OK, the story is my mom's grandmother made this quilt top, passed it down to her daughter, who passed it down to hers who gave it to hers (my awesome sis) who finished it! In 1988.

Go Renee!

I'll check to get more of the story.

PS. see that brown stuff on there? She dutifully wrapped it in that acid free paper and every time she takes it out to refold it, it gets bigger!! :evil: :cry: Any ideas for cleaning it up or stopping it from getting bigger?

Now that's a family treasure! It's beautiful! Sorry, I don't have any advice about the stain.

How cool Celeste!!! What an awesome family treasure. I don't have any suggestions on the stain either, do you know what it's from? Regardless, its a beautiful piece!!! Lets not call it a stain, lets call it a historic characteristic :-)

what a great story!! So, I am interested in how many years are involved w/the generations starting w/grandma??There has to be a guess of years. And, someone is adding that to the label on the back!:)))Some day that is one we'll prob hear about in a museum walk:))

I know what I'd do if it were mine...is Tide detergent put in a tub of warm (ever so slightly)water...let it soak then gently swish it while there to stir dust and dirt out. Most detergents will soak out a stain in 24hrs...then rinse, rinse...squeeze the excess water out, roll into a clothes basket...hang out on a line to dry. And, I usually hang my larger ones on more then 1 line to take the weight off. The sun will usually remove the slight marking you will still see at this point. I wash many old linens...several quilts, etc. I am not a professional...just a stain hater!:))There is a newer quilt wash to wash and help remove old stains out...I can't remember the name of it, but, wasn't impressed when I used it. I felt the detergent worked just as well w/o the cost.Also...I have heard the stains like these come from storing the object in wood of some type......just my 2 cents...Skeat

i'd be afraid to put a whole quilt of that age into a tub of water unless i knew it had already been washed at least a few times. one or more of the colored fabrics might run.

instead, i'd use a Stain Stick, Tide Pen, or similar product and apply it only to the stained area. rinse only where you applied.

i used oxyclean to remove similar mystery stains from a friend's ancient quilt. use it only if the tide doesn't work. use the powdered kind and make a paste. apply it carefully and only to the stained area. unless you know the colors won't run, be careful to rinse only the pasted spots.

good luck. that's a beautiful quilt. :P

Great quilt. Lucky to have a quilt passed down. Check with your dry cleaners to see if they do quilts not all do but some.

I would go witht he detergent or woolite with one of those color grabber things it with the quilt it should work great. Good luck and the quilt is very pretty.

Beautiful quilt and a great job by all. I would contact a museum or a gal that does apprasials on old quilts before you try to wash or clean it. An appraier can tell you the age of the fabric and can tell you howe to care for it. This is on advice from Linda Honsberger, she is a certified appraiser. She is out the Racine, Wisconsin area.
Hope this is of some help to you. Pat

Wow what a treasure that quilt is. I hope you can get the stain out!!!

Oh my. Talk about a treasure.... Its beautiful. No help on the stain tho. sorry

That is beautiful Celeste. What shape is used to make up those flowers? At first I thought they were Hexagons you know like a Grandmother's garden... But no, and then I thought "triangles" but that's not right either, are they 60 degree diamonds?

VINEGAR! Soak the entire thing in Vinegar, straight. You can get a gallon pretty cheap at the gocery store. Then soak it. Every half hour to an hour move it around in the bucket.

I had a crazy age stain on some very special fabric and I was amazed by how well it worked. Just last night I was looking at it in the quilt I made with it and was astonished at how it looked like "new!" The vinegar will get "groady" like oily tea, but pay it no mind, as it wont remanifest on the quilt, you'll just have to wash your hands with dishsoap (or Renee will) after every swishing.

Wow, amazing to have a real heirloom quilt. Its beautiful!

Gorgeous quilt and a great job by your sister! What a treasure to have. I have some fourth generation quilts and they mean everything to me!

The vinegar rinse I've always used is one part white vinegar to four parts warm water, not straight vinegar. Works like a charm to remove yellowing from age or storage issues.

How pretty! I think those stars twinkle too! I have never seen that pattern before-reminds me of Grandmothers's Flower Garden with diamonds instead of hexagons.

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!!! I am so drawn to these old quilts.

If you would not mind---
I was so impressed with this beauty,having never seen this particular pattern before in this setting, I went looking it up in Barbarab Brackman's Blockbase.

There is not a lot of info there but I did find it!!! The name of this is :
Glory Star
Published in the KC Star in 1933.
That is all the info provided in BB Blockbase.

Riley

Here it is as a jpeg file, Riley. Good detective work! I just modified your file...hope you don't mind.

Wow! This is so awesome!!!!

Ahhh! 60 degree diamonds! I was just planning a quilt like the interior star just last night! :D

I don't see the brown stain, but if you take it to your drycleaner and ask them to "soak it in sodiumporborate" it may come out.

If it is a yellowish brown spot, it may be a humidity stain which will not come out. I was in the dryclean business for over 25 years.

It's on the bottom near the right side in the photo. That's the reason I said straight vinegar. If you were just hoping to lighten the age out a bit I would say the dilute wash, but I'm certain you'd both really like the stains out.

DH says the stain is able to grow because it's organic, and you can stop it from growing with oxiclean and it could take it out as well. My hesitation with that is that stuff really likes hot water, but quilts not so much... He also says if you try the vinegar it wont "set" the stain. So it would be okay to try it first and then try something else, as it wouldn't make the stains any harder to get out.

Oh it's only in the first photo, if someone is looking for it. Truly a beautiful quilt. Sure would be nice for it to be clean. :)

I thought that I had seen on a Simply Quilts episode where one of her guests soaked vintage linens in buttermilk to remove brown stains.

That is stunning glad it got done....as for the stain....I watched a program years ago and the lady swore by this......equal parts of biz....ivory dish soap......hot water as hot as possible let soak.......rinse and keep doing this till stain comes out.....she used it on antique wedding dresses

I had something with a water stain similar to what yours looks like and by golly it cleaned it...... Good luck....I see you have many helpful hints and mine is a little late but you never know it might help someone......

I think the quilt is absolutely gorgeous!! What a precious family heirloom. I hope you are able to remove the stain. Let us know what, if anything, works

I washed Dresden Plate blocks that weren't taht old, but anyway washed them in 1 cup vinegar to 4 c water. They had brown age spots on them. Not all the stains came out, but they did look much better after washing. I think my blocks were at least 60 years old, maybe older. The problem I had was shrinkage. The centers shrank more than the "petals"

Beautiful quilt and even better story to go with it! I love the pattern...those stars do twinkle at you..must be grandma's wink. Hope you can take care of the stain..sounds like some great advice here. As for me...I don't have a clue what to do with it. Good luck...its a beauty!

Here's a little more information about the quilt from Renee.


Thanks that is a cool web posting you've got. A little more about
the quilt you probably know is that its pieces were made from flower
sacks according to mom. At that time flour was sold in a cotton bag
a lot like a pillow case, they made print on them because they saw
people were making clothing for their kids with them.


My Mom said Renee was looking for something to do for her high school sewing class and had all the confidence in the world that she could do this. It just took a few more years than she figured. She and my Mom got the fabric and batting, then Renee took it to school where the teacher helped her sandwhich it. I think that's all I know about this quilt. They have no idea about what year the quilt was started...

Can't wait to try the vinegar "treatment." Although, it does sound rather harsh. That's very acid. I have a brown stain on a crocheted child's cape (from the 70s) that formed after being in a cedar chest for some time. It wasn't wrapped, but it was away from the sides of the chest. I usually use Biz and Ivory Snow to soak out stains. Usually works very well (haven't tried it on the crocheted item).

WOW!!! I love to see old quilts, I have one that my great grandmother had pieced the top & for my bridal shower my grandmother finished it as her gift to me, I treasure it very much! My shower was 36 yrs ago. My Gram is still alive at the young age of 96 & still hand pieces quilts to keep her hands busy & lives in her own home. She is so blessed & Loved alot!I know you'll cherish your quilt :lol:

Colonial Williasmburg has a huge collection of old (dating back to
the 1800's) guilts...they maintain and clean these items when they
recieve them and store them also. they could probably tell you how
to wash it and store it. The phone number is 800-446-99240
This is a free number and ask to speak to someone in the textile
museum...They might me able to help you.

That is a great tip to call Colonial Williasmburg. I think the quilt is simply lovely and certainly does need to be preserved. Thanks for posting it.

Thanks! I've sent this on to my sis!

Stain or no stain....that quilt is beautiful!

Don't know about the stain but what a pretty quilt and great heirloom to have.

What a wonderful story. I hope you can successfully remove the stain. I have actually used Scrubbing Bubbles on clothing to remove stubborn stains and all else has failed, but I sure wouldn't want to recommend that and risk damaging the quilt. A treasure, for sure.

I agree 100%! And that's not a stain... it's a beauty mark (hey, if Cindy Crawford can work that angle, why not quilters? LOL!)!!! I love how bright & cheery it is!

Gorgeous quilt!

Quilt guild a bnch of years ago said use "naptha soap" (none of todays chemicals) that you can buy on the web or an old 5 and dime! Use a potatoe grater and then make a paste and they sugested in the bathtub or soak in the washer with no aggitation and the gentlest spin just enough to be able to get it out of the tub without all the water weight. Then hang it outside. These ladies were saving and recovering old linens and quilts old white gloves (a little easier to play with). Good luck that is an awesome quilt!

I use Retro Clean and it works wonders! I love it for vintage items. It safely removes all kinds of stains. Check out their website.