At Toni's advice, I am posting a few pictures of the crazy quilt top that I recently purchased. I can't sew a stitch, but absolutely love quilts, and I've always wanted a crazy quilt. This one is vintage, and the back is made from old feed sacks. Some of the satin squares are worn, but for the most part it's in good shape. I would like to finish it, though, possibly adding a border and a backing to this quilt. The edges are raw and unfinished. I'm asking for your advice... 1. How would you recommend that I finish this quilt off? Although I hate to cover up the feed sacks on the backing, I want something warmer and more comfortable to use. 2. How best could more detailing be added to this quilt...like a spider web? 3. Also, what is the best way to clean this quilt. There are some stains on the back of it. Any advice you can give would be appreciated.
Ok, my wife does quilting. I can tell you somewhere close by you there is a group that can answer all your questions. Call the fabric shops, or churches and ask for info on quilting groups. Someone need to look at your quilt up close and give you advice.
Kaseylib, I don't know how I missed this when you first posted it but I did. The quilt is beautiful. Being vintage and having some worn pieces, you really need to contact a quilt guild in your area. They usually have members who have studied quilt history and maybe even have quilt restorers in their membership. Someone like that could do a thorough exam of the quilt to determine if doing anything to it would cause further damage. Doing an overall spider web design, if the restorer/conservator thinks the fabrics will hold up to that would most likely have to be done by machine because the thickness of the quilt will be hard/if not impossible to hand quilt. Stains on the back were most likely caused by the colors of the fabrics rubbing off onto the feedsacks. Vintage dyes were not colorfast, therefore they rubbed off, bled when wet and faded badly over the years. Don't worry about those stains, trying to remove them could mean doing more of the harm than good. The old satins, velvets and silks are natural fibers, meaning they do not have any nylon, poly or other manmade fibers in them therefore natural deterioration occurs more quickly. A good restorer/conservator could make any needed repairs to prevent further damage to worn areas. Historically Crazy Quilts were made from scraps of the fancy dress fabrics of the ladies of the family and were made strictly to be laid on the bed in the guest bedroom to be pretty. When someone slept in the guest bed, the quilt was set aside and the household quilts were used for warmth. You do see utilitarian crazy quilts but not often and usually not as old as the satin/velvet/silk ones, why spend that much time to and effort for everyday use when a nine-patch is much quicker. Also you notice the embroidery stitches on yours are all along the seam lines. They were done there to keep the seams from pulling apart and those along the seams where the larger squares were joined will keep the edges from raveling. That and the border around the outer edges were all that was needed to finish off the quilt.
http://www.quiltguilds.com/wisconsin.htm Kasey, check this site out it has a listing of all the guilds in Wisconsin.
