Curious too.

If the fabric is not good quality then heavy quilting will make it shred around the quilting stitches. I had this happen to a quilt I made using loose weave fabric. The more I quilted/patched the more it shred. The only thing that I know to do is applique new fabric over the bad fabric, covering it completely.

All good advice.....

I would vote for take your time and quilt straight lines (with a waklking foot if you have one)... you can still quilt straight lines without one tho..... Quilt straight lines 2 inches or so apart in a grid, either horizontally and vertically or diagonally... Take your time. It would help hold the layers together and if she loves it... its a *live and learn* experience.. .and she will still love it.

Make some creative sew or iron on patches to add now and then later, (besides the straight line quilting).....

And, belatedly, its one reason why people prewash their fabrics... but I wouild still quilt it and let it be used... (sheeps)

How about creating a square template to fit just inside the seam line of the damaged blocks, draw around the template with a chalk marker, cut the squares out carefully by hand, then reinforce each square with permanent iron on stabilizer to support the loose weave. Now cut 4 strips of matching fabric to create a new border for each square and attach strips by machine, like a binding, mitered or squared. Re position the repaired blocks on the quilt using a spray adhesive, machine baste in place, and finally machine stitch each block in place, like an applique, using a fancy stitch maybe a blanket stitch! I am sure there is a scripture somewhere in the Bible that addresses this situation for you and I am also sure your MIL loves the quilt and the love you put into it which is the most important thing of all.

OH NO, So sorry.

I agree with bearisgray. The only way I could think of saving the quilt is to machine quilt it. You could do a serpantine stitch along all of the seams. In case you are not familiar with a 'serpentine' stitch, it is like a zig zap stitch only the where the zig zag stitch is pointed, the serpentine is rounded. Most machines can do this stitch with the proper adjustment to the zig zag stitch.

By doing the above stitch, you can at least tack down all of the seams and keep any new seams from ripping out. Or you can free motion quilt all over the quilt to stablize all of the quilt. If you don't know how to free motion, this would be a good time to learn.

So sorry this happened to you. It sounds heartbreaking.

What if you tea stain it or like one of the people on here did, coffee stain it!

agree, can you applique something over the seams. Like the stain glass look?? might just work. sending it to a longarmer wouldnt keep the fabric from raveling. I still go for applique. good luck.

This is my thought too. I think you would have to unsew it and reinforce all the seams with zig-zag. I feel for ya'. It's disheartening.

Assuming that you had 1/4" seams and not smaller, and that you had already pre-washed the fabrics; You can add a 4" piece all the way around the top, the batting and the backing and send it to a long arm quilter. After it's quilted, you can cut off the excess as it was just used to "hold onto the quilt for quilting". This is the only way I know to salvage this quilt without re-doing it. Have it stippled all over or something similar to shore it up. In the future wash on delicate and dry on medium heat.

The lesson learned here unfortunately is that some of the fabrics that we try to highlight because they are just so beautiful must also have good quality. Ask me how I know...

How about putting a very fine tulle on top of those blocks and/or doing free motion quilting on top of the tulle in the areas around the lettering using an invisible top thread? This should stabilize those blocks. The tulle will be barely visible but would protect the blocks.

Another thought if the fraying is just in the seams....use fabric glue along the seam to stabilize the frayed section and then do some couching with a coordinating cord or yarn to outline the blocks. It would cover the frayed section and also the area that is stiff from the fabric glue.

Since it is tied, I would untie it and take part of one side apart, turn it inside out and go to work fixing it. Very pretty quilt though. Glenda

What a heart breaker! All the work, wish I could help.

I may be just a little looney, but did I understand you to say you washed it before adding the bat and backing? Just curious

maybe outline the squares with ribbon to cover the fraying and provide something to anchor the fabric too? you could use stitch witchery to iron it on and hand stitch it down.