Help, can this be saved?
 

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My Grandmother died last year and my mother has asked me if I can do anything with this quilt top she had made. I would like to try and salvage and/or repair it and finish it but have No Idea what to do. Does anyone have any ideas on what could be done?

thanks in advance!

the quilt conservator that spoke at our guild meeting said that quilts/tops like this need a top layer of tulle/netting and then quilted as normal. try to find off-white/cream tulle for this one.

I wouldn't want to see the holes in it, if it were my quilt. The sashing seems to have the worst damage and needs to be changed out, but it would be very difficult to find old blue fabric that is that soft and worn. What you might do is remove one row or one column, and use the sashing pieces from it to switch out the real holey ones. (Making the quilt smaller.) Then the tiny holes in the white part can just be darned with something white behind them. I've repaired lots of quilt and this is what I'd do. I also have declined repairing some that would have taken the rest of my lifetime to repair. :p

You have only shown us a couple of spots on the quilt that are badly damaged. If the damage is more overall, my idea won't work. In that case I'd just remove the butterfly blocks that are still in good shape, and put them together some other way. You'll still be keeping a part of your grandmother's work for your mom to enjoy. New sashing with 30's reproductions would be cute!

I would love that quilt top so meaningful but then again I had been my Nanny’s Dollface. One idea, if it were mine, would be to line it with muslin and appliqué over the holes, add thin batting, the backing and quilt it .

I haven't repaired any quilts yet. All I can say is good luck.

I think I would hand applique over the holes -- maybe bees and a beehive. You might be able to find a fabric that has bees and hives that you could cut out to use. Although it would be done by hand, I think this would be a lot less intimidating than taking the quilt apart to replace the sashing. It would also leave the quilt in a more original state. Because the fabric is quite old, I would also either line it with a thin washed muslin or cover it with tulle as QuiltnNan suggested. Either of these (or both) would extend the life of the quilt. I would probably use Quilter's Dream Request cotton for the batting to keep it thin and light in weight (not too puffy).

Edit: Appliqued flowers would work too to cover up the holes.

I agree with Tartan. This is an unquilted top, so easy enough to recut/ reconstruct ( if you know quilting). If not, l suggest you chose the least damaged area & make that into a wall hanging , or frame it as art.Some day those 50's fabrics WILL be older and valuable, if kept long enough.

Applique flowers over the holes and sprinkle a few more over the quilt top at random, especially in places that might be looking a little thin. That way it looks like a design feature rather than a repair.

This is just my personal opinion, but I would wrap that up some way to preserve what's left of it and tuck it away as a lovely memory to be taken out and shown. Then, because it's so darn pretty, I'd do everything I could to recreate it as close as possible so it can be used.

I think the holes throughout the background, sashing, and cornerstone fabrics indicate the fabric has "rotted" and is not sturdy enough to applique on or salvage in any meaningful way. I would find similar colored fabrics and cut out the butterflies (since they seem intact) make a similar looking quilt w/the new fabric and the butterflies.

Yes, I agree with kassandra...fabric has indeed rotted.....no sense in putting good money after bad. Just cut the good butterflies out and either reblock them or just make pillows or frame them.....

I agree with Tartan. It is exactly what I would do.

Yep, I would cut squares of the butterflies and then make a "background" using new pale blue and pink fabrics. I would applique the squares onto new fabric perhaps reinforcing them with backing just in case they are "holey" or weak fabric too.

I would check all the fabrics first and see if they are "sound" or "iffy" or "very weak"

I found some blocks my Mom had made - and they just tore more easily than bathroom tissue - and they were maybe from the 1950s or 1960s. I think they were a poly-cotton blend. They looked "fine" - until I tugged on them.

It looks like the most damage is in the sashing. The butterfly blocks look fairly salvageable. If it were mine, I would remove the blue sashing and save as much of it as I can and sash with some other fabrics and put the blue fabric as corner stones between each sashing. I am sure you will get a lot of advice on this board and good luck to you. Yes-it is salvageable for sentimental reasons for sure.

I assumed the holes were from mice.

What does it smell like?

If sort of funky, a good airing in sunshine might work wonders. I also think sunshine is a great disinfectant.

Then press it - that might give you a better overview of how much damage there is. After you see how much there is altogether - then show us some more pictures and you will probably get more suggestions.

It appears that the butterflies are all in relatively good condition. Could they be cut from the quilt top and re-appliqued on new fabric?

It is a beauty, and I can both see and understand the desire to save it.

I agree with Nanny's dollface, Prism99 and IceLeopard. Anything to preserve the original. It's a beautiful quilt top. Your mother will cherish it no matter what you decide. Good luck.

I would also cut the butterflies out and appliqué them to new old looking fabric.

I think I would try to unstitch each butterfly and restitch them to fabric similar to that previously used. It looks like a blanket stitch used.

I was thinking appliques too; smaller butterflies and some small flowers along with the bees and hive. Be sure to show us the end result. You can do this.

The damaged fabric looks too fragile to salvage. I too agree that the butterflies should be very carefully cut out and re-appliqued to new vintage looking squares. To me those would be the most precious parts to preserve. The addition of a label giving tribute to Grandma would also be nice.

If it were me, and for the sentimental value. I would take off all the sashing. Then carefully iron the butterflys out. Then, I would stabilize the Fabric the butterflys are on with a medium weight stabilizer. I would then, put on a new borders in the color that matches the original color. And, then have it quilted. Even with all the age and wear, it will be a beautiful quilt. And, a beautiful memory of your DGM.

I would do this approach. Find a fabric with flowers or bees or birds and cover the bad spots with the Applique. Then Quilt it with the tulle over it.

grandmothers quilt preserving
 

At a family reunion we we were given a block of my grandmother's and were told we could preserve them any way we wanted. Some mounted and framed. I'm not sure what others have done. I would tug on one of the blocks that is damaged to see if the fabric is intact before I did too much.

How about
1. a scattering of mini butterflies to cover the holes OR
2. Redo the stashing and appliqué butterflies, flowers or dragonflies over the holes on the white. OR
3. Cut out the butterflies and appliqué them on new backing, new smashing, etc

Whatever you do I bet it turns out beautiful.

I agree. It looks to me like the quilt top was folded up for storage and those darn (and I really would use a worse word than that!) varments chewed away right on the folds. That is why the holes are lined up like they are. Don't ask me how I know so well what damage from mice looks like. You would think someone with as many cats as I do would have no experience with that. But I keep my sewing rooms shut off from the cats and rooms that don't get frequented every day in a 100 year old house, well, mice find a way. Can't stand the little beasties.

Anyway, if Prism and I are correct in our assumption of mouse damage, that may be good news. The fabric may not be as fragile as everyone is assuming. I would swap out the damaged sashing pieces with a blue as close as I could get. The butterfly blocks you have a few choices. I think I would put them on to another piece of muslin (the whole block). And reinforce the hole area with either quilting or maybe a fusible in between the original background and the new backing. Then sandwich and quilt it. You could also just cut out the butterfly from the worst damaged blocks and re-applique them on to new background fabric.

another option is how many family members would want a piece of grandma's quilt? If many, maybe just cut it apart and quilt each block as a gift for each member sacrificing the worst chewed ones.

I have not conserved/repaired any quilts, but I would agree with Judith 1005: I would back the butterfly blocks with a lightweight iron-on fusible. I would also remake the sashing. There are plenty of quality solid fabrics now that you could match the colors fairly closely. Regarding finishing the quilt, I am not sure I would. I think I'd leave it as just a top and enjoy it as a family heirloom. Just my opinion.

Ok, I took the advice on here and looked it over a bit closer and took an iron to it. I hadn’t realized the whole thing is hand stitched. The fabric seems to be in decent shape, not rotting although it’s clear that it had some mildew or something on it at one point and someone washed it. I’ve got two things running around in my head:

First, My grandmother was a seamstress and this is the only thing I have from her that she has sewn. We moved away from her when I was very little so we were not close. There was another quilt, I’m assuming in much better shape that my aunts and cousins finished with her while she was on her deathbed and gave to another granddaughter. I have some feelings about that... given that I’m the one in the family who loves quilts and have never been given one but I think I need to get past that and basically take what I can get, which is this one.

Secondly, I don’t really like the design all that much. I seems to be growing on me a little bit the more I go back and look at it again and again trying to appreciate it, but there is something about the shape of her butterflies that bugs me. LOL! Silly thing... I know!

Her hand stitching is really nice. I can only imagine how much time she spent on this, it’s a pretty good sized top. It feels like it would be doing it an injustice to take a machine to it at this point. I don’t know... what do you think?

You said your mother asked you "Can you do anything with this top?"

This is not meant to be disrespectful - but there is no law against folding it up and putting it back in a box (with acid free paper, if you want to preserve it) for now. It might look more appealing in a year or two.

If this had not been your Grandmother's, what would you do with it?

Does your Mother have feelings about it? Would she like to work on it?

This is the way I would handle this top as well. Actually...you don't want to "fix" this quilt...but to preserve it.

great questions!

My feeling is no one in the family wanted it, they didn’t know what to do with it, so they decided to give it to me since I’m the one who has expressed an interest in quilting.

I would still value value it even if it hadn’t been my grandmothers just because I value sewing, especially hand work but I wouldn’t feel as obligated to fix it.

I really think everyone in my family viewed it as a problem to be solved. Giving it to me solved their problem. Lol, I suspect I will never hear it mentioned again unless I bring it up.

at this point my motivation rests entirely in my desire to connect with my heritage and my grandmother around our common interest in quilting. Maybe I will put it up for a while and see if improving my quilting skills changes how difficult it feels to tackle. Right now it just feels overwhelming.