Hand Quilted
 

How can you tell if something is hand sewn or manufactured to look like it is? My MIL gave me a quilt that needs some repair. It appears as if it's hand sewn, but I don't want to find out later that it's a commercial quilt. kwim?

Look very closely at the sides of the quilt where a tag could have been torn off. I small piece of paper would be attached yet, as the part left would be on the inside. Maybe you could feel it. Some of the "China" quilts have very large stitches and the fabric is poor in color. I bought 2 for my cottage in the country and the more I wash them the more they seem to "fade and fall apart". If you can, post a pic of it. Or you can take it another quilter and she may be able to look at it. Repairing it would still be okay but if it is faded at all, you have to use faded pieces to match the colors. If it is just seams open, you will be okay doing that. Have fun.

Here are some pictures. In the 3rd picture, there is a know. In the upper right corner.

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Boy looking at the stitches and how they are not uniform, I would think hand quilted (not by the more "experienced").

it is hand made-quilted...a manufactured quilt everything is even- straight- looks (too perfect) even if they use long stitches. this one is a beautiful hand made quilt-with all it's 'personal' imperfections.

So glad!!! I'm going to do some simple repairs, but overall it's in very good shape. Thanks for everyone's input!!

but even the quilts from China (or India or Haiti) are hand quilted. i don't know of any manufacturing process that can make hand quilting stitches.

When I saw it, I thought, commercially made. Mainly because of the prairie Points border. IDK, just a feeling.

Not those made in china slave labor sweat shop ones. And judging by the handquilting and what I can see of the pictures that is exactly what the OP has.

Can you explain? ty

I agree that it is very likely a Chinese made quilt. I've got one (purchased before I started quilting) and I saw three more today at a garage sale. The one's at the garage sale I thought at first were heirloom quilts because of the fabrics (retro prints) and when I asked the seller if a family member had made them she said "oh heck no ... I bought those at Sears". Sure enough, I found the tags even though there was no printing left on them.

Anyway ... the quilting on both mine and the one's she had were almost identical ... looooong stitches. Those mass produced quilts have to be made quickly hence several stitches are put on to the needle at the same time resulting in longer stitches.

That's my suspicion anyway. That plus the fabrics in the OP's quilt look fairly modern.

If you don't want to put the time into repairing a commercial quilt, I would look for remnants of the label. If I were a label on that quilt I would be hiding in the seam where the prairie points meet the quilt.

Other than that ... it's a pretty quilt. Why not fix it?