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!

June 6, 2021 at 10:23 AM

Downsizing

This was my fabric stash once I sorted everything -- 22 full bins. I spent a day taking out and boxing up what I could part with, with the goal of trying to reduce it by half, so I'd have 11 bins. I was very strict with myself, and removed everything that for one reason or another I was sure I wouldn't be able to use. This is what I ended up with -- 12 bins of fabric that I'm keeping. It's not quite half, but close enough. Half of what I took out went to a local quilter friend, a school and Goodwill. These four tightly-packed bins will be going to the local quilting guild once I make arrangements with them for a drop-off place. I am relieved and a little sad and now determined to control my impulses to thrift more fabric. I don't want to do this again, so until I use up six bins, I can't for any reason bring any new fabric into the house.

In Progress

I promised myself I would show you the good, bad and ugly of my cleaning this year. This is what it looks like when you dump thirty years' worth of stashed fabric on the floor -- and oy, what a pain in the butt to pick up again! This is what it looks like after it's been sorted, folded and placed in containers, which took me about a week. Now the hard part is to downsize my stash by at least half, I think (that's my goal, anyway.) I've already e-mailed the president of the local quilting guild, a local friend who is a quilter, and a public school art teacher I know to see if I can donate some of the excess to them. The rest will go to Goodwill. Already I've reduced my vintage textiles from two bins to one, and my scraps from three bins to one. It's probably the hardest clean-out I've done, which is why I saved it until last. I know I have too much fabric, more than I can use in my lifetime -- but at the same time, I love it. So I have to

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.

Valerean

Search This Blog