Vintage Quilt Repairs Continue + Millie Goes Home to Minnesota

Good Monday morning!  I'm still working on that vintage quilt repair that I wrote about last week (here).  At this point, I've finished all of the hand stitched repair work in the quilt's interior and all I have left is the binding.  This is a hand pieced quilt that had open seams to be stitched shut in almost every block, as well as a few other minor holes and one serious hole where something acidic had spilled on the quilt and eaten through the cotton fibers.  When deciding how to deal with this hole, I tried to address it the way the original quilt maker might have done, so I looked to the repairs on this antique Oak Leaf and Reel quilt for inspiration:

75.75 x 69 Oak Leaf and Reel Quilt, circa 1860

I photographed this quilt at the Paducah museum in 2019, when it was the inspiration quilt for a New Quilts from an Old Favorite challenge.  This hand pieced, hand appliquéd antique quilt is part of The Richardson Collection belonging to the Kentucky Museum at Western Kentucky University.  

What really fascinated me about this quilt was the way it had been repaired long ago:

Antique Repair Job Using Odd-Shaped Patches

Instead of patching the entire sashing rectangle with a new piece of red fabric, as we might do today, this quilter frugally patched only the damaged spots, using odd-shaped scraps of red and white fabrics and then requilting through all of the quilt layers.  

Hole In My Client's Quilt, Prior to Patching

And so, rather than patching over the entire white square with another square, I patched this hole in my client's vintage quilt with an odd-shaped bit of white fabric that I'd aged with a coffee stain.

Patch Pinned In Place, Ready for Stitching

After appliquéing my patch to the block and closing the open seam with the pink fabric, I used a heavyweight Aurifil cotton thread to replace the quilt stitches that were covered by my patch.

Hole Patched and Requilted

I did go back and darn that frayed/torn bit of pink fabric along the seam line after taking this picture.  I'm afraid I went beyond the number of repair hours I quoted to the client, because I just couldn't bring myself to leave well enough alone.  Here's what the patched section looks like from the back.  I quilted in and out of the same needle holes as the original quilting, to preserve the stitch lengths of the original quilter.  I'm pretty sure she was quilting with feed sack string:

Back of Repair After Requilting

Now that I'm done with hand stitched repairs, the only thing left is the new binding.

.75 inch Wide Single Fold Binding Needs Replacing

I've been turning this piece of the puzzle around and around in my head, trying to decide how to address this.  The quilt has very thick cotton batting, the equivalent of two or even three layers of today's commercial cotton quilt batting, and the original quilt maker bound the quilt by hand with a single fold binding that finished a whopping 3/4" wide.  It's hand stitched to the back of the quilt with that same feed sack string used for the quilting stitches.  My client definitely wanted the binding replaced, but her budget did not allow for hand stitched binding so I need to figure out how to do a machine binding instead.  As you can see in the photo above, chunks of batting are missing in some places along the edge, and I'll have to fill those bits with cotton batting scraps when I turn the binding edge.  What I haven't decided yet is whether I'm going to do a single fold binding like the original or a double fold binding like I'd normally do, and how wide I'm going to cut those binding strips.  Stay tuned...

Millie is Moving to Minnesota!

Meanwhile, my APQS Millennium long arm machine has found a new home in Minnesota!  The buyer made a 19-hour road trip each way in this Hertz rental van to pick up the machine, all by herself.  She's been renting time on an APQS Millennium for a year and a half and is excited to finally have a machine of her own now.  It was kind of bittersweet, packing up the machine and watching it drive away after all we've been through together, but I know Jayne is going to take great care of Millie and I wish her many happy years of quilting!

Tuesday's To-Do List:

1. Bind vintage repair and get it shipped back to its owner
2. Quilt another client's quilt at the Bernina store
3. Wouldn't it be nice if I found time to make a new block for my languishing sampler quilt?

I'm linking up today's post with the following linky parties:

MONDAY

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts  

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

TUESDAY

To-Do Tuesday at ChrisKnits

WEDNESDAY

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter