Tulle for antique quilt repair
 

I am attempting to repair an antique quilt and it was suggested that I use tulle on the blocks that are beyond repair...moth-eaten, etc.

I have the tulle...Now what?

Do I place it over the block and quilt it down? Or?

Any help appreciated.

Luckily only a couple of the blocks on this quilt are in this bad of shape.

Watson

The few quilts I repaired, I appliqued pieces replacing the damaged pieces so it doesn't show.

My understanding is that you place it over the damaged area and hand sew the tulle down. You could tack it down in places if the area is large. You don't normally quilt over the tulle, but you certainly could. I will see if I can find some websites that show this kind of repair work.

Edit: Looks like you can certainly quilt over the tulle. Here are some websites to check out:
http://www.annquilts.com/quiltrepair.html
http://forum.apqs.com/index.php?/top...iring-a-quilt/
http://antique-marks.com/antique-quilts.html

Just as an aside, I think there are different varieties of tulle. You want the kind that is super-soft.

If the quilt is just a top, then go ahead and quilt it with the tulle as the top layer, but otherwise I'd just hand stitch it down with SID.

I would think it depends on the size of the block getting the tulle overlay...if small, hand stitching SID would work. If a larger block, I would quilt over it. I used tulle over a table topper I created by spray basting batik scraps to the batting and then quilted it all with a meander. Worked great and looked great.

When I repaired a quilt for a friend, I put the tulle over the entire block, whipped down the edges and then tacked it down in places on the block. I did not show when I finished the repairs.

It will depend on the size of the repair area. If a small block, then just stitch around the edges. My suggestion is to use the best quality tulle and a neutral shade to blend in. Take your top in and look at a several to see which one you don't notice the most. Because the point is to let the antique quilt shine thru. Good luck and thank you for keeping this quilt alive.