Grandmother's Quilt

 

Unboxed and spread out on the floor.  It was basted to all the layers and didn't lay flat.  The backing extended 6-8 inches all around.

A friend of mine of nearly 30 years asked me to help her with a quilt her Grandmother started. Of course I accepted even though we are a couple thousand miles apart.  When it arrived, it was basted to the batting and backing and had a wide solid red border all around the edges.  She had someone baste the top to the batting and backing which was clumped, gathered and bubbly in places.  That was the first thing I took apart and asked her if it was OK to remove all the basting and layers so I could lay it flat and see what was going on with the top.  She assured me that it was OK and anything I did would be acceptable as she trusts me to do what is right for it.  The top had strips and squares haphazardly spread around with many different fabric weights and compositions.  There were old sheets cut into strips and squares, home dec fabric that were possibly drapes, some polyester squares that could have been trousers, polyester knit backed pieces that may have been clothing or a blanket.  It was a collage of so many pieces of her family history.  Over time, the pieces wore holes through in places even though it was only a top and not a finished quilt.  My friend cleverly patched these areas with applique's.  A group of birds here and some leaves there.  One large applique was the Hello Kitty face, so cute and recognizable.  It was an ecclectic mix of texture and color with deep meaning for her.  I asked her questions like, "are there any sacred pieces that I should not alter?"  She only mentioned one specific piece that contained barnyard chickens, so I took note of that and made sure I didn't alter that square.  The top was a massive 120"X120+".  "Will it go on a king size bed?", I asked.  She responded, "I think it's too big, so cut it to fit a queen size".  I cut off the red borders except the wonkiest edge to tackle that later.  One step at a time was how I worked on it.  Section by section.  In the places with excess bubbles that didn't lay flat, I made small pleats near the seams to be less conspicious.  I hand sewed the pleats down. 

 When the entire top laid flat with minimal bubbles, I had to consider the different weights of the pieces and decided to reinforce the reverse side of the lightweight sheeting with fusible interfacing.  All the outer edges needed the interfacing. But, this gave a lot of body to the edges which will help extend the life of the quilt and make the quilt stitches stand out.  The block with the applique bunny was a thick polyester woven blanket fabric, so I also fused interfacing to the reverse side of that block.  

Next, it was time to consider the edges.  One edge was particularly wonky.  Knowing that a straight edge wasn't going to look good, I had to think what would make it look less obvious.  

In the next communication with her, I asked if she was opposed to a scalloped edge to try and hide some troubled areas.  She thought that was a stellar idea.  Making a paper template, I cut the edges into a wave instead of a scallop.  Matching the top and bottom waves.  Then, matching the left and right side waves together.  It wasn't square, so I wanted it to appear even all the way around. 

When it came time to do the quilting stitches, I suggested an all over pattern.  So, I did a large free motion meander stitch pattern from edge to edge.  It was amazing that there were only 2 places where a fold could not avoided.  I know where those area are, but it's completely inconspicious. 

With the red border gone, the quilt had a more grown-up vibe, so I didn't reuse the red for the binding.  Instead, I suggested a pretty blue solid.  She approved of that, so I cut bias strips and finished the edges off with binding.  It was so satisfying to see this quilt now finished after being put aside for so long.  

Quilting stitches done, added the wavy edge binding and finished the binding by hand to the reverse side.  So large it doesn't fit on my domestic machine sewing table so I crumpled it for the photo to show binding edge. 

Finished quilt on Queen size blow up bed.  Finished size is roughly 100"X95"

I carefully folded and placed it in her garment bag and boxed it up to be sent overseas.  It was a long couple weeks in transit, worrying about it all the while.  When she received it, I got a message from her with complete joy over the work I did.  She expressed how she will cherish it now as a colaborative quilt made by her Grandmother, herself, and her friend (me).  I'm so thrilled that she loves it and trusted me to carefully finish the quilt it was meant to be.   Later she asked how to care for it.  I expressed to her that minimal cleaning is best and not to wash it in a washer or drying it in a dryer.  Dry cleaning would be the best way to freshen and spot clean it.  I've had success using Woolite home dry cleaning products in a very low heat dryer.  Sometimes just airing out a quilt to freshen it is enough.  A couple hours in the sunshine is OK.