My son’s bed quilt is wearing out. When he told me there were new tears, I asked him to mark them with safety pins so I could find them to mend them. I was taken aback at the number of pins. He said he stopped counting at 15. I looked the quilt over and added more. I think I stopped counting at 40. And I found more while I was fixing the marked ones. Sigh.
To be clear, he has loved and used but not abused his quilt. There were just a few questionable fabrics in there. Also, as I was advised not to prewash precuts (these were from a jelly roll), fabrics shrank at different rates. Batiks didn’t shrink at all, so they just folded over at the seams and those folds wore out and the fabric shredded. Some of the batiks were more affected than others.
I spent the afternoon stitching decorative stitches over the shredded bits to try to extend the quilt’s life a little more. Here’s what the back looks like now. Those aren’t worms, but lines of stitching.
That’s a lot of worn spots, and just a little push to start hand quilting a bit more diligently on the replacement quilt!
Here’s the progress on that:
I do have a tiny bit of border done on the left side too. I tried to take a picture of what I’m trying in the border, but the lighting wasn’t very good to take a picture of quilting in black thread on black fabric.
Enough chatting! I need to go make more progress!
Thanks for sharing this experience, Joanne. . . I have to admit, I'm now holding my breath - I pre-wash nothing. . . What is the age of your son's quilt? Gulp!
ReplyDeleteYour hand quilting project is looking awesome!!
OMGoodness! I'm surprised your quilting didn't hold the seams - it looks close enough. Maybe it was the questionable fabrics but it sure is a disappointment.
ReplyDeleteThe replacement will be gorgeous! ~Jeanne
Very frustrating. I, too, wonder how old it is. Getting constant use is good and bad, huh? I always pre-wash, except for pre-cuts. Does anyone wash pre-cuts? It would be quite a pain to do so, but I just made 2 table runners from them. Maybe I should soak the tops in water before quilting. I doubt I'll do that. At least all the fabric is the from the same batch in both of them.
ReplyDeleteI have only had one quilt shred this much. Turns out it was a problem with my black solid. I ended up covering the black with a newer black. Luckily it still looks okay. Have fun quilting the replacement.
ReplyDeleteLooking VERY forward to seeing the final handquilted quilt! How disappointing that the fabric shredded like this! I've had some binding (double-fold thank goodness) show grave signs of wear. At least you know it's been loved, but still--
ReplyDeleteThat is a major bummer about the shredding going on in your beautiful quilt. I had a quilt where I didn't prewash anything (A one block wonder - for which you are not supposed to pre-wash the fabric) It got ruined the very first time it hit the water - it shunk all wonky) The progress on the new quilt is great - it is going to be breath taking!
ReplyDeleteThat's one very loved quilt - good to see. I always wondered about using different quality fabrics in one quilt. I like to mix my designer with some cheaper stuff to pad it out a bit ... maybe pre-washing is the answer, especially with really scrappy quilts where there is a huge range of fabrics/quality?
ReplyDeleteMy son is keen for me to repair his first quilt. It has a special place in his heart despite not being a very good specimen. I like your worms though. Your new pattern looks stunning but really complicated. Quite jewel-like.
ReplyDeleteRepairing quilts is not nearly as much fun as making new ones, is it? I'm still working on repairing another yo-yo quilt, and I really don't like doing that! But we do anything for our kids, right? He will love it just as much or more after you repair it for him. The new quilt is really looking great! He will love it just as much I'm sure. ---"Love"
ReplyDeleteI looked at my son's "needing repair" quilt and figured it would be easier to make a new one. Same story as you, his existing quilt was used and used and used. So I finished a new one for him for Christmas and then wrestled the "to be repaired" one from him and did what I could with it. Overall a much nicer story than the ones you hear about someone gifting a quilt and finding it in the garage or under something. Joanne
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to see the quilt is having some issues but it is nice to know he loves his quilt and is using it. So many quilts are stored to keep them nice but the ones that are used and loved are the best! The new quilt is coming along nicely, it does look complicated but wonderful!
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