Repair Work

A couple of weeks ago, a man called, saying that he had bought an old quilt. He said that it was in fair shape, but some of the squares had disintegrated. I don't normally take on this sort of project, but he assured me that only a few pieces needed to be replaced and it wasn't a fancy quilt.  He just wanted to have it cleaned and lay it across a spare bed.  So, I said to bring it over and let me take a look.

I am not any kind of expert in dating quilts.  All I can say is that it is old.  At least depression era.  The blocks are sixteen-patches, but there is no rhyme or reason to the color placement.  Someone was just using what they had. The back is pieced from feed sacks, very coarse fabric.

Here is the sort of damage I found.

The first thing I did was round up some fabrics that would blend with what was already in the quilt.  It's obviously a a utility quilt, made of all sorts of scraps.  I chose a few solids and small prints, then I tea dyed them.

There was not a square on the quilt that was a square!!!  Actually, that made my work easier, because I could extend a patch a bit beyond a seam line if necessary.  I ended up replacing 10 squares, two because they were badly stained and the others were tattered.

After I finished the applique, I went back and added quilting just through the patch and the batting, not all the way to the back side.  I found a couple of places that the original quilter had missed and added lines of stitching there, too.

I called Mr. Bryan this morning to tell him that his quilt is ready.  I think he'll be pleased.  I enjoyed working on this old quilt, but sure wish it had a label. REMEMBER to put your name and at least the year on any quilt you make. Fancy or not, years from now people won't have to wonder about it!