Taking Care of Old Quilts: A New Resource

Have you ever met Ann Wasserman, or heard her speak about quilt history or restoration?  She has more experience in working with old quilts than anyone I know! She has been restoring them for 30 years.  What a coincidence that she should publish her book, at the same time I am restoring my red and green tulip quilt!

This is the cover of Ann's book.

Ask your local quilt shop to order it for you, or better yet, have Ann sign one for you by ordering it at
http://www.annquilts.com/book.html. 

This book is packed with ideas and photos of how to preserve a quilt. You will learn from an expert.  There are 106 pages, a color cover, and some color pages within. She mentions that when restoring a quilt, do as little as possible! Ann has done an extremely thorough job in giving the reader many options on how to handle repairs. The illustrations and photos are carefully detailed so her techniques are easy to understand. 

 Here are some of the topics she includes in the book:

• Supplies, basics and fabrics
• Types of stitches, many illustrations on how to make them
• Varieties of holes, tears, and slits (who knew there were so many different sizes and shapes?)
• How and why to repair, patch, applique, reverse applique (how to tackle the tricky ones)
• Hand, machine work
• Cleaning, washing, spot cleaning, why not, drying flat
• Display
• Storing
• Musty odors
• Record keeping
• Supplier list
• Bibliography 

The above list is brief, the book includes too many subjects to mention here.  You will see that she has found all of these issues in her historic restorations and knows just how to handle them.  If you want to work with old quilts and textiles, this book is a must read for you. Put this on your Christmas list.

Ann Fahl



 

Being Thankful for Green

This was not a day I was looking forward too.  My husband and I had our wills drawn up and we were supposed to sign them after lunch.  Forty years ago when the first will was drawn up I was so emotional about it, I could hardly speak. Remembering my strong reaction to the occasion made me leery of what might happen today.

Last night, I was finishing cutting the last of the green leaves for my red and green tulip piece. It was very late and I was tired; I came to the realization that I didn't have enough fabric left to complete about 6 blocks. This was so upsetting that I didn't know what to do. As you can probably guess, I didn't sleep well at all last night. For emotional events like this I always make up a list of things to do the next day, so as I'm tossing and turning all night, I know I won't forget to shop for green fabric because this is included on "the list."

My morning was full, no time to go to Sew 'N Save to see if they had any green fabric left.  After lunch we signed our wills, and it went smoothly. There was no sobbing or tears, I guess I'm getting old and crusty as the years pass by.  After we returned home, I drew up the Thanksgiving grocery list; grabbed my green fabric sample and went to the fabric store. This errand was more important than shopping for Thanksgiving. When I reached the store, one of the ladies asked me if I needed help; perhaps I had a wild look about my eyes!  I showed her my fabric, told her my predicament, and she said there was still a partial bolt on the green shelf.  I really couldn't believe my good fortune, there it was, a  perfect match.

Oreo investigating the new green yardage

So here is my Thanksgiving tip for all of you quilters out there.  When making large bed sized quilts, always purchase a yard MORE than you think you will need. As work on a quilt begins, the original plan always gets changed, you will use more of one fabric and less of another.  Because I've concentrated on wall pieces the last 25 years, my estimates for quantities needed for this project were skewed toward smaller quilts. To avoid sleepless nights be safe, buy more than you need.

I am thankful for green today!

Ann Fahl

Far from Done with Red and Green Tulips

The block in the worst condition of the 20 in the quilt.

It's really exciting when I finish another block. The new fabrics just jump out and grab my attention. They look wonderful. But something bothers me about this fact. The tulips are bold, crisp and new. The background is aged, soft and puckered.  I know how this will be remedied, but it kind of bugs me as I admire my handwork.

I will quilt over some parts of the new applique, like the original maker did.  When the quilting has all been completed, I will gently rinse or wash the entire quilt and let it air dry.  Hopefully the applique will wrinkle up a little bit to give it a softer older look.  I want the old and the new to blend together.

Remember in an earlier blog I talked about the importance of pre-washing fabric? This is why.

Still stitching.

Ann

Restoring the White Background fabric

Close up of one of the simple feathered circles in the alternating blocks.

We've pretty much discussed everything about the tulip blocks.  As I've been working on them, I've noticed areas in the white fabric that will need some attention:

• There are some small holes or splits
• There are places where the hand quilting needs to be filled in.
• Soiled areas.

My friend Linda gave me a great tip on how to handle the background repairs; and that is to lay it out on a table or floor and mark all the places that need attention with a safety pin or a loop of colored thread. Do this on the front and the back side.

Now as I work on appliqueing the blocks when I see those little places I will mark them as I go along.

Still Quilting.

Ann

A New Look for an Old Block

As I begin this blog, I've got 2.5 blocks finished.  Working a little bit each evening, I can re-applique one block in a week.  It's important that this be a NO pressure project, just sewing a little if I feel like it.  Those are my guidelines.  No more high pressure projects that have to be done by a due date!  Quilting should be enjoyable and relaxing.  I've been missing the "relaxing" part for the last few years. And this quilt is for me, not for a show with entry deadlines and qualifications.

When I began my quilting career in 1978, I quilted for about 3 hours every evening. When I say "quilting" I mean all the hand work; applique, quilting and finishing the binding.  I looked forward to this part of every day.  When my children came along, I didn't get 3 hours anymore, but after they were tucked in, I sat down with latest quilt. This was a little bit of my stitching heaven.

Since I've made the switch to being a machine quilter, I've had nothing left to do in the evening, maybe sewing on a label or finishing the occassional bias binding. So this old quilt is fulfilling a need for me.

The first block re-appliqued is one on the outside corner.

When I stepped back from the completed block, I said, "wow."  What an amazing change. I can only imagine how the quilt will look when it is done.  There will have to be some requilting on top of the applique, but that's too much for me to think about right now. Tomorrow is another day. Didn't Scarlett say that?

Detail of the the stems and leaves.

 In the previous post, I talked about how the leaves needed to have points and the stems should be laid under the flowers.  So here is what I meant.  I am also using matching thread colors so little boo-boos don't show. This is quite pleasing to the eye.

A closeup of one of the appliqued tulips. Notice how nice the stem sits under the flower.

I am not restoring this quilt for a museum, I'm fixing it for myself, so I'm taking some liberties with my techniques.  I am using hand techniques that I like to use, and are high quality, not duplicating the stitching by the original maker. So I'm using matching thread.

Next time I'll show you a block in progress.

Ann Fahl

Where do I Begin?

These blocks are lovely and I've always liked the color choices the maker used.  I've made hundreds of quilts, done lots of hand work in my life, but never restored one like this. Where do I begin?

I think it is wise to remove one old piece at a time. The old stitching holes and pieces of old thread will mark the spot where I should sew the new piece on.  Beginning with the 3 center stems. The original maker used bias strips. So I constructed enough green bias all at one time to finish all 20 blocks.  I cut 1.5 inch strips, pressed them in half, then almost in half again to create .5 inch strips with both edges folded under, and easy to applique. I made 560 inches of bias! That should be enough to complete all the stems.

Next is the leaves. As I look at what is left of the blocks I see there isn't much consistency of size.  So I traced over the tiny leaves at the top and the larger leaves at the base to create plastic templates.  Wow, I haven't made templates in years.  I cut out enough just for several blocks so I can get going with my project. I'll cut more as needed.

Now the tulips, each consists of a red center and two green petals.  So I've done the same thing, made plastic templates and cut out enough for only 2 blocks.  I'm anxious to get going.

Tulip pieces in both red and green have been cut with scissors, like the original maker.

I will work in this order, removing all or portions of the damaged piece first:

• Middle, right left stem
• Lower green corner triangle
• Middle red tulip piece, then 2 green side pieces
• Tiny top leaves on both sides of the stems
• Large lower leaves on each side of the stems

As I work, I'll pull out the old stitches and look for places on the front and back that may need repair.  I'll make those using some muslin that is well washed and matches the white background pretty well.

The quilt was appliqued with white thread.  This was done for many years, and was traditional to use white. But I love color and own thread in hundreds of colors so I will be appliqueing with matching red and green thread.

Hmmmm, each block times 20.  That's a lot of blocks.

Ann Fahl

Choosing the Fabrics

These are the new fabrics purchased for the restoration of this quilt.

You might say, "those fabrics look really dark!"  Well actually they are very close to the original color found on the underside of the old appliqued fabric.  I chose one that was a little richer in color rather than lighter than the original.

The fabrics are exactly what I was looking for, they are slightly mottled, so they'll blend in with the age of the quilt when washed.  The green fabric is from the Troy Corp, Riverwoods Collection, Modern Textures by Marcia Derse of mddesigns.  The red is called Solids for moda.

When I get home with my bag of fabric I want to begin right away. BUT:::::::::::the fabrics need to be rinsed out first.  I always do this with every fabric I own.  I rinse the fabric in hot water in my sink.  If it bleeds, I continue to rinse until the color is gone. Then it goes in the dryer. This prewashing accomplishes many things:

• Removes excess fiber and lint from the fabric
• Rinses off extra finishing chemicals from the fabric
• Removes excess dye so color doesn't run onto the background or neighboring fabrics
• When dried in the dryer, fabric may shrink so that the seams will be more stable and cause less puckering.

Only after this has been done, does a fabric go into my "stash."  It only takes one disaster for you to say, "Oh, why didn't I take the time............."

I've made my templates, cut a few tulips out,  and I'm ready to begin the hand stitching that I've been waiting for so long.  I can hardly wait to sleep under this quilt.

Let the journey begin.

Ann Fahl

The Red and Green Renovation Begins

Original border block of the Red and Green Tulip quilt.

Why am I spending the time to do this?  Not only do I love the quilt, but the white background and the quilting are in good shape.  The base is solid, only the appliques are falling apart.  So my thoughts are to remove the really bad parts, and just applique over all of the design, so the quilt looks consistent across the top. I plan on using this on my bed!

Off I go to the Sew 'n Save in Racine, they have a lovely fabric store next to their sewing machine shop.  I've decided that I need 2 yards of green and 3 yards of red fabric.  When matching old fabrics, I find it helpful to have a swatch to find the right colors.  Because there are so many bad spots on the applique, there were small places that I could cut off to expose the original color underneath. So this is what I took with me:

These are the little snippets of the actual fabric I took with me to match colors.

It didn't take long before I found the right fabrics. I'll show them to you next time.

Ann Fahl

A Change of Pace.... a new project

For awhile now I've felt like I needed to return to my quilting roots, to work on a hand project.  This sounds a little strange for a 'dyed in the wool' machine person like myself. But I'm tired of the rush and the push to finish projects fast. I want to be a slow quilter; savoring each stitch and enjoying the feel of the soft cotton fabric in my hands.

Before I ever took a quilting class, there was a beautiful red and green tulip quilt that used to be on the brass bed in the master bedroom at the cottage.  By the time I took that all-important first quilting class, I pulled it out of the closet and admired it, for the color choices and the good quilting stitches.

Sadly I realized that time had taken a toll on that quilt.  The green fabric was falling apart, and the red wasn't too far behind.  Someone folded up the quilt and stored it in the old trunk upstairs so it hasn't been seen or slept under for a long time.

Last time I was at the cottage, I dug it out of the trunk and asked if I could have it.  In its current condition nobody would ever want to use it!  So I brought it home.  I've purchased 5 yards of fabric to re-applique the blocks, by hand.

Red and green tulip quilt block to be restored by Ann Fahl

So I have begun what may be a lifetime project. Will it take a year or ten?  Who knows.  I've spent a little time each evening adding a new piece or two. This feels right. Why has it taken me so long to work with my hands again?  Next time I'll show you the quilt and tell you its story.

Ann Fahl