Quilt Repair

I've been meaning to share this for a while, and kept forgetting -- so I'm doing it today because it's been on my mind!

More than two posts ago, I had a quilt repair adventure.

I confess I don't do much quilt repair -- including of the quilts given me by my late Aunt Alice Rennie (1907-2002) and her mother, my paternal grandmother, Maria Flood McIntosh Rennie (1875-1961).  

I have several quilts Aunt Alice made for me as a young woman -- a Log Cabin, an embroidered quilt (from a kit with printed fabric), a Dresden Plate and others.  One is a throw-sized piece, complete with Prairie Points on 3 sides, that is (of course!) in pristine condition!  It will outlive the planet, I expect!  Another is a double-bed quilt she made for my husband and me after I supplied a great deal of the fabric -- scraps left over from my making garments for me and my daughter back in the 1980s -- a mix of cottons and poly-cottons.

As a girl, Aunt Alice made a coverlet in red and white (a coverlet is a quilt without batting) which I've given to my daughter, and later in life, my husband and I commissioned her to make a double wedding ring quilt for my parents (2nd marriage for each), for their 25th wedding anniversary (1982) -- I got that one back when my mother moved into assisted living and no longer owned a double bed (1997 or so).

I also have a quilt that Grandma Rennie made for me that was given me just before she died, and I have something even more precious: a crazy quilt block she did as a 'practice piece' in 1894.  She dated it, and embroidered her maiden name initials (she was about 17 at the time, and didn't marry my grandfather until 1903).  I've had it 'preservation framed' and it hangs in my sewing studio.  The one she made for me when I was a girl has some holes in it; I don't use it, but keep it safe in my linen closet; it's a pink-and-white nine-patch variation.

I have repaired none of these, although many of them have worn pieces or bindings with worn spots.  I haven't dared.

That said, back in May the owner of our hamlet's local "vintage market" approached me with a quilt someone had dropped off to sell.  It really wasn't sale-able -- it was stained as well as worn -- but she liked it and decided that if the worn blocks could be repaired or replaced, she'd keep it for herself.

When I examined it, I came to the conclusion that the top was made long before it was sandwiched and quilted.  The top's fabrics were cotton, maybe from the thirties or forties or later but definitely before the age of synthetics.  The blocks were a good size -- 12" or so, finished; they were 9-patch blocks composed of half-square triangles, lights and darks.  There was wide sashing between them, and a wide border -- all of which was a white, somewhat heavier fabric -- possibly an old sheet.

The top was enveloped over white polyester batting.  The batting had thin and lumpy spots but the backing was pristine -- and the quilt was tied with acrylic yarn at the corner of each block and in the centre square of each 9-patch; in other words, very sparsely quilted.

It reminded me of stories of an old quilt top done by a grandma, found by a young grand-daughter or great-gran, maybe around age 12 or so, who asked Mom to help her quilt it, sometime in the late nineteen-sixties or early seventies when that awful batting was becoming popular.

I told the market owner I would do my best to repair it.  She supplied me with some old gingham aprons to cut up for the blocks, and off I went.

There were 3 blocks that had completely disintegrated -- two in one row and one on the other end of the quilt.  I began by taking out the first and making a sample, which proved to be too small. (I can do math but I muffed it this time!)  

First old block removed

Two more old blocks removed

And here are the new blocks:

First new block -- both from aprons
provided by the shop owner.

Second new block - the floral is from my stash 
of inherited cotton fabric and the
green is from one of the aprons mentioned above.

Third new block - my recycled fabric
The plaid is from an old shirt; the other
from donated cotton fabric.

I had to use a combination of machine stitching and hand-stitching to insert them into the top, in order to avoid taking the entire thing apart altogether!  There were inset seams that I could only do by hand!

There were other blocks that needed hand-done repairs because seams were split.  Can you tell where the split seams were?

All in all, the work took about 15 hours to complete, not counting the new block I made that was too small.  I took all the materials -- including that block -- back to my client, and we negotiated a price for my time.

It was an interesting adventure, but I'll admit I don't want to make it a focus of my quilting going forward! 

Since my last post, I've finished another top for a give-away throw quilt, and have made progress on my socks and cross-stitch, but I'll leave that for another day.  In the garden there's been a harvest of a bumper crop of raspberries, with more waiting in the wings, so I'll leave it there.

Over at Off the Wall Friday, Nina Marie has finished her first hooked rug -- a new-to-her passion I share, as you well know, Gentle Readers.  So...have a great rest of your weekend and off you go -- to knit, to crochet, to quilt, to cut fabric, to hook fabric and yarn, to stitch into linen or aida cloth, to repair quilts or make new ones -- wherever your hands and your mind and your fancy take you!

Until next time...a bientot!