The weather was horrible yesterday; cold and grey with gusts of wind that sent the sleet at you horizontally. I did a bit of Christmas shopping until my fingers went numb and stopped off at an antiques place on the way home. It`s a large place and thankfully very warm. Good for a couple of hours browsing and they usually have at least one quilt for sale. Yesterday they had several, most well over a hundred pounds.
But they also had this rather sad quilt which I just had to buy.
It`s actually off white and rather grubby. The photo makes it look dark but it shows the quilting patterns better.
It has a traditional Welsh quilting pattern, which you can make out under the dirt!
This is from the innermost border, a leaf design with what looks like a small cloverleaf . I`ve not seen that before and I rather like it as a filler.
The outer border has this interesting design, complete with some traditional Welsh spirals.
And another spiral, slightly larger.
Unfortunately the fabric is quite worn and the wadding shows through in several places. It`s a light wadding, almost like cotton wool and this might make it tricky to wash this quilt without covering the worst areas.
It has been a well used quilt and someone has tried to mend it a few times
A torn area has been stitched here
and some of the edges have been covered with fabric to stop fraying....not very skillfully. There are at least three pieces of fabric in this one area.
So I have a bit of a project over Christmas. I should have time to try and repair, wash the quilt and have time for it to dry. Fingers crossed it should come out looking better.
And I also have quite a horde of patches for my new project too.
Good luck rescuing the quilt. I enjoy doing that myself.
ReplyDeleteMy dirty quilts have usually washed up very well! if the fabric is still sturdy. So you have some synthrapol or metaplex?? it works well. Makes the quilts look so much better once the grime is gone.
ReplyDeleteI haven't come across synthrapol before, it looks interesting so I ll order some after Christmas. I had another quilt from the same dealer a couple of years ago, it was lying on the floor of the unit and was so filthy it was probably getting the floor dirty. I soaked it in the bath for two days before losing patience and hauling it downstairs and stuffing it in the washing machine. When it came out, I discovered it was pink in colour! I ll have to find some pictures of it.
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