Do you have any projects that you've been wanting to start, but have been languishing in a closet or cupboard still waiting?
I've had one of those projects that I've finally started after many, many years of waiting. Below is a scan of a photo of the originally tied quilt that I'm currently restoring. My husband and son are holding it up, and I wanted a photo of the "before" quilt.
I believe the quilt may have been made by my Great Aunt Agnes, my maternal grandmother's oldest sister, who was born in 1886. The fabrics are vintage turn of the century. My plan was, and is now in motion, to remove the ties, and replace the fabrics which are falling apart, or have holes in them, with vintage fabrics from the same era.
So, about a month ago, a began replacing some of the blocks or pieces in the quilt. I had already removed the ties and laundered the top. There was a time when I was seriously contemplating becoming a quilt appraiser, and I had done a lot of research into the quilts and fabrics of different time periods. Along with that research, I had purchased some vintage fabrics for research purposes. I decided to go ahead and use those turn of the century (1890-1910) fabrics I had collected for the quilt repair.
If the entire block needs to be replaced, I remove the stitching around the block. And luckily the quilt is hand pieced, which makes the removal fairly easy:
Next, I press the seam allowance under, using my Clover mini iron:
After pressing, I roughly measure the area for an approximate block size. The stitching and assembly of the quilt is very primitive, so the blocks are never quite square, but the blocks are about 7" finished.
I use my vintage fabric scraps to piece together a 7 1/2" unfinished "Economy Patch" block. This quilt top is comprised of the typical turn of the century fabrics in cadet blues, indigoes, blacks, scarlet and turkey reds, pinks, shirtings, plaids, and even a Garibaldi print.
After piecing my block, I use a Chacoliner to mark a temporary 1/4" seam allowance on the block:
I pin the pressed edges of the quilt top, where the original block was removed, onto the new quilt block, centering the block as best I can. Typically one side is 7" finished, while the other side is maybe 6 1/2" or 6 3/4".
I then applique the top edges to the new block.
Luckily some blocks only need the center square replaced:
As I was working on replacing blocks and patches, I realized that there were more that needed replacing than I originally thought. I learned that holding the top up to the light revealed holes that weren't readily apparent without that light source. I realized that I was going to need more vintage fabrics for the repair. Luckily, I was able to order some shirtings, and pinks from a vendor on Etsy. Most of these fabrics I purchased were obviously pieces from formerly tied quilt tops, which is fine, but I needed to, again, use the light to reveal holes. Many of the holes were from the "ties" that were removed. For the fabric pieces, I laid each piece on my lightbox, and on the wrong side of the fabric, I drew around each hole with a pencil. That way I knew the areas of the fabric to avoid when cutting my pieces.
Here was the replacement block I made today:
And here are some replacement blocks already added to the quilt top:
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