This vintage quilt has been in need of some "mending love" for quite a while. My Make Nine 2023 "Mend/Repurpose" prompt was just the thing to get this project into the queue.
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| Vintage quilt with worn and frayed binding. |
Analysis of the vintage quilt
As was often done in the past on utility quilts, the backing fabric (feed sacks, in this case) was used as the binding instead of a separate strip of fabric attached to the edge. The backing fabric was brought around to the front of the quilt—wrapping around and enclosing the edges of the quilt—and then hand stitched to the front to secure.
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| It appears there may have been multiple backings on this quilt. |
The backing of this vintage quilt was pieced. The fabrics appeared to be feed sacks or flour sacks. The quilt was hand quilted.
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| Pieced quilt backing made from feed sacks or flour sacks. |
There were a few worn places in the patchwork that needed mending. Here is a reproduction fabric that I used to simulate the print and colors of the vintage fabrics.
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| A worn out area in the patchwork and the replacement fabric. |
A new binding
I had several options for a binding fabric. It was difficult to match the white color of the original binding fabric, so I had to choose something that was "intentionally" different. I opted not to use a very contrasting color—like choosing a color from the patchwork—in order to keep with the feel of the original maker's color scheme.
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| Binding fabric options. |
I chose Decostitch 715, cafe latte (second from top) from Art Gallery Fabrics. Decostitch has a subtle print that looks like hand stitching and the color did not call attention to itself.
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| Double fold fabric for the new binding. |
In keeping with the original binding technique, the new binding was machine sewn to the back of the quilt and brought around to the front side for hand stitching. I didn't try to unpick or remove the old binding, but rather covered the frayed edges with a new fabric binding.
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| New binding machine stitched to the back of the quilt. |
Here is a comparison of the newly bound corner and the worn binding at another corner.
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| Worn and frayed binding (right) and the new binding (left). |
Another block with holes was covered with new fabric and then re-quilted by hand. I used a long staple 100% organic cotton thread (2 ply 50 wt.) from Scanfil for both machine and hand stitching the binding, and for hand appliquéing the patches and hand quilting where needed.
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| An appliquéd patch to cover a frayed area. |
Here are the newly-bound edges and corners of this vintage quilt.
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| Edges of the vintage quilt with a new binding. |
This is officially a time-span quilt that spans the 20th and 21st centuries.
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| New binding on a vintage quilt. |
Make Nine 2023 5th finish
This project fulfils my "Mend/Repurpose" prompt for Make Nine 2023. It's my fifth finish this year.
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| Make Nine 2023, Mend/Repurpose prompt. |
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| Make Nine 2023 tracking, May 21, 2023. |
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