Welcome to Treadlestitches!
Once upon a time, probably in the 1890s, someone made a quilt.
Eventually, the quilt found its way to an antique shop, where a person (who shall not be named) bought it. This person had good intentions. The quilt appeared dirty, so it was run through the washing machine. (If you are screaming "NO!" now, I hear you.) This is an object lesson in what NOT to do with an old quilt.
The fabric that seemed dirty may just have had an unstable dye, but the rough action of a modern washing machine was enough to shred it. The white you can see here is the batting showing through.
There was another problem with the madder red fabric used for the setting. Do you see the little holes in the segment above? For each small hole, there was once a dark brown figure. The dye for these figures has eaten through the cloth. The white is the batting showing through. It is not uncommon to find this in antique fabric, usually with dark brown or black figures.
The most amazing part of the quilt are the star blocks, which are in very good shape. These were good quality fabrics with stable dyes, closely quilted which always helps a quilt hold together longer.
The floral back is in good condition also.
What could be done? I could not fix this quilt for the person who bought it and washed it. It was very sad, really. I liked the design, and wondered what the quilt might have looked like when new.
Maybe it was something like this.
I made a replica of the top with 1800s reproduction fabrics.
This was more than 20 years ago, and the top was waiting patiently in the UFO closet for so long because I couldn't figure out how I was going to quilt it.
Right before the pandemic, I did something I should have done years earlier. I asked my friend, Joey Mahieu, a professional quilter, to quilt it for me. You can see her lovely work here. We weren't able to get together so I could pick up the quilt, and were reluctant to trust it to the mail, so we just waited until more contact was safe. Joey sent the quilt to me by her very kind nephew, and I am thrilled to have it home again, all quilted.
Here are the two of them together, the old one at the top of the photo and the new one at the bottom.
In other news, we are enjoying the beautiful summer weather.
and eating them! My baby buddy really needs a bib when eating the berries.
We're also having a wonderful time visiting with family. Little Buddy took this photo of his baby brother, me, and (hurray!) my mom, who braved the crazy airline chaos to visit us this week. Visiting with family is one of the greatest benefits of being fully vaccinated.
Little Buddy's photography skills are improving every day. He took this snap of the garden too.
Have a lovely week, and happy sewing!
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches
I loved that quilt & the baptist fan quilting really brought it all together! glad to have assisted in getting it done! Joey @Against The Grain Mineral Point WI
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Joey! Without you, the top would still be languishing in the closet! Your quilting really brings the top to life.
DeleteYour new quilt is beautiful! You've made a lovely reproduction. I've found that when I'm undecided about what quilting design to use, Baptist Fan is always a good choice. Happy stitching!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gretchen! Joey is so good at quilting Baptist fan designs, and she does it free-hand! I agree, it's always a good choice, especially with antique-looking quilts.
DeleteOh wow! So neat to have both quilts together and how great they look together. Great photography skills and a great photo. Enjoy those berries.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Deb! Little Buddy takes some really good pictures most of the time, but he has a fair share of thumbs on the screen and closeups of bugs. It's a process.
DeleteThat is so interesting to see the antique quilt and learn about what happened to it, Sylvia! I'm curious to know more about madder fabric - what does that term mean? Your reproduction of it is really beautiful, too. So glad your mom was able to travel and you're enjoying her visit!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Diann! Madder is a plant that was often used for dying wool and cotton fabric. It makes that reddish brown color, among others. The root was used to make the dye. By the time this quilt was made, fabric dyeing was done commercially, and eventually synthetic dyes were made which replaced the old vegetable dyes.
Deletethat is lovely and a great repo of the original - I am impressed
ReplyDeleteThanks, maggie! Making a copy might not be very creative, but making it helped me learn a lot. I would never have thought of making green stars with a pink background before.
DeleteWhat an awesome story!!! and so cool to have the *original* and the * reproduction* - wonderful!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Alycia! Even though my style is more scrappy, I learned a lot making the reproduction.
DeleteYour quilt looks amazing and the old one, is an antique. Remarkable that the two together looks almos
ReplyDeleteAlmost the same. Yet one was made so recently. A rare opportunity to showcase a work of beauty. Have a wonderful visit with your loved ones.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Maggie! We are enjoying every minute.
DeleteGreat story and great solution!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Angie! I guess I'm kinda of preserving the old one by making the new one.
DeleteSo sad about the old but it was very good of you to make another one. It truly is beautiful. How nice to visit with family.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susie H! We are so lucky to be able to visit together, after the last year or more. I hadn't seen my mom for two years until we met in the airport last week.
DeleteWell, golly, who DOESN'T need a bib when eating berries...
ReplyDeleteRight! LOL.
DeleteCongrats on getting your lovely quilt reproduction back from the quilter, Sylvia! I love the fact that you are letting Little Buddy practice his photography skills. He captured some beautiful shots!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joyful!
DeleteYou did a great job on replicating it, so pretty!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Vicki!
DeleteHow fun to recreate that older quilt. I love how you quilted it. Thanks for sharing with Oh Scrap!
ReplyDeleteThe credit for the quilting goes to my friend Joey, who is a professional long-arm quilter. I really love her free hand Baptist fan.
DeleteYou did a great job re-creating that antique quilt. Would it work to hand stitch a layer of tulle over the old quilt to prevent it from shredding any more? It still would be too fragile to use, but at least it would have some protection from handling and re-folding. OTOH, handling it that much to add the tulle would be far more than it would get with an occasional inspection and refolding.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gail! I have heard of using tulle, especially for crazy quilts where pieces may be falling off, and for fragile quilts with historic or artistic value. My quilt isn't shedding any more, even on the dark brown fabric, and honestly it would not be worth the time and effort to apply tulle to the damaged areas. I plan to re-bind it, and just display it folded once in a while.
DeleteWhat a wonderful job of recreation of the old quilt. I too am recreating one I found at a yard sale that once lived at a town where we are now living. I just need to get satisfied with the setting squares that I will put with the finished blocks. Sometimes though that can be rather taxing to one's mind, so it is in time out. Yes my quilts in progress get Time Out when my mind isn't behaving or I get stymied.
ReplyDeleteHi QuiltGranma! I would love to see your recreation in progress, it sounds intriguing. Time Out--that's perfect! I'm afraid I have a whole closet full of projects in time out.
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