Daylesewblessed

When they say tie to the back, I think they mean that the knot would be on the back side with only a small amount of the tying thread showing on the front, so as to not diminish the design of the original quilting on the front. I would recommend a crochet cotton or embroidery floss for tying.

star619

"All things are possible…" If your brother could survive Vietnam, "we" can handle this. Take a deep breath, look over the solutions offered, and then make your choice about solutions. Personally, having given quilts to people who didn't know what they were receiving (son & DIL), and seeing the resultant "abuse", I would not remove backing, and choose binding solution that was the easiest for you. After so much effort, and hope for the recipient to recognize the time, effort & love you put into your creation, it is heartbreaking for there to be an issue.
Hugs to you, and your brother, and move on past this temporary bump in the road.
P.S. Personal opinion, it must be hard for your brother to see all the adulation heaped upon soldiers of recent conflicts after the opposite reception of Vietnam vets as they returned from their "conflict". As part of the American public (though not a protester!), I regret the lack of recognition that our Vietnam vets faced.

lizzy

Agree with Jim. Just add another back.

lclang

Crochet thread #10 works well for ties. Just put the stitch through the batting and backing and tie it. Warm and natural is pretty stable and I think that would hold fine. If you match the color to thread to the color of your backing it won't be very noticeable. Good luck!

callen

Definitely hugs going your way. How very disappointing & frustrating BUT I think you have received some very good, dooable ideas & after some very deep breaths, you can do this. The comment about very dark colours & different chemicals makes sense to me. Good luck with your do-over.

orangeroom

Oh Onaemtnest! I'm so sorry this happened to your brother's quilt. I have to wonder if it will only be confined to just that one area. Hind sight is 20/20. If it was and there was no other area that seems to be affected, I'd say patch it and get on with life. However, there's no way of knowing what will happen in the future and if you'll just be patching the quilt forever more.

If you did need to replace or cover over the whole back, and cutting off the existing binding would have no big impact on the front, I say cut it off and get that done.

Hugs to you dear. (( ))

quilterpurpledog

This is a very sad thing to happen to something that is so special. It would appear that the dye used in th manufacturing process destroyed the strength and elasticity of the yarns and they shredded. I would suggest that you contact a guild of LQS and ask for the name of a quilt appraiser or restorer in your area who could give you an expert opinion before you do anything. The solution is not easy for sure but you need accurate information before you start.

novicequiltergrandma

"Warm and Natural batting which if memory serves needs to be quilted every 8 or 10 inches would I tie about the same distance as the batting suggests for quilting?"

I don't think you need to worry about the batting, it is already stabilized by the quilting holding it to the front. Since it doesn't look like the quilting is dense, I think I would open the binding, and then remove as much of the old fabric as possible, being very careful not to break any of the quilting stitches or pulling on them (or just leave the backing on). Then I would replace the backing, but would only tie as much as is needed to hold the backing in place. I'm not a very experienced quilter, but if I'm understanding correctly, the quilting is to stabilize the batting, which is already accomplished by the quilting already done. The new backing will be held by the binding, so I would tie sparingly (just enough so the backing looks and feels "attached"). Hopes this makes sense.

nancia

I could see taking out the hand stitches on the binding, putting a new back over the old, and then sew the old binding back onto the back with hand stitches again. that would certainly help protect the new back along the edges. what a heartbreak! all the hugs and kisses you need sent your way!! thank goodness he told you and knew not to throw it away!

maviskw

Sorry to hear about the quilt. In the 1940's, I made some pretty plaid dresses for myself and my little sister. We always wore dresses to school. The plaid had black in it, and the black parts soon starting fraying and falling apart. Like someone else said, the black must have had something in it that compromised the fabric.
As for your quilt, I much agree with opening the hand stitching of the binding and putting new fabric on. Don't know if I would try to snip the black away as much as possible or not. That's up to you.
But to put on your new fabric, use Washable School Glue to lay it on. Finish the binding, and then tie it, but not with yarn or floss. Use your sewing machine. Some call it machine ties or tacking. The glue will hold the fabric in place as you stitch in the ditch from the front about every six inches or so. Do about three stitches forward, three stitches backward, and three more stitches forward. Then move to about six inches away and do that again. These ties end up being almost invisible from the front. I have looked at some quilts that I did like that and wondered if I really quilted it. I had to pull on the top fabric to see that, yes, it is quilted.
You will be able to do that on any home sewing machine. Just roll the quilt the long way as you get toward the middle. I just did a quilt 88 inches wide on my Featherweight. Got right to the middle.
Good luck to you, and I love your quilt.