Sewing Fabric to Crochet? Help!
 

My cousin has a pair of beautifully ornate afghans crocheted for her by her grandmother. She wants a good way to "preserve" the afghans, and she has asked me if I would sew them into a quilt somehow.

This seems like a great idea, but everything I have found only suggests hand-sewing fabric to crochet, or actually crocheting the two together. Is there a way this can be done with a sewing machine??

Obviously we can't cut the afghan apart, so the idea is to make kind of a throw that will see gentle use from the back of her couch. Maybe sewing a border around each afghan, then sewing the two together.

Better yet.. how the heck would I quilt this thing? The crochet stitches are tight, but the batting would still show through.

I have afghans that are more than 40 years old, that have been used yearly. They will hold up under normal use. If she wants to display them on the back of her couch, they should last a long, long time just the way they are. I've not seen anywhere what you are describing, but there's always something new.

Could you use a neutral flannel for the backing and then tie between the blocks to secure it? The flannel would also help keep it on the sofa back like your design wall.

Mary, that's what I always thought, too. As long as you're relatively gentle with your afghans, they will be around a long time. I think she has more of a keepsake blanket in mind that she can pass on to her son.

I thought about a flannel, or even a fleece. But she says she wants it actually sewn.. :shock:

Well, I'm a crocheter, and you certainly have a dilemma here! I'm not sure if you mean she wants the two afghans sewn together and then quilted, or sewn separately. But what I am picturing is - you'll need to sew border around the afghan (let's say it's lightweight flannel), then attach a flannel backing with the right side facing up (so you would see it through the spaces in the crochet). Then you'd have a matching piece of flannel for the back, with a very lightweight batting in between the two pieces of flannel. You could sew the batting to the back flannel - the crocheted afghan to the front flannel - then use the birthing method to sew them all together, turn right side out, and you've got an afghan with a cozy flannel back. My only issue with this would be - that's going to be one HEAVY afghan! Crochet by its nature tends to be more weighty than knitting, and once you add backing and batting....it might be like laying under that lead blanket at the dentist's office during x-rays!!

If she wants both afghans sewn together (like, back to back) you could do the same thing but again - too heavy for me!

It might help if you could post a photo of the afghans... I'm sure there are a few more crocheters around here... maybe we could put our heads together and help you out.

I'm with DonnaC on this one. I have a knitted afghan that is at least 20 years old, gets used almost daily by me as well as at least daily by the dogs. It's in perfect shape (except for the need for washing at the moment!). I'm not sure how much more 'preserving' really needs to be done to a crocheted afghan. I've seen them many decades old holding up just fine. In fact, the only reason I've ever gotten rid of any is because I hate the colors any longer.

The yarn crocheted ones will get fuzzy if washed several times considering it was probably yarn available years ago. If the yarn afghans are going to be used then there is no way to keep them pristine even if sewn in a quilt. It's a choice to store or to use.