. Maybe try washing just the backing in cold water & dry on low heat. If the holes don't close up, I'd try the same thing again but washing in warm water (still gentle/handwash cycle) and then dry on low heat. The warm water will cause the cotton to swell. Cotton fabric is slightly less sturdy after being exposed to heat, but in this case, that might do the trick for you. I had some luck with that with this queen duvet cover that had been sorta quilted with old mono thread that the customer wanted turned into a new quilt. I washed it in warm water, which helped a lot more than cold water but some of the holes were still there & it had other issues, so I ended up backing it with a matching muslin. In your case, I wouldn't worry about it after washing in warm water. If you pick a matching thread, it will help hide even more holes and, honestly, when people love something that much, I can tell you that they never notice all the problems with the fabric. I quit taking commission quilts using customer fabrics because without fail, they would insist the fabric was in fantastic condition, send me pictures of the best parts & I'd get the thing & find out it had 1" holes in it, places where it was thread bare, pulled threads, and so forth. Beauty truly is in the eyes of the beholder & I'm sure whatever you do to the quilt that keeps that same backing will completely thrill your nephew. :)

Bless your heart, you did a really good deed for her, and unfortunately she will likely never know how much skill you had to do it.

T-Shirt quilts are indeed evil. I did a "repair" that turned into 3 months. Won't do that again.

I repaired an antique quilt my great grandmother made. Like Tartan, I had to take some blocks out and substitute others, making the quilt smaller. I used the backing fabric for a border, so the whole top was at least original fabric. I repaired seams by hand, and appliqued over small holes. I the layered it with new batting ad backing and utility quilted it. It was for me, so a labor of love. (Un)fortunately, I have another one to do!

When I was buying and selling antique quilts, I did quite a few repairs, both on my own quilts and others. I had a stash of vintage fabric.

One that comes to mind, an antique log cabin, for a very good client. I thought we had made small piece LC's, with the strips one inch wide - well these strips were about 1/2 that size!! I had to replace quite a few strips, by hand of course. I think I charged her $700 - she was happy to pay it. The quilt actually belonged to her 90 year old mother.

Another time I got a quilt in to wash for a client. It was pansies on a muslin background. When DH saw it after cleaning he thought I had ruined it . The muslin had been so dirty, he thought it had been a brown fabric.

Then there was the time I bought a lovely antique blue and white quilt with a fat lumpy batting and big stitch quilting. I really just wanted the top , to re quilt it. I thought, that will be easy to pull the quilting stitches out. WRONG - every other stitch had been back stitched. Took forever.

not so quick.. I had a neighbor who has since passed away at 93.. In her day she was a beautiful quilter but illness and disease took its toll. she continued quilting although it looked more like a 4 yr old did it.. I would loved and cherished to have a quilt from her even after things beyond her control took over. She made them out of love even when she was ill

Suesew,

Do we get to see a picture of this quilt! I for one would be really interested in seeing the finished article.

hugs

Caroline

I had a friend ask me to quilt a small tumbler quilt that a 90+yr old woman had made for a great-g-child. It was interesting! Some of the stitching of the blocks was coming loose at the corners and someone had tried to solve that with a 2 sided fusible. Once we trimmed and re-stitched I basically did a SID (she had not wanted it otherwise) and got it to her--was to be a wall hanging and worked just fine. Like your neighbor, she had once been a good quilter and was having vision problems and shakey hands, but wanted all her greats to have a "quilt" from her too. She was even making several extra for the kids to give out once she died.

We should not be so quick to judge. Who knows the quilter's situation... The fact that the recipient of the quilt cared for it enough to ask someone to repair it is worthwhile. And both the quilter and recipient were fortunate to have found someone to repair it who took such care!

Perhaps it was a wall hanging or intended to be a "look at only" quilt. The maker might not have intended for it to ever be washed but dry cleaned only when needed.
You my dear are an ANGEL to go to all that work for a co-worker . I do hope you were well compensated for your hard work.