DeltaMS

I purchased an old quilt top at an estate sale and would like to finish it. It is a 6 pointed star -hand pieced- and all the pieces are diamonds. My question is how should I finish the edges? They are uneven,[ATTACH=CONFIG]564969[/ATTACH] and I am not sure how to finish this part. I am guessing the stars are from 1930's fabric with a poisoned green background fabric. Any suggestions on what color I should use for the binding?

quiltsRfun

Will you be adding a border. Maybe you could fill in the gaps with triangles the same color as the border.

Tropical

I would probably choose a blue since each star has some blue in it. Nice recovery of an old quilt.

quiltingshorttimer

I'd use bias binding and follow those edges--maybe a lighter green or sky blue (30's colors??)

Bree123

I think it may actually be from the 40's. Red, yellow & blue fabrics were very popular in the 40's. Possibly a combination of 30's & 40's fabrics. As others have said, you could either piece a border... or you could appliqué the entire top to a piece of quality muslin to add stability.
I did a similar quilt in repro fabrics. I bound it in Moda "30's Yellow". I never thought that would work, but it really tied everything together. Many people consider yellow a neutral, so I guess that kind of makes sense.

Tartan

Chances of matching the green to fill in the spaces are pretty slim. You could fill in the spaces with reproduction bubble gum pink or turquoise fabric or applique the existing edge to a border strip . I would bind it with the same fabric you use to fill in the spaces or the strip you applique the edge onto.

117becca

Here's a border that I put on a quilt w/ a similar pattern. You can take the quilt to a quilt store and see what you can find to coordinate w/ the quilt.

Beautiful!!! I love finishing old quilts and always wish they could talk and tell their stories!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]564975[/ATTACH]

117becca

I had to think, because its been about 5 or 6 yrs since i've completed this quilt. On the picture below, I drew the black lines to show the pieces sewn together to form the border. While this quilt has the diamonds arranged a bit different than in your quilt, they're the same.

They way that I figured the trapezoid pieces was that I played w/ the diamond shapes, laying them on top of one another to get the right size. Then I cut them out of the finish fabric.

I did the same thing playing w/ the diamond shapes to figure out the pattern piece for the pentagon shape pieces on the side.

Took a bit of work, thinking, and trial and error, but once i got it, I absolutely loved it.



[ATTACH=CONFIG]564976[/ATTACH]

DeltaMS

I have never thought about appliquéing to another piece of fabric. This might help with the corners since they are not straight. Could I not use something besides muslin and let that be the border of the quilt and then bind it? You have really given me something to think about. How would you do the edges? Needle turn them or do a satin stitch to cover up the raw edge?

DeltaMS

I am afraid I would never get the diamonds to be the right size. It would certainly look its best if I were to do that. I normally only piece tops that I have cut with my rotary cutter. I have had no practice using templets. I might need to challenged myself.