I need advice as I make a quilt with 90 year old sun bonnet sue dolls
 

I have 20 sun bonnet sue dolls from a quilt my 100 year old mother-in-law's mother made. I plan on trimming them as I go and appliquéing them to a quilt I will make.
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This is a pic of the fabrics I have selected and the 90 year old crocheted lace.
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I took pictures of the dolls and put together this powerpoint, so it will look similar to this.
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I plan on my 9 year old grandaughter inheriting it one day so I want it to look heirloom-worthy.

The answer to my question may be obvious to everyone except me. I want the quilt to have that crinkly well-washed look. But I don't want to wash the dolls. I also don't want to quilt over the dolls, so I think it's obvious I should quilt it before I appliqué the dolls onto the quilt.

I would like recommendations on what type quilting I should do.
Also, have I read the Warm and Natural batting gives the best "crinkly" look?

Lastly, any and all suggestions you may have.

Thank you!

What a wonderful find! What a lucky granddaughter!
It looks like the dolls have been hand stitched or embroidered onto the fabric that surrounds them. Could you turn that fabric back and hand sew them to the new background?
And a little hand quilting on the dolls after it is sandwiched would look nice, I think.

Love all that beautiful lace. Hope you find a place for it.

My advice would be to maybe hand wash the crochet trim - otherwise it may shrink if somebody machine washes and dries the quilt.

finish the quilt top including appliqueing the sues. then use quilter dream cotton request batting. quilt . then spritz with water to crinkle up.

If you use W&N batting...you can quilt 10 inches apart. I did a quilt like this by appliqueing Sue onto background,sashing,bordering,sandwiching...the it was hand quilted with baptist fan design...leaving the appliqué as it was. Looks great. I also washed mine in retroclean...looks great. Pm me if you want me to email a photo.

Do you ever expect this quilt to be washed?

That might influence how you prepare the components.

Maviskw,

That is exactly what I planned to do. Turn that fabric back and hand sew them to the new background.

The lace will go along the border. You can sort of see it in my powerpoint picture.

France,

I would love to see a picture. I will pm you my email address.

NikkiLu,

Thanks for the advice. How should I wash the crochet trim?

Bearisgray,

I would like to think it would be well taken care of by my grandaughter, but who knows. I plan on telling her how fragile everything is and give her tips for care.