To my mother, who has shown me the meaning of love and strength.
Unlike my usual posts, this is not a quilt tutorial, but rather a revisiting of the first quilt I ever made. This post shares the different steps I took to breathe new life into an old quilt, while keeping the bones the same.
The first quilt I ever made, was made with he help of my Great Grandma S. circa 2012. I remember when I became interested in quilting, she brought over her huge scrap pile and a printed Irish Chain pdf quilt pattern. This beginner friendly pattern utilizes a 9- patch quilt block and plain blocks to create a chain-like pattern across the blanket. I remember tracing and cutting every individual square needed for this blanket. I always wanted to take the easy way out, but Grandma S. was there to remind me that rushing through the project, would make for a misshapen quilt.
Since the quilt’s creation, it has been treasured and used by my mom. Recently, she told me that the quilt had been tucked away in storage because it was starting to deteriorate. It was a well used blanket, so I am not upset by this. Instead I am glad that it kept my family warm and cozy for so long. There are tears in a many places and the hand ties are falling off. Additionally, it was my first quilt, so it is riddled with mistakes. I am going into this project with the intention of repairing damage and fixing a few mistakes. I am not reworking the whole quilt.
Supplies
- Old quilt; about the size of a full size blanket
- Batting; I used 100% pre-cut cotton batting. I bought a queen sized, pre-packaged batting for convenience.
- Backing and Binding fabric; I had a large piece of fabric in my stash from an abandoned project. I used this for the quilt back and binding.
- Embroidery floss
- Embroidery needle
- Seam Ripper
In addition to the list above, I used many of the supplies on “Favorite Tools” post under my “Etc.” category. Check it out to see all of my favorite tools that I use to complete my projects.
Assessing the Damage
Before starting anything, I scanned over the whole blanket. Some of the main problems include- the lacking of binding, wonky and missing ties, several holes, many tears, and ill- aligned blocks. I am not going into this project with the intention of making it perfect. I want to repair the problems and reinforce it so it can continue to be used by my family.
After assessing the damage, I laid out the quilt and marked every tear and hole with tailor’s chalk. Some patches were a lot rougher than others. In some cases, the seams hadn’t torn yet, but were beginning to weaken. I made sure to reinforce theses seams to prevent further damage. I am not the best at mending. However, I tried my best to repair all of the odd shaped tears and holes.
Tearing it Down
Now it’s time to tear down the quilt, before building it back up. I started the deconstruction by cutting off all of the hand sewn ties. This part was more difficult than I thought it would be. During the original fabrication, I sewed the ties onto the quilt incorrectly. Some of the ties were missing. Some did not go through all layers of the quilt. Some had fused to the batting after all the use and washes it has gone through. But for most of them… I can’t even begin to understand what I was doing.
Once I pulled all of the ties out, I had to remove the backing from the quilt top. As stated previously, I did not bind the original quilt. Instead, I remember sewing the top and back with right sides together on three sides, turning it ride sides out, then stuffing the batting in the middle, finally folding down the last side and sewing it shut. Please do not ask why I did it this way, I honestly have no idea. At this point in the project, my grandma had not been over to help in a long time and I was eager to get it finished. I would not suggest this method to anyone. The batting never quite met up with the edges of the quilt. There was a two inch gap on all sides of the quilt that did not have any batting. Not to mention, there are easier ways to sew a quilt without binding.
I used my handy seam ripper to detach the front from the back. The more I tore, the more I realized, I had no care in the world for thread color or seam allowance. I never used thread that matched the fabric. My seams were wavy and far off from 1/4″. I have to keep reminding myself through this process that all of these mistakes were necessary to gain the skills I have today. These mistakes do not prove I was a bad quilter, I was simply a new quilter.
Building it Back Up
Block by Block
With the top and back separate, I am able to start repairing the damages. I start by ironing the quilt top to the best of my ability. While ironing, I scan the quilt for any additional damage I missed the first time around. Because the fabric is so old anyways, I wanted to reinforce it where there was damage. I did this by fusing some of the original backing fabric to the back of the quilt top in areas where there was damage. I used fusible interfacing in between the quilt top and reinforcement fabric.
For most of the repairs I made, I followed the steps seen in the pictures above. I found and marked the damage. Ironed on my neutral fabric with fusible interfacing. Mended the tear or hole, making sure to stitch all the way through the reinforcement fabric. Ironed the area again. Move to the next repair.
Most of the wear and tear was easy to fix. There was one patch that was particularly tattered. I originally wanted to remove this square and make a new one with the fabric I have in my scrap drawer. However, I decided against it. I wanted the quilt top to stay as original as possible. Below you can see a slide show of this block’s rags to riches.
Backing and Binding
Once all the blocks were repaired the best of my ability, I ironed the quilt top one last time. Then I started the process of adding the backing and binding.
I happened to have some yardage in my fabric stash that matched the quilt perfectly. It is a salmon pink 100% cotton quilt fabric that is 108″ wide. I originally bought this fabric with the intention of using it on a much larger quilt that I never finished. With the scraps, I was able to create the binding and have more leftover for another future project.
Because the original quilt has been washed several times, I decided to pre-wash the backing fabric, to reduce uneven shrinkage after the new quilt is complete. I then ironed it.
Quilt Sandwich
Making the quilt sandwich was fairly easy. I laid the quilt backing down, taping the corners to the floor to better keep everything flat. Then, I lay the batting down. Finally, I lay the quilt top down. I smooth everything down to the best of my ability. The quilt top does not lay super flat, because of the uneven sewing.
It is important to leave a border of backing and batting fabric to account for shifting fabrics while top stitching. I decided to hand the quilt, so I do not need too large of a border. It is customary to leave a 2″ border of batting and backing fabric on all sides of the top quilt.
To baste the layers together, I used curved safety pins.
After basting, I hand tied the quilt using embroidery floss and an embroidery needle. I used pink embroidery floss in the center of each block. I used a lavender embroidery floss where four blocks meet. I cut the ties to have 1″ tassels.
I decided not to machine quilt this blanket for two chief reasons. First, I knew there would be a lot of puckering if I machine quilted it, due the wonky original sewing on the quilt top. Second, I wanted the quilt to feel as close to original as possible. I don’t want to redo the quilt, I want to refresh it. The original quilt was hand tied (poorly), so I wanted to hand tie it this time around to maintain the same vibe.
I sewed a wide basting stitch along the edge of the quilt sandwich and cut off the extra batting and backing. The basting stitch allows extra stability for when I move to the next step, binding.
Finishing Touches
Binding and Label
To create the binding, I needed 3- 2.5″ x WOF pieces. I used leftover fabric from the backing as binding fabric. I machine sewed the binding to the top of the quilt using a walking foot, but hand stitched the binding to the back of the quilt. This is more time consuming, but I can see where I am sewing and do not have to “stitch in the ditch” or sew blind.
There were parts of the binding that were difficult due to the imperfections of the original quilt. The borders were not very straight and the corners were not sharp. I tried my best to work with the quilt, without cutting any of it out off. One of my goals was to keep the quilt top as original as possible, so instead of trimming the quilt to make it straight, I dealt with binding irregular edges.
I created and attached my label. For this project, I decided it was important to highlight the origin and journey of the quilt. I added the original creation date and revision date. Before attaching the label to my quilt, I signed it with my full name, because it is a gift for my mom. I bought my labels off of Etsy, and absolutely love them! I write on the label using Tulip fabric markers. I used fusible interfacing and hand stitching to secure the label to the bottom left corner of the quilt
All done! I washed the quilt before gifting it to my mom. I wanted to wash off all of the tailor’s chalk marks. Washing the blanket also allows me to see any weak spots before giving it back to my mom.
Final Thoughts
Restoring this quilt inspired much reflection. I got to look at my very first quilt and consider all the progress I have made since then. I was filled with gratitude during this project. I was grateful for my craft, my personal development, and most importantly for my family. I reflected on all of the memories this quilt holds, bringing me happiness for all the memories it will hold in the future.
Rosi Quilts 