recent inheritance
 

I just received this quilt yesterday and am thrilled as my mother was working on this before she passed (25 years ago). It's been in storage since, in rather questionable methods as there are stains, dirt, and icky smells. This is a huge quilt, almost 8 foot square. It looks like she was in process of working on the quilting, but apparently was struggling as there are many puckers on the back and front. I would love to finish this quilt, but am more inclined to rip out all the quilting and start over, specially with a cotton batting. She has rolled the edges over and stitched down...maybe to secure? Can I wash first, or should I worry about the dirt and stains after completion? She did a great job of piecing the top and I want to be able to give it the finish it deserves.

I was given a top that my Mother-in-Law made and SIL got and she washed it as a top. Ruined! Now I've got to try to quilt it after puckered up. Gonna be a job. Actually, I have 3 more tops that are old and I'm not about to wash them before I finish them. Just sew them dirty and then wash them good after I quilt them.

Definitely rip it out and start it again. I fear you will regret it if you don't. And then clean it. And then post a picture. I can't wait to see it finished as it is beautiful. Lucky you to have received it! Good luck

I am with you, I would be inclined to take it apart and start over with the quilting. Since I am rather sensitive to smells (my husband swears I could put bears to shame with my sense of smell) I would try to clean it. Is it machine pieced or hand pieced? If it is machine pieced maybe if you baste it together, wash it on a delicate cycle or just soak in in a bathtub then let it flat dry or dry on delicate in a dryer. (My dryer has a delicate and even an air dry cycle. It also has a thing to put in the dryer that can put things on that you don't want to tumble.) You will have to iron it - but then I always iron my quilt tops before I make them into a sandwich anyway.

If it was mine, I would rip it out, spot clean stains, quilt, than wash. Or if it is machine pieced, rip out, run a basting stich around outside edge, pre treat stains and wash in cold, on gentle, before drying check make sure stains are gone. Good luck with it. Looks like you have a beautiful quit to remember your Mom by

It's going to take you awhile to quilt that and you want it to be a pleasant experience! I would rip the quilting out, gently hand wash and air dry, then quilt.

Another option is to spot clean it then put it in a low-heat dryer for a few minutes with a fabric softener to air it out and freshen it up before ripping it out and re-finishing it.

Either way, if you want it at it's best you should requilt it.

Several years ago, our dog got fleas. I was working on a quilt top in close proximity to him and I went nuts washing everything in site, including the quilt top. It came out perfectly. I don't remember if I used hot water (probably) or cold water. I know I had pre-washed the fabrics, however. I'm with the others. I would take apart and re quilt it and then wash it. However, if it smells really badly and is machine pieced, I would probably consider taking it apart and then washing it in cold water, cool drying cycle.

If it were mine, I'd take out the existing quilting, then soak (not wash, just soak, with no agitation) the top and backing to clean them. Soak in Orvis, spin out, soak in clear water, spin out, soak again in clear water, spin out. Air dry. Then I'd quilt it myself, possibly with a new batting, if that batting has odors. Since it's so large, it will be hard to pin baste well and not get puckers, so I think I'd have someone with a longarm thread baste it before quilting it myself, or else quilt it using a three rail frame to quilt it, so there will be no puckers anywhere.

I would definitely hand wash and line dry. Also I would take out the quilting and quilt it over. The top is beautiful, too wonderful not to complete.

I would do this