Washing Antique quilts
 

The article for today is about washing antique quilts. It says put it in a bathtub with luke warm water. I would add: First lint the tub with a clean white bed sheet. That way when you lift the quilt, you can lift the sheet and not ahve any strain on the quilt itself. I did mine that way with great success. Drain the dirty water from the tub; fill er up an do it again. I rinsed mine three times to be certain the dirt was gone and no soap residue remeined.

Thanks. I have this antique quilt. I t was hand-quilted by my Great Aunt Maude and pieced by my Grandmother's Great Aunt. Bought the top from her personally when I was 21 and she was 90 something. It does need a gentle washing. I'm in my early 60s. Never used it because it is so old.

You can also wash in a large top-loading washer. It is similar to washing in a bathtub except no sheet for lifting, and you never allow the machine to agitate. It's a little easier on the back and knees than washing in a bathtub.

Basically you fill the washer tub with water, adding your soap of choice (Orvis is good), stop the machine, add your quilt, and agitate by hand -- pushing down on the quilt with your hands. When done with the washing, advance the machine to spin (spinning is safe for a quilt), fill with rinse water, stop the machine again, and hand agitate. Rinse as many times as necessary to get all the soap out. After final spin, immediately dry the quilt flat on a large sheet. Fans will speed drying.

You do not want to hang a wet quilt on a clothesline, as the water weight put enormous stress on the quilting stitches. You also do not want to allow damp fabric to lay against itself for any length of time (to prevent dye transfer).

thanks for the tip, grammy17.
and thanks for the machine version prism99

Beautiul quilt!

Wow! I just noticed the backing on the antique quilt is red. You might want to dampen a piece of white fabric and rub it gently on that red backing to see if any dye transfers. If it does transfer, you want to be sure to use a *lot* of water and Synthrapol when you wash it so that any loose dye particles are sufficiently diluted in the water (and Synthrapol keeps those dye particles suspended so they are less likely to settle in other fabrics). Also be prepared to do several washes and rinses until the water is clear.

Thank you for the great tip!