Help with granny's Quilt top
 

Hello. I need some advice please. My grandmother made me and my sister quilt tops when we were young. I had mine finished . My sister did not. I came across it years later. My quilt is all hand sewn. Some of the stitching has broken so I do not use the quilt. I would like to finish my sisters quilt as a b-day gift. I'm worried about the stitches not holding. Any ideas on how to fix this problem??? Thanks so much

Couple of questions:
Is the top hand-pieced or machine pieced?
Do you plan to hand-quilt or machine quilt it?
Are the fabrics all cotton?

Answers to these questions may affect the responses to your questions.

Jan in VA

It would help if you would post photos of the broken stitches on your quilt.

Is it the piecing stitches that broke? Or the quilting stitches? A lot depends on how the piecing was done (single thread, double thread, how big the stitches are) and/or on how the quilting was done (single thread, double thread, how far apart the quilting lines are, what batting was used). It depends also on what kind of use the quilt got.

Are you wanting to hand quilt your sister's top? If so, it should hold up fine if you (1) choose an appropriate batting, and (2) do the quilting sufficiently close together. The more quilting there is, the less stress is placed on the piecing threads and on the quilting threads over time and when the quilt is washed.

One common cause of stitches breaking is washing a quilt and then hanging it on a clothesline. Water is *very* heavy and places a lot of extra stress on stitches; hanging the quilt over a clothesline places all of that water weight on the few stitches near the top of the hanging. Top-loading washing machines with agitators are also hard on the stitching. A quilt pieced and quilted by hand normally will not have many (if any) broken stitches if the quilting lines are not too far apart and if the quilt is handled appropriately when washing.

The top is hand sewn I believe it is cotton. I'm not sure how to proceed as I'm really new at this. the stitches are small. How small i really don't have anything to compare it with. Up for suggestions.. Thanks so much...I'll check back later with you ..Thanks so much.

Also piecing stitches broke. single thread

It is correct to use a single thread for piecing and quilting.

Are the broken stitches on the piecing in your quilt? Or your sister's top? In either case, it is very easy to repair this type of problem by hand. You simply hide the thread knot underneath a piece, then use a "ladder" stitch to make the repair stitches invisible. There are probably videos online on how to do the ladder stitch, or websites with pictorial tutorials. It's easy to do; you just have to know how to do it.

Edit: I did a quick search on Youtube and found this video tute:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CjOXMuTFXo

Thanks so much everyone..Wish me luck...