Skip to main content

Sad but Interesting

I purchased this antique double wedding ring quilt as a possible restoration project, but mainly to save it, as it was being sold as a cutter. Since it has no rips or frays it seemed like the thing to do, but now that it's arrived I'm pretty sure it's a lost cause.

The big problem with this quilt is color migration from two of the fabrics. The bright yellow and green solids have bled their dye all over the quilt, aka a quilter's worst nightmare.

From the dye migration spots it's possible that the quilt was subjected to damp while being stored. It's weird how only those two fabrics bled -- almost as if a chemical or bleach were responsible -- but I don't smell anything from the quilt itself.

It could be that the two fabrics simply weren't colorfast. There were no color catchers to throw in the wash back in the forties when this quilt was made. Shame.

There's no batting to the quilt, so the dye bleeds show plainly on the backing.

Despite the obvious problems the hand quilting on this piece is charming. I hate seeing something made with such love turn into a heartbreaker. Anyway, it's not a lost cause to me. I'm going to soak and spot treat it, wash the quilt, and see what happens (can't make it worse at this point.) Even if I can't correct the problems, I'm happy to keep it.

Comments

nightsmusic said…
I would try spraying some SpotShot on a clean, cotton rag and then pressing it to one of the bleed spots. That way, there's no overspray, but it might work for you. It's worked for me more times than I can count. Regardless of the bleed, it's a pretty quilt!

Popular posts from this blog

Goodwill Gamble #2 Arrives

My second Goodwill gamble arrived; this is one I paid ten bucks for last month. Just inside the lid was a big roll of plastic mesh that I think is for latchhook work. In the auction listing it looked like fabric to me, so that was unexpected. Someone at the seller's end was nice enough to put a note on this pinned fabric. I'll put on my gloves before I take it out to inspect it. The embroidered green fabric turned out to be 1-1/2 yards of sequinned and three-dimensional designer fabric. I'll guess this cost somewhere between $20.00 to $30.00 a yard, and it's in pristine condition. But here's a shot of everything in the lot, which is mostly crafty odds and ends with a small amount of cotton fabrics, a large amount of synethetic fabrics, and some other surprises. The original owner of these was probably a Catholic school teacher; these beads, crosses and medallions are the kind of rosary kits for kids to make at Sunday school or Bible camp (and s...

Love Means This

Invested in a couple of hand-dyed bundles from one of my favorite fabric artists. This one said "Make me into something for Valentine's Day." So I went for a quilted and embellished tote. I kept thinking about what love means to me as I worked on it. Here's the finished tote. Although I was tempted to embellish with beads and pins, I got sick and only felt well enough to do a little stitching every night. As I worked I thought about how often love seems disappointing to us, especially when it fails to live up to our expectations. But now that I've experienced love in many forms, I can say that it's made me a better person than I might have been without it. Love is a precious thing, and should be appreciated in all its forms. I am very grateful for the love of my guy, my child and my friends who have stuck with me all these years. That's you two, in case you're wondering. :) Also finally found something to do with a ve...

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.