I have a question for quilters. I have inherited 3 quilt tops that were originally pieced by my Great Grandmother in the 1950's, and tucked away because she died. I am the only quilter in the family now (and fairly new at it). I want to restore these tops and make them into quilts.

Replacing the fraying pieces is fairly straightforward. However, it will make them "different" from the rest of the quilt in that they will be "solid". Most of the fabric used in the quilt tops is fairly thin, likely was when she used it, so not only will the new pieces stand out because they are solid, but there is the problem of "shadowing" with the rest of the blocks on the quilt tops. It occurs throughout the tops. If it was a minor problem, I wouldn't mind. But you can literally see every seam margin, and which way it's going. I think it's quite unattractive. It's just because of the kind of material that was available then, and possibly because the material was "worn" when she used it. I'm not sure. Is there any way to fix this? I have thought of hand stitching a new patch to the underside of each patch, which would be a big job, but could be done. Is there any other way you can think of to fix this problem? Or should I just "get over it" and quilt the top "as is", shadowing and all?

All suggestions would be gratefully appreciated.

Photos?

I hope you will be able to repair it to your satisfaction.

Well, I saw a really cool art quilt at the Pacific West Quilt show a couple of weekends ago. The lady had taken an old quilt from her family and embelished it with corn stalks (to reflect her family history) and birds and stuff. It was really cool. I only took pics with my phone and don't know how to download them. Plus the quality is bad. Maybe applique something over the bare spots. And if you use Warm & White batting the backing fabric won't show through.

I found my cable! Sorry it is such a bad shot, but you get the general idea.

would it help if you backed it with like a sheet or muslin before you add the batting and the backing. perhaps that might help and wouldn't be so labor intensive.

I used iron-on lightweight fusable to back some fragile blocks in a 1930s top. They came out fine, after quilting I couldn't tell the difference in feel or appearance. :thumbup:

More than repairing the quilt, I would make a reproduction of the entire thing, and try and preserve the original.

I agree, it would look "quite unattractive" the way you're describing because it's trying to patch it, with different materials in a different style.

You can mimic the style, colors, etc as an homage. And keep those heirlooms safe!!!

That is a really interesting quilt, and a wonderful way to revitalize an older, possibly damaged family quilt.

Not for everybody to handle a project like that but I have to really admire the quilter for coming up with such an innovative solution.

Thanks for posting it.

@MacThayer - Photos would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I have used a light weight fuseable interfacing to stabilize fabrics in old quilts. Then hand quilted them. The interfacing to me was easier to quilt through by hand than some other products and didn't add stiffness to the quilt.

It's night time for me right now. I will get photos up tomorrow when I have some light, so you can see what I'm talking about. Sorry! Should have thought of that! Have never posted photos before so this should be interesting. I can say I put white batting up against the quilt tops, and it just made the "shadowing" worse. I tried black batting, thinking it might blend in the shadowing, and it changed the color of the quilt. Anyway, I'll get those photos up ASAP. I do have a dental appointment first thing in the AM, but will get right on it as soon as I get home.