A New Old Quilt for Valentine's Day

It was last week when I completed the last stitch in the new binding around this restored 1880s quilt.  I've been celebrating by sleeping under it each night. Because of its wool batting, it's nice and warm.

Here's the finished quilt on the bed.  I made pillow cases out of muslin with a matching 2 inch red stripe to match.  I think I'll make another set using the green fabric.

When I first started working on this quilt many of the blocks looked like this, but this one was the worst.

So the next generation of the family knows what has happened to this quilt I printed a rather lengthy history on fabric and sewed it onto the back.  If you want to read what I said, it follows below:

Harvey Family

Red and Green Tulip Basket Quilt

85 x 102 inches

There are no family stories or oral history about this quilt, but there has been some discussion of who might be the original maker.  As a young girl I remember that this quilt was displayed on the brass bed in the bedroom on the main floor of the Harvey Cottage at Winona Lake, IN.  In the late 1960’s it was a beautiful quilt but in great need of repair.

In September of 2013 I began the task of repairing it. On January 2, 2015 I placed my last stitches in the binding. This was a labor of love.

The original white background fabric had beautiful hand stitching worth preserving, but the red and green fabrics were in terrible condition. The green had so many holes in it, I could just pinch and pull it off the quilt. I re-appliqued brand new matching red and green fabrics over each block and the outer border. 

There were numerous little holes in the white areas, both on the front and the back. I appliqued new muslin patches over these areas to give the quilt more stability. As I worked I marked the areas that needed to be re-quilted, and that was all stitched by hand. A new binding was sewn right over the original binding to protect the fragile edges. 

This quilt has now been transformed into a beautiful piece, the layout of the blocks, the hand quilting and the contrast of the fabrics is stunning. I’m glad that I was able to preserve it for future family members.

A quilt historian told me that this tulip quilt was probably made in the 1880s. I’d like to think that my Great Grandmother Nancy C. Harvey (1870-1959) sat around a quilt frame with her four sisters: Belle, Alice, Lida and Madge Culbertson, to finish it for her wedding in 1891. There were many hands that stitched on this quilt, some were the original stitchers and some probably sat on the porch to make repairs in more recent years.

Inside the quilt is wool batting and I know that they had sheep on the Culbertson Farm in southern Indiana. The wool fibers had to be carefully placed on the underside of the top to give it loft and warmth.

Ann Harvey Fahl,

Quilt artist and family historian

Happy Valentine's Day.

Red and Green Tulip Quilt.........it's history

Here is Oreo sitting on the quilt, with six blocks appliqued.

Here is what I know about the history of this quilt.  It was at the cottage in Winona Lake IN.  It was probably obtained from someone in Marion IN where my great grandparents lived.

My friend Linda Honsberger (appraiser and quilt historian) looked at my quilt and was able to tell me quite a bit about the history of my Red and Green Tulip Quilt.

This is what I've learned about it's beginnings:

•         It is of German or Mennonite origin
•      Possibly made in Ohio
•         Made about 1880
•         Has wool batting, very thin in places
•         Hand appliquéd with white thread
•         Turkey red fabric is in rather good condition.  Only the red outer border has some bad spots.
•         Green fabric has almost totally disintegrated.  The dyes used at the time, have weakened the fibers so it literally just pulls away easily with your fingers.
•      It has white cotton binding cut on the straight of the grain, 3/8 inch wide.
•         The hand quilting is decent. The alternating blocks have a simple feathered circle. The  quilting in the appliquéd blocks and border is straight lines.
•         The white background fabric is in fairly good condition, there are a few splits in the fabric, so I will repair those by appliquéing well washed muslin over them. 
•      It was likely a 13th quilt, or someone's wedding quilt, or good quilt that was saved for special occassions.
•      Sadly, we do not know the maker.

The Actual Rescue of a Quilt Block

We will begin the repairs on this block.

Earlier I talked about what order I would re-applique the blocks. It's not very exciting, but I like to begin with the three stems.  I'll take you through this, step-by-step.  It is important that you remove only one piece at a time; replace it; and then remove the next piece.

Why? because when you remove a piece there are little holes and short threads remaining, to show you exactly where you should stitch the new piece.  If you take off too many pieces at a time you'll lose the markings.  This is old fabric, I don't want to mark with a pencil if I don't have too.

Carefully removing the center stem to be replaced.

I use a seam ripper or a tiny pair of embroidery scissors to do the removing. Make sure you have good light on the project. Remember these threads are old and the fabric underneath is fragile so it's important not to just rip and tear things off. Be gentle.

As I remove threads along the stem, I have to clip some of the stitches on the nearby leaves, but I let them stay in place. Then I replace the center stem with a bias strip. Now you can pull out all the little old snipped threads that were marking its position. Next I remove the right stem and replace, then the left stem and replace. By this time the four leaves are almost hanging by a thread. So one at a time, I remove and replace until all four leaves are finished.

The stems have been replaced with new bias strips, new leaves have been appliqued and the lower triangle has been added.

Now it is time to work on the tulips. The red fabric is shabby, but still firm. So I will leave it in position unless there is a big lump at the outer tip of the flower. If this is the case I'll snip a few threads on the tip, and remove the lump. Now, I'll pin the red tulip petal over the existing red piece and applique it into position. 

Red center petal pinned;  only the upper tip is needle turned and appliqued; remaining edges are raw.

Notice that the lower tip of the red center is folded under. I just pin it in place. You'll notice the fold is aligned with  the lower edge of the green petal. You can also see the black top of a pin marking the edge of the green petal on the left side.

After the one center red petal is pinned and sewn; I lay on the two green side petals. Sometimes the original petals are in such bad condition that they get totally removed. Others that aren't too bad, I'll just applique the new petal over the old.

Green petal appliqued on left side of tulip

Now all that is left is to applique the right green petal.  There are 3 of these tulips in each block.

As of Oct 12, 2013  I have completed 6 blocks and some of the border. I am pleased with my progress.

Still stitching.

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