1985 was the year that I took my first quilting class and made my first quilt. This quilt was made with stencils. Each piece marked, cut and hand stitched together. I then quilted each block, put the blocks together with sashing and quilted the sashing. I used a cotton batting.
I still have the course work: stencils and directions.
It has been used for 38 years. I guess we took good care of it as it had not been washed. I wish I had a before picture of this quilt.
Last week I was sorting a bedroom and there was a small pile of kid quilts made by my Mom or me. I decided that they needed to be washed and put away. (The cats had been napping on them.) My 1985 quilt, my first quilt, was with them, and I added it to the pile. I wish I had a before picture of this quilt.
The kid quilts all made it through the wash without any issues. They have been washed before and had either a polyester or newer cotton batting.
What was I thinking. My first ever quilt from1985 did not fare so well. I don't think cotton batting from 1985 was the best. When I took it out of the washer it was all puckered up, super puckered. Like really ugly puckered. I wish I had a before picture of this quilt.
Some of the blocks.
I wish I had a before picture of this quilt. I am very glad that I have the quilt and that I can put a new batting it in. Jack and I have a date today to take off the binding and begin to slowly un-quilt. Shall keep you informed on how it goes.
I will be linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.
Update: I finally had the courage to measure this quilt. It puckered up 16 inches in length and 14 inches in width.
Oh My Gosh! You are brave! Un-quilting this quilt will be a challenge. It will be easier sewing another one and keep this as it is. Looking forward to seeing your progress.
ReplyDeleteWOW! That was a LOT of shrinkage. I'm surprised the cotton fabrics held together that well. Happy unstitching!
ReplyDeleteI am sure you will be able to salvage this quilt. It is very pretty. I made my first quilt in 1986. It took me 20 years to hand quilt it. I think it had polyester batting. I have never tried working with wool batting.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, what a shame, after all that work. Good luck with sorting it out.
ReplyDeleteHope you can get it sorted out, it is a beautiful quilt.
ReplyDeleteOh my, your quilt is beautiful. I hope the unpicking goes well for you. I am currently unpicking a quilt as well. Sigh..... it is very slow going.
ReplyDeleteOh dear, that's an awful lot of shrinkage. I have used cotton batting in the past and used to carefully hand wash it to take care of shrinkage, just in case. Good luck with your reconstruction process.
ReplyDeleteThat is a masterpiece. 38 years of staying together. I don’t know if I could handle jack and all that work but good luck with all that work. It's beautiful on It's own merit.
ReplyDeleteI began hand piecing and quilting in 1984.