It's been a good Saturday all around. I was at our Habitat's ReStore on Friday buying a sewing machine, and got to talking about sewing with the lady cashing me out.. She told me her daughter runs a quilt shop next town over, which is about 40 minutes closer than the only other LQS I know about. I decided to go today.

It's a beautiful day, and my car just mysteriously pulled over in front of a yard sale. They had lots of old electronics, mall ninja swords, and antique dolls. (A box full of doll faces is creepy, btw.)

And a stack of appliqued butterfly quilt squares.

I hadn't actually intended on going junking, so I had to scrounge in my car for the $2 she was asking, but I found it, and they came home with me.

There are 19 total. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them--I'm open to suggestions--but I couldn't bear to leave them there.

The purple ones are unfinished-they're only basted down. The polka dot one is the only one with wing stripes, and some have long antenna, some short. They're 10~ inches; I haven't measured. The backing is a heavier-weight muslin. I assume the butterflies are feedsacking?

A few questions. Can I wash them? Not washing machine, but a sink full of...what? Some are dirty, and some are water stained. Can I iron them? They've clearly been stuffed somewhere with no respect for ages.

What would you do with them?

eta: Oh, and the LQS? MUCH friendlier than the other one I know about. I'll definitely be going back, probably for their Friday night sew-ins!

Wonderful find!!!

Enjoyed reading your post. Sounds like a grand day, I would love to be able to stop at garage sale (no one holds them in our neck of the desert for some reason). The blocks are wonderful. I have no real suggestions for washing, sorry.

Can't beat your find for $2.00!

hand wash dry on towels.

yes you can hand wash them - just lay them to soak in a solution of 1 tablespoon bleach to 1 gallon of water - you will be surprised how nice they will come out. I got that recipe from a gal that restores old embroidered pieces - I used it on an old quilt block too, and it worked wonderfully

Make that all-fabric bleach - takes out the grunginess of age.

great find

i'd make a wall hanging and call it an antique. then i wouldn't have to worry about the discolored backing :)

Am I understanding you correctly...you purchased a sewing machine at your Habitate ReStore ?????

Age is grungy?? :mrgreen:

Wow, what a great find!!!

Love them

They are beautiful-remind me of the 30's fabrics.

Tell us about your sewing machine.

Yes, several now. I check on a regular basis to see what they've got. I pick them up for my osmg, who refurbs then sells them. I've gotten a Singer 457 (that was the one I was buying), a 237, a couple 15 clones, a Nelco, and at least one more I'm not remembering the details of.

Right now they've got a Walmart Brother and a 7-drawer Sphinx (that's missing a slide plate and the shuttle). And a really cool art deco-ish sewing table that I keep telling myself I don't need. :)

Check yours out! We have two other thrift shops in my little town, and the ReStore is by far the best for sewing machines.

It's a Singer 457, but not actually for me. Our ReStore tests electrical things to make sure they work, and says this motor does. Otherwise, everything else turns easily. It'll go to my osmg, in trade for the work he's doing on my Necchi BU Nova.

Yes, yes....what did you get at the Re-Store....

I soaked some of my grandma's in Oxy clean. I just let them set in a tub with that and water and would gently agitate them every so often by hand.Hung up to dry then ironed. I let soak all day just to be sure.

I also did this with some old blocks. They came out like they were new. One of my blocks also had a bad stain on it. Could not tell it now :D

you are so lucky

what a hual.

Wow! Looks like 30's fabric to me. I'd better finish some of my UFO's or they might end up in a yard sale one day. HA HA

Check with your local quilt shop about stain removal, there's a product out there that helps to restore older fabric and its safer than bleach. Can't remember what it's called.

I just finished reading a book, it was a novel, about a woman who restores antique quilts. She mixed together a qt of buttermilk,a gallon of water, a tablespoon of lemon juice, let it sit for awhile and dabbed it over the places that needed to be cleaned. She didn't rinse. Just let it air dry.

Just put them to soak in Woolite and cool water. Rinse and roll in a WHITE towel and wring. Place them flat on another wHITE towel to dry.

If that doesn't help remove the discoloration. I have found the Efferdent tablets help remove a lot of the old "storage" stains.

I say white towel because I washed doll dress that was on my antique doll in warm soapy water then rolled it in a very old blue towe. That towel had been washed at least a hundred times. The organza dress had blue spots on it!! The efferdent took them away.

Wouldn't it be great to make one more to then have 12 and make a lovely wall hanging. But then you could leave one out and use 9 on the front and have 1 leftover for a label. Maybe find some old fabric to make the sashing and borders and you'd have something very sweet to hang on the wall. I think it would be a very nice project. I would have loved to find this!
djb51 in CT

There is a woman in our area Sue Reich that retores old quilts. She has a website so if you google her name you will find her. She might be able to give you a hint on how to clean them etc. She's excellent and written published books.

I am so envious, my grannie made butterfly quilts back in the 60's and 70's. those look a lot like them, she just sashed them on her treadle and made family quilts.
You lucky thing

Great find!

I have had great luck washing on delicate cycle with powder dishwashing detergent with no lemon or scent, just the old cheap kind is the best. I let them soak for maybe an hour and wash as usual but I usual sew first and then do it to prevent unrsveling. I love your butterflies. Sash them and make pillows with left overs. Nice find!

The first thought that came to me was a really scrappy double or triple Irish chain with these blocks occupying the empty spaces.

Oh aren't you the lucky one!! I would carefully wash them in lukewarm water in the sink with Orvus soap. Rinse and repeat. And again. Lay them flat to dry on a towel.
Post a pic when you get them into a quilt! :wink:

What a great find.

I know everyone has their own opinion, but this is mine. I would soak in Oxy clean or Biz and then rinse until the water is clean. Gently roll each one between towels to remove excess water and let dry flat. I wouldn't worry about the age-looking part (that's the beauty) -- just remove as much soil as possible. I would hope no one would want to wash me until I looked new. Yikes! I'm 71 -- lots of age spots, etc. LOL

EDIT: What's Orvus soap?

I washed an old quilt top by itself in the washer by itself on gentle. When I took it out I laid it outside on the grass in the sun. The sun bleached out the rest of the stains.

Love them, you are well on yourway to a special quilt

Sweet find!

Wonderful find! I understand lemon and sunshine can help whiten the stains.

I have to agree with you about the doll faces! One of the most gruesome things I ever saw had to be from children at play. I was driving a familiar country road and there was a house almost falling down along the side of it. Some kids had taken a large dirty broken baby doll and tied it to one of the porch posts with thick coarse rope. And on top of it, its eyes did not open properly! It looked like something out of a hack'em up movie! It was only plastic and rope but had a chilling effect. The worst part is that nobody took it down! It was there for a long time! Freaked me out!

I would stitch down all the basted flutterbyes. Then I'd toss all of them into a lingerie bag and put them on a delicate cycle with Woolite (it's not just for wool). Hang them to dry and you can trim the squares down to whatever size.
How about sashing each block in a different solid color taken from the prints? A nice light, happy print or two for borders? Or even a scrappy piano key border with all the colors you can scroung up that are in the designs?

All the advice about hand-washing the blocks are good! Same with the suggestions for using them. I love the old stuff and have collected a lot of it!

What a neat find. I'm sure you will enjoy whatever you decide to do with them - frame them as wall art?