Unexpected surprise in a vintage quilt
 

I believe I bought this at a thrift store, probably 20 or 30 years ago. Here's a picture of the front.
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Here's a close up of some of the fabrics. Not very exciting, right? Machine sewn and tied, not even quilted. Yawn. But, I think that's Bambi, isn't it? So, we know the replacement top was made after August, 1942.
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It has gotten more and more tattered over the years. I admit, I really didn't know anything about taking care of a quilt, I just washed it and hand-dried it. The back was really faded and nothing special at all. The cotton batting was all gross and lumpy.The other day, I was looking at it, and noticed that there was another top inside it! And it is hand sewn. Its really tattered, the fabrics are so old they are really falling apart. I took it apart, and here is that brave, old quilt inside
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Do you know what this pattern is? Here's a kinda close-up.
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It also had a piece of an old blanket in it, and a piece of it was cut off and sewn on. So, I'm taking the sewn on part apart, and using the pieces to patch the old girl.

The closeups are a bit blurry, but I believe the inside quilt top dates to around 1880. I think I see indigoes, cranberry reds, and mourning prints. Great find!

The pattern is Ocean Waves.

https://www.pinterest.com/nanook17/q...waves/?lp=true

Oh my goodness, what a lovely surprise.....how lucky are you!

The prints with black in them are the most fragile. One block that had a black dot on the fabric has a hole now, with a little bit of black around the edges of the hole. Isn't this indicative of some sort of dye? It seems like I've read something about that, but I can't remember what it was.

Robs great grandmother loved to piece, hated to quilt. I inherited a lumpy like yours, tied, with really heavy insides.
It was in tatters when I got it more because it wasn't tied close enough and the insides shifted with every wash and use.

I spent a couple of months disassembling, saved the best pieces and backed each piece with very thin interfacing, then stitched it back together.
I love this little quilt.

I inherited something similar (not pattern-wise). I'm not sure if it is hand-pieced, or machine pieced, but I am sure that it is at least 100 years old. It is tied, and the cotton batting is lumpy, extremely heavy, and in general a total mess. Surprisingly, the quilt top itself appears to be in very good condition. It has a pieced back, and was a "birthed" quilt (I think that's the correct terminology). There is no binding. I'm relatively sure that I can take this quilt apart without damaging it, and replace the batting with something that is NOT going to become lumpy and so very heavy. I would then propose hand-quilting it to preserve its character. I solicit and will welcome suggestions on this! It is really hard to believe the batting is so very heavy, except that those long winters in Kansas and Oklahoma are very, very cold. I do not have photos taken of the quilt, but will do so and post them at my earliest opportunity. Thank you.

You ladies are so lucky to have these older quilts.

If I remember correctly, some vintage dyes with some sort of metal content will eventually disintegrate.