What will happen to the butterflies when washed?
 

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When she was nine, the mother of my college friend hand-stitched a blanket stitch around butterflies and flowers to appliqué them on a large 18” square. The butterflies and flowers are not fused nor are the edges turned under, so I guess this is raw edge with hand-stitched blanket stitch appliqué.
My friend found green fabric for me to sash the blocks and border the quilt. We hand quilted around the butterflies and flowers. Now it really needs to be washed before she gives this quilt to her daughter and grand daughter.
Were quilts in the past appliqued this way? What will happen to the applique butterflies and flowers when washed?

This method is very common in old quilts. I suppose it may fray after repeated washings but it may not, depending on the width of the seam allowance.

The best way to wash that quilt is to hand wash it gently. Use one of the quilt soaps like Orvis. Fill your kitchen sink with lightly slightly warm water. Let it soak for a few minutes and rinse. Let it air dry. If you put it into the washing machine it will shred. The dryer won't do it any good either. Good luck. Nice quilt.

most machines have delicate wash these days. or just soaking and spinning out will help clean it. then lay it out to dry and later do an air dry in dryer to fluff it a bit before wrinkles set in. Lovely quilt!!

More than likely it will fray and pull away. I made a butterfly one with the raw edge, after seeing how it was falling apart I sewed around all of the raw edges again. I will never do raw edges again. I now use tricot and turn the edges, press it down so it sticks in place and sew, works better.

Would using a thin line of fray check be an option?

No, fray check dries stiff.

I thought if you ironed fray check it would remain soft

my DM did raw edge all the time and her quilts I have have been washed many times and all is well with them.

I have a butterfly quilt I hand quilted and raw edge appliqued in 1973 and it has held up very well.