How to age cloth to finish antique quilt
 

I have received some 50 year old quilt piecing. Most of it is finished and ready to sew but a couple of the pieces need to be finished with white cloth. I found some cotton cloth that has the right weave and feel as the original cloth. However, I realized the older piecing has gotten slightly yellow with age. How do I dye the new cloth to be a smidge yellower without messing up the quilt?


I am worried about dying it with a light tea mix as I'm not sure if it will bleed onto the other piecing when washed.


Thank you all for any advice you may have.

Hello and welcome! :)

Tea dyed cotton doesn't usually bleed after it's been well rinsed, dried and pressed. For added insurance, you could serge the raw ends of the fabric and launder it. https://fashionhance.com/tips-to-mak...c-look-antique

For a top that's "only" 50 years old, I would possibly go in the other direction - piece with the white, make up the quilt, quilt it and then use Retro Clean to remove the yellowing in the rest of the quilt.

I have used Retro Clean on a few vintage quilt tops from the 30s and 40s and it's amazing for taking out age - they came out fresh and clear and beautiful.

Best of luck with your project, whichever way you choose to go with it. Hope you'll show pictures when you get it finished. :)

Tea will give it an aged look. I used a tea dye to match the new christening dress I made for my niece to my sister-in-law's
​​​​​30 year old christening coat and bonnet. It worked perfectly.

Tea dying is what I have always done when I want to make something look aged.

Reminds me of sewing a dress for the oldest granddaughter. I cut the collar from a white doily (remember when that was popular). Doily was stark white so I “tea dyed” it. She was about 4 and told everyone “Grandma put coffee on it.”

I'm with thepolyparrot. Finish the quilt with the fabric you have then use Retro Clean. Everything will look as if they were made out of the same fabric and at the same time.

I like the restoclean idea. I hate messing with blocks and small pieces, but if you are going to have to add some fabric anyway, maybe take out a piece of the existing white and see what happens when you treat it.

Tea dying is easy and really quite stable once you've dried it (and you can use coffee too, slightly different shade) and there are other easy things to do -- but getting the exact results you want can be super hard.

When I finish UFOs, I usually give a subtle sign that my hand has been there, so I will put in a different color of thread or something that may only be visible on the back. Sure, it's nice when I do have the perfect/exact fabric but when I don't, I go ahead on the principle that "it may be visible but that's ok". Sometimes visible is subtle and sometimes we just make up something entirely different to fill the gaps. It's part of the story of the project.

Thank you all for the advice! I will buy some retro clean and try it on one of the squares as well as try to dye a sample of my new cloth with some tea. I will compare the results and go with whichever ends up nicest.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...0579631946.jpg

(Here is a picture of the pieces next to the new cloth in case anyone was curious)

Good luck on whatever method you use, it will be great.