Repairing a Vintage Quilt

This narrative tutorial goes over steps that can be taken when repairing a vintage quilt.

My Vintage Quilt

My aunt made this quilt 30 or so years ago. She is a business savvy and adventurous lady, but she’s not someone who does much sewing or crafting. To me, that makes the quilt all the more special that she put so much work into it.

The age of the green and blue fabric can be judged by the 70’s era design. The doll applique is a Sunbonnet Sue pattern which has been used on quilts for over a hundred years. The blocks were hand appliquéd, and the quilt was tied by embroidery thread.

Rather than preserving the quilt (fixing the hand stitching and putting it away in the cedar chest), I opted to make it usable again for many years.

Repairs made on the quilt:

• Stain Treatment.
• Cut off the lumpy/misshapen edges.
• Patched holes.
• Gave the quilt a new binding.
• Cut off the old ties and loose strings.
• Reinforced the dolls with a zig zag stitch.

Stain Treatment

I treated the worst spots by rubbing q-tips soaked in bleach directly onto the stain. As soon as the stains disappeared, I washed the spots with water and detergent to keep the bleach from taking any more color than I intended.

Cut off the Edges

Years of use and washings caused the quilt to become misshapen. To create a square shape again, I used a rotary blade and straight edge to trim off all the edges.

Patches

The blanket’s holes were along the edges and corners. Most of them were taken care of when I cut off the edges. Two corners were worn down too far, and needed to be patched. I made the patches from excess fabric that had been tucked into the seams. I used the machine’s zig zag stitch to attach the patches.

 

New Binding

I chose a celery green fabric from my stash to make a binding. I decided against any hand sewing on this repair, and so did the entire binding with the machine. First I sewed the binding to the back of the quilt, and then pressed and top sewed the folded over edge onto the front.

I’ve always done quilt binding by hand, because I think the finished product looks so nice. This machine binding was a first for me. For how much faster it was to do by machine, I was happy with the way it turned out!

Cutting Loose Threads 

The quilt was held in place at the corners by what must have been bows tied with embroidery thread. I thought about replacing them, but decided against it as part of my no hand stitching rule for this repair. I also cut loose black thread from the doll appliques.

Reinforced the Dolls

All of the dolls had lost some hand stitching. This doll lost a lot. There is missing thread on the bonnet top and bottom, dress on both sides, and heel of the foot. The arm isn’t missing thread, but the fabric has began poking out and unraveling.

I used an iron to press under any fabric that was turned up. Then zig zag stitched the doll’s outline to hold everything in place and mitigate further lose of the hand stitching.

I stitched through all layers of the quilt. This will help keep the layers in place through many more years, and is much better than redoing the embroidery bow ties.

Notes on Repairing a Vintage Quilt

We loved this quilt when we were kids. Repairing the vintage quilt so it can be enjoyed by another generation was really rewarding. The new binding made the biggest improvement on the blanket. Reinforcing the dolls will also help maintain the integrity of the original design. I’m sure it will be enjoyed by our family for another 30 plus years.

My intention for documenting this vintage quilt repair is to encourage others to repair and use their family heirlooms. I like to think of these projects through the lens of Kintsukuroi; a Japanese art form where broken pottery is repaired with gold. The idea is that the object is more beautiful for having been broken. A few repairs also keep cherished memories out of landfills.

Do you have a vintage or heirloom quilt at home that could use some help? Maybe it’s time! Let me know any questions or hesitations in the comments.

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