Sadheart

I have been asked to take a tied quilt apart replace the
batting with wool blankets. How would this look?
Do army wool blankets shrink? Haven't seen the quilt in
question yet. I was thinking of undoing binding on one
side. "Birthing it" so to speak.

Would this work? Then they want it retied.

pocoellie

Not all wool blankets are washable, but to answer your question, I made my granddaughter a quilt with a wool blanket and it washed just fine, but I ended up redoing the quilt simply because the quilt was so heavy. It was also tied. Personally, I don't like birthing the quilt, but tying is fine.

Stitchnripper

I haven't done it, but a quilting friend has. She washed the blankets first and then used them. She did SITD and was happy with the results. It all looked fine to me too. And she did it all on a featherweight.

Tartan

Some wool blankets shrink so I would wash first before using.

Holice

to heavy, to heavy, to heavy for me. Wonder why they want a wool blanket. Seem too hot for our pre heated homes and would be like sleeping under a sheet of plywood covered in flannel.

TanyaL

We use wool blankets on our beds because we keep our heat turned down low. I wash them all the time. I have washed wool army blankets. I would definitely wash that one. I think that I would make the quilt like a duvet cover and tie it all together.

ghostrider

I use wool blankets as 'batting' in wool quilts all the time, both tied and quilted. They work just fine and are no heavier than three wool blankets on a bed...something found often in this neck of the woods. Sleeping heat is well below daytime heat for many reasons.

I would NOT use the envelope method (aka 'birthing') however. Blankets do not have the same stretch as batting so you may run into problems after turning. I just do the same as any other quilt with mine.

Gladys

Ohhh sounds wonderful to me. The heavier the quilt the more I like it. I keep my heat at 60 degrees at night when sleeping so I totally understand. My grandmother and great aunt used wool blankets too for batting and they often used soft blankets for the backing. I still sleep under them. They wash fine.

barny

We were raised in Indiana in the late 20's with a coal stove. No heat in any bedroom either. We slept on a featherbed and covered up with a featherbed. Oh, boy. We slept warm as toast. We also had wool covers.

ckcowl

wash the wool blankets first---they work great for battings- kind of bulky for a (birthed) method construction- but you could probably trim the wool blanket close to the stitching before turning to help cut that down- personally i would put it together (normally) - tie it if that 's the method to be used- or quilt it, which ever- then bind it.
i have a couple quilts my grandmother made 40+ years ago with wool blankets (army blankets) for batting- they have held up so well-one i keep in my car in the winter time (the just in case-emergency blanket) one side is flannel- the other side is homespuns it is great! not too heavy at all---just right---