Magic Happens When You Hang a Quilt
and Stand Back
Perspective is everything. We can stick our nose in a quilt to look at the fabrics and stitching, but the wow factor is when we see it from across the room. This wows me.
I bought this quilt from a local dealer this week while cleaning out an old farmhouse. I did the nose thing looking at the surface close up, and also smelling it for signs of mildew or funk, but I didn't get to do an overall look until I got it home.
I moved the living room furniture to put up my portable quilt frame, and this was the first picture. Immediately I asked why the pattern wasn't complete. One of the kids completely missed it. Isn't it interesting how we are trained to look at patterns as quilters?
The fabrics were all in excellent condition, and the construction well done.
In the slightly offset middle of the quilt, there is a name and date.
Jan. 1, 1939
Johnny Neville
The dinginess was all I could bear, and I gave it a good soak in Oxyclean and Dawn in my bathtub. FYI: I did an initial soak of a few hours with a good squirt of Dawn Blue Dishwashing Liquid and small scoop of Oxyclean. Then I drained the tub, and repeated the soak cycle using at least 1/2 cup of Oxyclean. This time I allowed it to soak overnight. The quilt was fairly clean to start with, and I was mainly concerned with the age stains. This process worked well as by the final rinse stage there was very little dirt left in the water.
Always lift a wet quilt with support or on another piece of fabric, and allow to drain well before adjusting the quilt to a position to dry.
The slight cast in the background lightened a great deal, and the colors are brighter.
I've decided that owning a vintage double wedding ring quilt is probably just as good as making one. There are 90 'dishes' in this quilt. Oh me, oh my!
Come on, Doxie girls.
Let's go sew.
10 comments:
Wow, what a beauty. The left side struck me as odd when I first saw it. Ran out of patience or fabric? I have an old quilt that I will try with the products you recommended. I have to do it before the weather gets too cold. Thanks for sharing the quilt.
Truly a beautiful and historical quilt. I have always loved the Wedding Ring design.
What a beautiful quilt. And amazing how the refreshed look actually looks, after you clean it. Brilliant.
What a gorgeous quilt. I love it. I didn't notice at first - but it looks just right.
Congrats!
A beautiful quilt! Such a precious quilt to have, love all the fabrics and the hand quilting. So... is Johnny the quilter? Maybe you will never know?
Beautiful quilt! Love how it looks after you cleaned it.
What a beautiful vintage quilt! You were so lucky to have found it in such good condition and with the date and name on it too. It's nice that it's got a home where it will be appreciated.
It's come up beautifully due to all your TLC. I'm sure Johnny would be very happy for it to find a home with you, it's beautiful, a real find.
A true treasure! I love hearing about these older beauties and how to handle them correctly.
What a beautiful quilt. Your cleaning method definitely brightened it up a lot.
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