Restoring a Vintage Quilt

In my quest to find the perfect bedspread for my mother-in-law's new room, I came across a beautiful handmade quilt in decidedly less-than-perfect condition from Red Brick Cottage on Etsy. This quilt had a lot more history than the others I had been looking at and was cheaper. According to the description, the quilt was "created in the 1920's by the aunt of a friend" of the seller. (The aunt had provided the date.)  I knew it would take a bit of work and love to get it back to working status.

Before

My new project arrived bundled in plastic via the mail. I was pretty excited to get started on it, but I took a few minutes to give it a checkup before launching in. Here are the problems I identified and the solutions.

Dirt on the Edge

 

 

 

Problem #1: Dirt

The seller was hesitant to clean the quilt, and for good reason. One edge was very fragile, the batting was clumping badly, and the colors might bleed. One edge was visibly soiled.

 

 

 

Hanging to Dry

Solution: 

I carefully removed the batting first. I planned to soak the quilt top and back in the tub in Oxi-Clean, but as soon as I got the water running, the color started running as well. I yanked the quilt out of the tub and put in in the washing machine on the hand-wash cycle with cold water. Then I hung it to dry on the shower curtain rod. Not all of the stains were removed, but at least now the quilt was clean enough to work on.

 

 

 

 Problem #2: Yarn Ties

At one point, this quilt was held together with knotted pieces of yarn. Over time, the yarn had disintegrated in places, which led to other problems.

 

Solution:

I carefully snipped off all the old yarn ties. After replacing the batting (which I will address next) I hand quilted the squares instead of using yarn ties. This was the most tedious part, but also the most fun. On the blue squares, I made a smaller blue square with matching thread. On the red parts, I used red thread to trace some of the designs that were printed on the fabric.

Problem #3: Batting

Because of the yarn tie problem, the batting had shifted considerably. Some places had no batting at all and others were up to two inches thick. Check out the pictures of the lumpiness (not the quilt is not on anything, it's that lumpy!). I decided to undo the stitching on one end of the quilt and discovered the batting was very old cotton with plant debris in it. New batting was a must.
 

Solution:

My Assistant

Well, I thought about trying to save the batting, but only for a little while. I then thought of using an old store-bought comforter I had as the batting. After doing some research, I discovered that several people were using this approach to save money on batting and to recycle old materials.  Since this quilt was very nearly a twin-size quilt, I used my twin-size comforter from college. Not only did it give added warmth and cheap batting, but the finished quilt underneath the quilt top provides a second layer of protection for the batting. 

I carefully cut the stitches on one edge of the quilt and placed my quilt inside like a duvet cover. Then I fixed the burst seams (which I will discuss next). After which, I trimmed off the excess of my quilt. Then I folded the edges of the red quilt under and pinned them with safety pins. In keeping with the hand-stitched nature of this quilt, I hand stitched the edge. 

As for the batting, it sadly didn't make it. No matter how much soaking and scrubbing I did, the water drained out brown. Pretty gross.

 

 

 

 

 

Problem #4: Burst Seams

One edge of the quilt had several seams that had come undone. At some point some of these had been repaired by hand with a large diagonal stitch.  

Solution: 

I removed the large stitches with a seam ripper and put in my own. Not a hard fix, just tedious.

 

 

 

 

Problem #5: Small Holes

There was one small hole on the back of the quilt that could be easily patched. The main problem was the area along the edge that I had cut. In several places, the fabric had worn out pretty badly.

 Solution: 

When I replaced the batting, I used more seam allowance on the edge. This meant that most of the rough spots were turned under, but I did lose about an inch on the length of the quilt. I thought it a fair compromise.

The small hole on the back I patched with a small piece of fabric.

 

 

 

Problem #6: Fading

Some of the squares, particularly in one area, have faded.
In the picture at right, see where the yarn tie has been removed.

Solution:

Short of replacing the faded areas, there was nothing more I could do. I decided to leave it since it would add to the character of the quilt and the fading was not too severe.

Problem #7: Irregularities

Based on what I've seen on this quilt, I'm guessing it was intended to be a daily use quilt and not a showpiece. The quilter who made it added strips between some of the squares to make the pieces fit. One end of the quilt has a large red strip. Most of the back is a pink fabric, but one on end is a large brown strip.

Solution:

None, really. This is where my favorite motto comes in handy: "It doesn't have to be perfect, it's Just Folk Art." All of the quirky details tell the story of the previous quilter and I, for one, don't want to remove that story. 




 
Now that you've seen all the issues that were remedied, check out some of the amazing things this quilt has going for it. First, it's been entirely stitched by hand. All the work I did was by hand as well.



There is no doubt this quilt is old, but I'm not entirely sure it's from the 1920s. I asked my mom, who thinks a few of the squares might be as new as the 1970s. I was guessing 1960s because of the red sections. What do you all think? Any clues would be greatly appreciated.

And finally, the reveal!

I have had fun working on this project. It had a lot of character and charm, I just added some stability and a lot of little stitches. I hope you will be inspired to take on a restoration project of your own.

A Room for a Special Lady

I think I may have the best mother-in-law in the world, just so you know. Well, for a while now we have been making plans for her to come stay with us for an extended period of time. We bought bunk beds for the two girls and moved them into a room together. Then we bought a TV for our spare room. We moved in a dresser and a small bookshelf. But the room looked really bare, more like a sad corner to shove an unwanted guest rather than a tribute to the wonderful woman who raised my husband.

I spent a few weeks collecting pictures of inspiration items on Pinterest and Etsy. I decided the room should be turquoise and red, her two favorite colors. Also, it should have a very international feeling since my mother-in-law is from Colombia. When we lived in New Mexico, she visited and absolutely loved the colors and the climate. Finally, I wanted the room to have some birds in it as well.

Okay, a disclaimer. I LOVE Etsy. I have a shop on Etsy (which I would love for you to visit, please). But I don't have an Etsy Budget most of the time. So here is how I made a nice room on a modest budget.

Step 1: Curtains

Probably the easiest thing to change about a room. We had some pretty lavender gingham curtains in there before, but lavender gingham would not match the international red and turquoise theme I was going for. I found these adorable Retro Plaid Curtains on Etsy. But the $29 price tag with $12 shipping was a bit much for me. I bought some plain dark red ones from the base for only $8 instead. Not as cool, but $33 in savings.

Step 2: Bedding

Restored Vintage Quilt

Since the bed is usually the largest piece of furniture in the room, changing it will make a big difference. I am still looking for an awesome daybed frame in my budget, but for now I wanted to change the bedding. Finding the right bedding for the right price was harder than you might think.  For $43 (not including shipping) I could get this Scroll Comforter Bedding Set from Target, but I thought it might look a little cheap. Then I found this Esprit Spice Bedding Set on Overstock, but it was only available in queen size and it was $110. Of course if I was going all out, I could spring for the Azaba Duvet Set from Anthropologie, which would be $422. Okay, so not really an option. Then I turned to Etsy where I looked for a simple red quilt twin-size quilt. Certainly more character, but not really much cheaper. Check out this amazing Red and Aqua Quilt from Etsy, but with a price tag of $295 with $20 shipping, it was a bit out of my budget. Saying we went with a handmade quilt, a dark red sheet set from Overstock ($29), and a turquoise skirt from Bed, Bath, and Beyond ($30), the total would be $374.

Then I found on Etsy a vintage quilt in need of repair. It was only $40 with $10 shipping, right in my price range. It would need some major repair work, but that is the topic of another post. After six weeks of intensive care, the quilt was once again beautiful. Partnered with a sheet set from the base ($8) and a turquoise bed skirt from Tuesday Morning ($2.50), my grand total was $60.50.

Step 3: Throw Pillows

"Betsy" Pillow

The quilt by far was the longest part of this project, but I did take several trips to different stores in search of the perfect throw pillows for the bed. Again, that's the topic of another post, which I will try to publish soon. First, I saw this pillow and knew it was central to my theme: Betsy Pillow. What is $60 online was only $15
at Garden Ridge. Hooray!

Turquoise Pillow

Now for a turquoise pillow. I could pay $125 on Ebay for a pair of shams from their Rivulets Bedding Collection, but I only needed one turquoise pillow. A pillowcase we already had stood in for the second. I found a beautiful turquoise satin pillow for only $13 at Garden Ridge.

Three Pillows for $8

The remaining three pillows were inspired by this rug, this pillow, and this pillow (a cheaper alternative to third is this one, which is similar to mine and would cost $31 with shipping). Similar pillows to the first one go for about $26. The second pillow was $49, and the third $47.50. The second and third pillows do not include pillow inserts, which run $9 apiece at Hobby Lobby. Total for all three pillows: $140.50. My total? $8 for all three. Yep, you read that right. Not $8 apiece, $8 for all three. I'll tell you how I made them in another post.

Step 4: Canopy

Canopy

We've had a mosquito net canopy in that room since we moved in. Over time, we have adapted it to a toddler bed, a queen size bed, and now a twin bed. I wanted to change the look of the canopy, but that will have to wait until we actually have the bed in the room. For now, I made a new rod with a decorative flower to hold up the middle of the canopy and make it look a little cleaner. A new canopy would be $65, plus another $21 for a wrought iron curtain rod. Mine was free, with $5 in supplies for the new rod.

 

 

 

 

Step 5: Finishing Touches

I tend to obsess over the details, but sometimes that works out well. I raided the clearance section at Hobby Lobby and got some fantastic deals. First was the wrought iron bird rack on sale for $10 rather than $20.

Turquoise Mirror

Then there was a large turquoise mirror originally $90, but I got it for $18. Not bad, considering this inspiration piece from DENY Designs runs $299 and this tiny mirror would be $32.25 with shipping.

On Etsy, a white shabby chic chair will cost $60 with shipping. I found a white folding chair at IKEA for only $17. Toss in a comfy throw for only $18 from the base, and we are still way under budget. 

Antique Swedish Bird

I fell in love with this little bird from Colombia. Considering that it's only $19 with shipping, I may still snag it. However, I found an alternative from Sweden in a local antique store for only $4.

Turquoise Lamp

Finally, the lamp base we found at Dollar General for only $8. Compare that to this vintage cutie that runs $64 with shipping. I love vintage, but I love cheap, too. The lampshade was taken from a different lamp in the house, but a new one would be around $12.

 

 

 

Step 6: Work with What You Have

Cabaday

All of the artwork in the room was either painted by my husband or myself. The bookshelf and end table are part of an antique suite we bought in England. We just keep moving the pieces around the house to suit our needs.

The little chair pictured is my dad's rocking chair from when he was a child. The girls can now have a visit with Abuela in her room. 

Now, a word about Cabaday. Cabaday is the vintage horse you see in the photo. I've been told she was mine at some
point, but she's been passed through all the cousins and brought back to me. There really isn't any other place for Cabaday in our home, but fortunately she happens to be red and turquoise! I've seen similar horses range in price from $80 to over $400 (when some artist attacked one and "improved" it). If I had to purchase a horse like Cabaday, the closest one I found to her condition, size, and age was $250.

And Put it All Together

Sorry to send you all link diving today. Soon I'll be detailing some of the projects I did.

For now, here's the grand total. I'm not adding in the bed, dresser, bookshelf, or end table (which were all repurposed from another room or given to me).

Curtains

Inspiration: $41
Mine: $8
Savings: $33

Bedding:

Inspiration: $374
Mine: $60.50
Savings:  $313.50

Pillows:

Inspiration: $325.50
Mine: $36
Savings: $289.50

Canopy:

Inspiration: $86
Mine: $5
Savings: $81

Details:

Inspiration: $474
Mine: $75
Savings:  $399

 

Grand Total:

Inspiration: $1300.50

Mine:  $184.50
Savings: $1116.00

Next Steps

I'd really love to get Abuela an actual bed and some under bed storage. I'd also like to paint in there. But for now I think I'll let her get settled in and enjoy her new room.

Memory Quilts and a Preview of my Next Project

My current project is a massive king-size duvet cover I'm making for my sister. She had a rather old and stained, but still very warm comforter and an impressive amount of sentimental T-shirts lying around- the perfect recipe for a memory quilt!

What is a Memory Quilt?

A Memory Quilt Made From My Daughter's Baby Clothes

Memory Quilts are patchwork quilts made from materials that have sentimental value. They can be very elaborate or simple. The quilts can be given as a gift, made in memory of a loved one, or serve as a textile scrapbook.

 For an amazing children's book about memory quilts, check out The Name Quilt by Phyllis Root.

 

My Memory Quilts

The first memory quilt I remember seeing was at my aunt's when I was a little girl. My sister and stayed in their spare room under a warm quilt made of old T-shirts. The T-shirts were cut to large uniform rectangles, then stitched together with a sewing machine. Instead of quilting with thread, whoever made it had dotted the corners with knotted yarn. I thought it looked pretty easy and the image stayed with me for some time.

Fast forward a few years to high school, when I was in the school's band. As a fundraiser, one of the mothers took the old uniforms and made a lap quilt. It was lovely, but I decided to embellish it further. When I graduated, I carefully removed all my patches and letters from my letterman's jacket and passed it down to my sister. I then sewed all my patches and letters to the band quilt. My mom hung it in the hall at their house for a while, but now it serves as a cozy blanket for my little girls (and a reminder of how nerdy their mother is).

Memory Quilt Process

A few quilts later, I decided to convert my pile of T-shirts into a memory quilt of my own. That first quilt began a learning process that I'm still employing and perfecting now.

1. Gather your stuff. 

Before I set out to do any of my memory quilts, I try to determine how much material I have to work with. I don't mean bolts and yards of fabric, but how many T-shirts (or whatever I'm using). Will I want to supplement with purchased fabric or fabric from my stash? I like lots of texture and interesting details in my quilts, so I work with odd items like bibs, snaps, lace, ruffles, varying fabric weights, etc. If uniform texture is important to you, keep that in mind as you select your materials.

2. Select a unit of measurement. 

Of course, the simplest method of doing a memory quilt is to pick one size (a square or a rectangle) and cut all your material to that same size. But if you know anything about me, you know I tend to complicate things. I use what I call a "unit system", if there is an official name for it feel free to correct me. Instead of cutting all my pieces to the same exact size, I choose a standard "unit" size. Then I cut my pieces to the nearest whole unit. Think of it like LEGO blocks. The smallest LEGO pieces have only 1 bump on the top- 1 x 1 units. A LEGO piece with 3 bumps would then be 3 x 1 units or 1 x 3 units, etc. By using these units, I am able to accommodate various sizes of T-shirts and other materials into my quilts.

My T-shirt Memory Quilt Using Units

I take two things into account when choosing my measurements: the finished quilt size I desire and the size of the decorations on my materials. For example, I wanted to make two 40" x 60" quilts. One of them would be using my T-shirts, the other my daughter's baby clothes. My T-shirts have much larger designs, so I used a 6" square as my basic "unit". For the baby clothes, I went with a 4" square.

By using a "unit" system I am able to accommodate pretty much any shape or size design. One of my sister's T-shirts had a beautiful white tiger design on a royal blue background that I did not want to mess up, so I was able to use it as a whole, large piece- 4 x 4 units. Her husband's beloved sweatshirt had a design running the entire length of a sleeve- 1 x 5 units.

3. Cut the pieces.

When cutting the units I always add a generous seam allowance of 1/2" because of the difference in fabric weights and the propensity of some fabrics to fray easily. For each piece, regardless of unit size, I cut 1" larger than the unit. So for one side of the tiger shirt: 1/2" seam allowance + (4 units x 4" per unit) + 1/2" seam allowance = 17" cut size. For the sweatshirt sleeve: 1/2" seam allowance + (1 unit x 4" per unit) + 1/2" seam allowance = 5" wide, 1/2" seam allowance + (5 units x 4" per unit) + 1/2" seam allowance = 21" long, cut size is 5" x 21".

Occasionally, some pieces are smaller than the basic unit size. They may be a tiny design, or have a piece missing because of an arm hole or fabric edging. When this happens, I use a complimentary fabric (or a piece of fabric from a different part of the same garment) to patch the holes. If you look closely at my T-shirt memory quilt (above), you'll see a light blue patch on the right side to which I had to add fabric.

 When paring down an entire T-shirt to a unit system, keep the placement of the design in mind. I use a clear ruler so that my cut pieces will have the designs centered on them as much as possible.

4. Determine if you need to supplement your material or pare it down.

Math is your friend, I promise. I usually do this step in conjunction with step 3. First, determine how many square units you will need. For an oversize lap quilt of 40" x 60" with a 4" unit size, I needed 10 x 15 units or 150 square units. For this next project, a massive king-size duvet cover, the desired finished size is 80" x 96". Since I'm using a 4" unit size, that will be 20 x 24 units (80" / 4" per unit x 96" / 4" per unit), or 480 square units.

As I cut my pieces, I keep a running total of the square units I have so far. For example, my sister's tiger shirt had 16 square units (4 x 4), and the sweatshirt was 5 square units (5 x 1), which gives me 25 square units.

After you've cut your pieces, you will know if you have too much or too little. If you have way too much, consider making your quilt larger, putting the extra pieces on the back, or making a second quilt. If you have just a little too much, you can omit some of the shabbier-looking pieces from your final design or trim down some of your pieces to a smaller unit size (trim down a 4 x 4 unit to a 3 x 4 for example).

If you don't have enough, try to be creative in finding new pieces. You can use towels, place mats, doilies, or any fabric you wish. Occasionally, T-shirt quilts can be pretty colorless if you have mostly white or grey shirts. Feel free to add patches of color that draw out and complement the colors of the designs of your shirts. Or you can use it as an opportunity to clean out your stash a little.

5. Arrange the pieces. 

Quilt Units in Graph Paper Form

If you like puzzles, this will be the fun part. Once you have your pieces cut, lay them out into a final arrangement. For my T-shirt quilt and the baby clothes quilt, I simply spread all the pieces on the ground and played with them until I reached an arrangement I liked. Keep the seam allowance in mind, it will throw you off if you go by the pieces' actual size rather than the number of units.

For a much larger and more complicated quilt, laying the pieces out is not really an option. For my sister's duvet cover, I kept track of the pieces I cut and made scaled down versions on graph paper. I made a couple different arrangements before I started losing the tiny little pieces and/or messing them up every time I breathed. You can imagine the frustration. (By the way, I believe the tiger shirt is the big blue one in the top center of the quilt in the above picture).

Then I switched to drawing the pieces directly onto the graph paper, which was much easier, but still took a fair amount of time. And this is where I'm stuck on this project. I've got 6 options for the final layout and can't choose between them. I'd like a second opinion. I'll have a survey running on my blog for the next two weeks or so (until May 2, 2012) where you all will get to vote on which layout you like.

6. Sew it together.

To save time, I pieced my quilts together using the sewing machine. I'll let you know how it works out with this huge one. My advice on this? Plan your route. Look at your design and try to join the pieces together into large blocks with long seams. Draw it out with labels marking which order you will sew the seams in.

For the quilts, I added batting and backing. Since the fabric I used was old and worn in some places, I added a second layer of backing between the batting and the quilt top. If any of the pieces frayed or got threadworn, the second layer of backing would prevent the batting from being exposed. Then I used safety pins to hold the layers together while I quilted from the center of the quilt outward. I do use a hoop for quilting.

Back of the T-Shirt Quilt Showing Stitches

For the T-shirt quilt, I used colored thread to hand quilt along the designs. Some of the pieces had no design, so I quilted squiggles, stripes, or circles on them. For the baby clothes quilt, I went a step further and researched some antique quilting patterns. If the piece had writing on it, the writing was usually too small to quilt, so I quilted a larger version of the same writing around it. The quilting is the most time-consuming step. Fortunately, for this next project, I'm doing a duvet cover- no quilting! Don't get me wrong, I love the quilting, but it can take months to complete. Since the king-size project is 4 times larger than my largest memory quilt, it's a bit more than I'm willing to take on.

7. Finish it. 

I think this is the most important step for any project. Get it done! My personal rule is only one project at a time (of course, I break that rule sometimes, okay a lot).

The T-shirt memory quilt is finished with a long fringe made from the extra pieces of shirts. T-shirt material doesn't fray and makes fringing quite simple. The baby clothes quilt is finished with a bias tape made from excess material.

If you are unfamiliar with what a duvet cover is, my apologies for not explaining sooner. It's basically a gigantic pillowcase or slipcover for your comforter that buttons shut on one end. So for this next project, I'll piece the quilt top together, sew it to the backing on 3 sides, and add buttons or snaps on one end to close it. I'll keep you updated with my progress.

Current Project Vote

Here are the options for the duvet cover for your voting pleasure:

In case you were wondering, the tiger shirt is piece #7, and the sweatshirt sleeve is piece #10. 

 

Option 1: Dark Center Fading to Light Edges

Option 2: Dark Top Fading to Light Bottom

Option 3: Dark Edges Fading to Light Center

Option 4: Large Blocks at the Bottom, Small Blocks at the Top, Scattered Colors

Option 5: Pieces Arranged into Large Blocks of Like Colors

Option 6: Diagonal Rainbow Fading to White in Lower Right Corner