Old Embroidery quilt
 

I have a cross-stitched, double-sized quilt that is a WIP. It was started when I was in high school (almost 50 years ago). Now that I have committed to finishing at least some of my UFO's in 2012, I would like to finish this one for my DGD. The problem, and my question is, should I bother? The owner of my LQS told me the blue print for the X's and the quilting lines will NOT wash out after this long. Does anyone have any experience with this type of thing? BTW, it is in three or four pieces, not individual blocks to be set together. Thanks for any information you may have.

Could you possibly take part of one finished section and try to wash it? The marks may be old and might just wash away. Worth a try.

I hate to tell you but the lines probably will not wash out. The older kits were printed by setting the designs with heat.
They fade over time but usually never disappear completely and this is with multiple washings.
You could try by using a Q-Tip and a bit of water to try a small area that you can embroidery over. Is there printing along the edge of the blocks that you can try to remove. There was usualy a design number or company printed along the edge. If so you could try various detergents to remove.

I did one years ago and while it has been washed many times the x's are gone...I am not sure how many times it took to wash them out...anyway I love it and know your DGD will as well!

would a color safe bleach work? or soak in oxyclean? if it takes out dried blood stains, it might take out old print too. just a suggestion - have no idea whether it would work or not, but I've read to soak blood stains in oxyclean as long as 24 hours !! seems a long time - but worth a try - who knows???

Thank you for all the good suggestions! I will try them -- may just finish it anyway. This board is such a great source of all types of information.

I have success soaking them in a tub with some plain white efferdent tabs....I hear oxyclean works well too!

They may or may not wash out. There are so many things on the market. I got some stuff (can't remember the name) that you leave soaking in the sun that is supposed to remove yellow from antique quilts. Who cares, yes you should finish the quilts. It's a record of how far you've came. Who knows, if you'd completed it 50yrs ago and it had been well loved for all of those yrs there could have been "stains" on it by now anyways. Finish your accomplishment.

I did a Xstitch quilt top probably 40 years ago. It sat unfinished for about 30 years. I finally hand quilted it, not even thinking the marking might not come out. Well, they did. I hope you finish yours, and that the marks come out as well as mine did. Good luck. Let us know what you do, and how it all works out.

I'd definitely finish it. Even IF the marks do not come out, your granddaughter will love the quilt just because you made it. And as someone else said, it will be a record of how far you have come in the intervening years. When you finish it, we'd love to see pictures. :thumbup: