fixing old quilts
 

Hi,

I have an old quilt that I had when I was little, and I have noticed the binding is coming off, just showing a lot of wear and tear and some of the quilting stitches (hand quilted) are coming undone. How would you go about fixing this?

I have 2 daughters and I know they both want this quilt, so I would like to get it fixed and be able to save it for them. I have told them it does not leave my house until I am gone. It is the favorite quilt to curl up with when people in my house are not feeling well.

Also, I have a friend that would like me to fix hers, I haven't seen it, but she says the backing is raveling and she had it when she was little and her baby is using it, and she would like it fixed.

Any help you can give me on this would be great.

For your quilt, i would just replace the binding, either by removing the old one and putting a new one on, or just put a new one on over the old one. For the quilting, just redo it where it is needed. Would love to see a photo of your special quilt.

Sounds like your friend's quilt needs more work. Probably a new backing is in order, remove binding, place new backing on and rebind. I would not would just tack or tie the new backing and not worry about totally requilting it. Guess it depends on what it looks like.

I agree with quilt addict. Good suggestions.

These suggestions have been helpful even though I am not the original poster. I have a Log Cabin quilt that my grandmother gave me when I graduated high school. She didn't bind it...just 'birthed' it, and now those edges are fraying. I'm going to put a simple binding on it that will match one or more of the scraps Grandma used in creating the quilt. My daughter also asked me to repair a quilt that her grandmother-in-law made for them, but some of the squares (one type of fabric only) are disintegrating. For that one I plan to cut the size I need from a 100% cotton shirt and hand-sewing the replacements in. Time-consuming, yes, but a labor of love, and a project I can do in the evening.

I recently did some repair work on my daughter's baby quilts. I would either replace the binding or just put a new binding over it. In my daughter's case the binding was almost non existent, so I didn't really have to remove the old binding.