Repair & Restore: Giving Old Quilts New Life
Before an old quilt is repaired and restored, I study the quilt, checking the sections of the quilt that need repair.This Monkey Wrench quilt needs to be repaired next. Before I begin, I examine borders, binding, and patches for tears and worn portions. Examining the quilt in its entirety helps to understand the amount of work involved. Often, there are sections of the quilt that are more worn than others. There may also be one particular fabric that has not performed well throughout the quilt.
Before I begin the task of giving an old quilt new life, the approximate date of the quilt needs to be determined. This will help when sorting through my collection of old cotton fabrics. I will choose fabrics from the same era of the quilt being repaired or restored, and knowing the approximate date of the quilt will be helpful when choosing whether or not certain antique cottons can be used or not.
One quilt that I purchased to repair was a Jacob’s Ladder quilt. I loved the colorplay of the patchwork in this scrappy quilt and the quilt was cheerful to me. This Jacobs Ladder is dated circa 1945 and repairs to this quilt included a new binding and 12 new patches appliqued over the old, worn triangles. This twin size quilt was a pleasure to repair, and after giving this old quilt new life, I have added the quilt to my personal quilt collection.
Pinwheels
A very special quilt that I restored came from my husband’s grandmother. She made three matching scrap Pinwheel quilts for her grandchildren during the 1950s, and one needed to be repaired. The task was a large one due to the wadded batting that needed to be completely removed. Since the quilt was hand-tied the job was not too difficult — but the entire quilt had to be disassembled to its separate layers. A new backing replaced the tattered, old blue cotton fabric, but care was taken to locate the same solid cornflower blue fabric. This old quilt received a new life with the repairs made and I was very happy to have “shared stitches” with the Shaw’s grandmother than I never knew.
Since the Monkey Wrench quilt is my next quilt to repair, I have begun to study the quilt. The quilt has several blocks with badly worn cotton fabric. To make the repair to this block, new triangles will be appliqued over the old worn triangle patches. This will not only keep the quilt intact for durability, but will not disturb the original quilt. Repairing patchwork with appliqued patchwork on top ensures integrity for the quilt being repaired.
I bought this Monkey Wrench quilt because the patchwork and design layout were simple and the overall colors are so autumnal. I especially loved how the quilter wasn’t afraid to use the double-pink calicos with the orange calico in this quilt.
When I began looking at the Monkey Wrench quilt to see how much repair work was involved, I discovered that there is another quilt inside this quilt. I am unsure what patchwork pattern was used in the interior quilt, but when looking into several of the block sections where fabric has worn out, it is very apparent that a double-pink geometric print has been used throughout the interior quilt. Before this quilt is repaired, a great deal of time will be spent trying to see what lies inside this quilt.
Somewhere another quilter gave an old quilt new life. How ironic that I will give this old ‘new’ quilt new life now…..
April 7, 2007 at 12:15 am
I have been married for 25 years, one of my wedding gifts was a quilt. Almost everyone in my husbands family and my family stitched a square about something of our childhood. My mother-in-law and her quilt group quilted it and it was just beautiful, needless to say I did not save it we used it all the time. I did not realize how important this quilt is. It is our life. I want to pass it down to my children who have used it their whole life but it is worn and torn. I need to find someone to restore my heirloom.
August 19, 2007 at 1:40 am
nice work!
August 23, 2007 at 11:41 am
Do you know of any books currently in print and available on restoring old quilts? I have several from about 100 years ago I intend to fix. I don’t have a source for period fabrics but have studied some books showing quilts of that era and will have to use current fabrics that resemble the period ones. I found several books on Amazon but they were very expensive, must be out of print. Any information you can send will be appreciated. Thank you. Carolyn
October 30, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Does anyone know how to get mildew out of old quilts? A friend of mine has an antique quilt that was stored in a plastic bag. I have not seen the quilt, but understand that it has mildew in several places.
January 17, 2008 at 12:14 am
A couple of things come to mind here. First, I recommend a book, Quilt Restoration: A Practical Guide by Camille Dalphond Cognac. It features repairs you can do at home on quilts that are not important pieces or that are so complicated they need the tender touch of a conservator. Second, google Nancy Kirk and quilt. She teaches workshops on repair that deal primarily with silks like crazies but the techniques are pretty much the same. She does videos for purchase also, if you can’t make it to her sessions. Third: There is NO way to remove mildew. It is a live organism that does its damage on a cellular level of the fibers. The only thing you can do is stop the spead to other parts of the quilt by getting it out of the plastic and drying it. Most of the time the damage is not widespread and can be replaced with fabric ‘of the period’ when the quilt was made. If your friend can’t/won’t do that then she should seek the advice of a conservator. Happy repairing. jt textile historian