Saving a Beloved Quilt

 Today I will be busy packing up for a retreat starting tonight after dinner until Sunday after lunch. How fun! And it’s only a few kilometres from home, so if I forget anything, I can zip home and be back in a flash!

On my To-Do Tuesday list #6 I showed my completed Zipper top and listed one of my goals was to write a quick tutorial on the alternate assembly method for the Zip block. Well, today my girlfriend shared a picture of the Zip block from Pinterest and I followed the link to Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and lo and behold, she already wrote a tutorial using jellyroll strips and the quick piecing method that I used on my blocks! So, what do you know, procrastination has paid off, and I don’t need to re-invent the wheel! So, if you were waiting for the tutorial, check out the tutorial at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. It’s a great blog for ideas, tutorials and inspiration! 

So, with that out of the way, I thought I would share the 1980’s quilt (dare I say vintage?) I brought home from the Repair Café to see if I could fix it. I wrote about it and shared a snapshot of it here. (Warning, I'm sharing lots of pictures. If the picture is good, my husband took it. If its crappy, I took it. Ha ha! 😊

When the gentleman brought in his much-loved quilt, that obviously meant a lot to him, he was so hopeful we could fix it at the event. The quilt is beautiful and hand-quilted, but with so much damage and wear, I just had to try. My goal was to do my best to breathe life into it so he could go on to enjoy it for another few/five years at least.

When I got the quilt home, I laid it out on the lawn to get a better look at it and take pictures of the damage. I quickly realized that the quilt needed more than a new binding, parts of it were extensively worn and this was going to be a major salvage (selvedge?) operation.

Two of the borders were in very rough shape, completely worn away on the edge.

On closer inspection, I discovered the backing fabric was also disintegrating quite badly. Hmm. Could I save it?

This is what I did…

I laid out and straightened the side of quilt, and laid my 6 ½” x 24” on the border, lining up to the inside of the quilt and measured out to see what the widest part of useable border was so I would remove only what I absolutely had to. I took a deep breath, and cut off the worn off edge (cutting through the hand quilting (eep!!) until I was left with a useable edge. I repeated the same thing on the opposite side. I cut the worn binding off the two side borders but I did not remove any width from them as they did not show damage.

With that out of the way, I went about putting pins in all the holes I found so I could see what I was facing. I decided rather than hand-stitching the holes closed (a daunting task for me), I would go with visible mending and cover the holes with hearts. I needed fabric that would blend. I needed “vintage” fabrics (I can’t believe I am saying the ‘80s is vintage!). I dug through 6-8 boxes of fabrics/scraps from our community quilts stash and found some reds I thought would work.

I printed off a heart shape from the internet in two sizes, and then started tracing hearts on Wonder Under 805. And cut out hearts.

And I found more holes, and I traced more hearts.

And I found more holes…and I traced more hearts.

Did I mention I had a helper?

I had to add some fabric along part of the edge to give it more strength as I was afraid the delicate fabric wouldn’t be strong enough to hold the binding.

Once I had the hearts pressed to the top, I machine blanket-stitched around each heart. 

Yes, I turned that quilt around many, many times!!

And as I was sewing the hearts on, I kept discovering more holes in the patchwork. I added more hearts. 

I finally just had to draw a line in the sand, and say, enough. The holes in the patchwork were minor and weren’t impacting the integrity of the quilt. Now I turned my attention to the damage on the back of the quilt borders.

I pinned a wide strip of white-on-white fabric, using the edge of the patchwork as a guide, and then stitched it from the front, following the edge seam of the pieced top. I hand stitched the edges that extended into the side borders so it doesn't show the seamline on the front.

I found this cute fabric that was perfect for the binding.

All told, I sewed 33 hearts on the quilt, added backing fabric, and new binding. I estimate I spent 15-20 hours working on it. I did not do this for money. I volunteered to do it. I make quilts and donate them to the community, so why not try something new, give back to the community and make someone’s day?

When I presented him with his quilt, he was so happy and pleased. It made my day that he will be able to keep using this special quilt made by his grandma. When he asked me if he could pay something, I declined. My one ask to him was that he “Pay it Forward”.

Have a lovely day!

Linking up to: 

My Quilt Infatuation Needle and Thread Thursday 

TGIFF 

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop Whoop!) 

Alycia Quilts Finished or Not Friday