BETTY62

What a great find. Good luck in repairing it.

Vicki W

I found a little data on two of the three women.

U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 2
about Eva Swearingen
[TABLE="class: MsoNormalTable, width: 81"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 4, bgcolor: transparent"][/TD]
[TD="width: 505, bgcolor: transparent, colspan: 2"]
[TABLE="class: MsoNormalTable, width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 124"]Name:
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Eva Swearingen
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 124"]Birth Date:
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]21 Oct 1914
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 124"]Address:
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]1201 Cardinal Dr, Woodville, TX, 75979-5428
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 128, colspan: 2"]Name:
[/TD]
[TD="width: 381, bgcolor: transparent"]Eva Swearingen
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 128, colspan: 2"]Birth Date:
[/TD]
[TD="width: 381, bgcolor: transparent"]21 Oct 1914
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 128, colspan: 2"]Address:
[/TD]
[TD="width: 381, bgcolor: transparent"]Rt 1 84 214 Old Wharton, Spurger, TX, 77660
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 5, bgcolor: transparent"][/TD]
[TD="width: 149, bgcolor: transparent"][/TD]
[TD="width: 457, bgcolor: transparent"][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

1930 United States Federal Census
[TABLE="class: MsoNormalTable"]
[TR]
[TD]Name:
[/TD]
[TD="width: 478, bgcolor: transparent"]Louisa E Ratcliff
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 146, bgcolor: transparent"]Birth:
[/TD]
[TD="width: 478, bgcolor: transparent"]abt 1868 - North Carolina
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 146, bgcolor: transparent"]Residence:
[/TD]
[TD="width: 478, bgcolor: transparent"]1930 - South Groveton, Trinity, Texas
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

The locations seem to be fairly close. Seems like your quilt has always been in Texas.

Kas

I would suggest picking out the quilting past where you want to cut the quilt and then be careful not to cut that length of thread off. Then you have enough to secure the quilting so it doesn't continue to unravel. I also agree with the applique idea. I was just reading in a book by the AQS saying to take a section of window screen big enough to fit the bottom and sides of your tub and cover the edges so they are not sharp. Put the screen in the tub, put the quilt in an accordian shape on it and fill tub with cool water. Make sure the water isn't hitting the quilt itself. Hold onto the screen and pull it, quilt and all, up and then let it down again several times so the water is going through the quilt, but you aren't mashing on the fibers. Drain the tub, then pull the side of the screen over to the other side to sort of squish the quilt gently. You will need to lay it out over a clean white sheet on the grass with another sheet over it. Yep. Wait till spring or summer! Yikes! But do check for colorfastness before getting it wet. Do that with plain water on a qtip that you rub gently in a less obvious spot. If the color comes off on the qtip, well, you are asking for a muddy mess if you wash it. Keep us updated on your progress with pics! And good luck.

oakdryad5

Vicki that is so neat! What a treat to find out more about the people who possibly made the quilt. My husband is on ancestry.com. I'll give him the names and he might be able to find out some more information. Thank you!

Kas--that is a great tip for washing. It really needs it, its so dingy. The screen idea sounds really cool. I have a large area in the front I can lay it out to dry, but of course definitely waiting until spring!

All: I spent awhile looking at the quilt last night and formulating my plan of attack. This is what I came up with so far. The edge that has the most damaged block also has for some reason an extra wide piece of binding. (the other side, and most of the quilt shows binding maybe like 1" or less wide, but the end I wanted to cut was nearly 4 or so " of binding. I'm trying the following, since I want to avoid having to cut into the quilting itself and securing all that if I don't have to. I went ahead and unraveled the binding on the side and cut off the excess so it will match the binding on the rest of the quilt. That gave me some extra material to make repairs. I am hoping I have enough! I figure I will use up all that material on the front of the quilt. If I run out by the time I need to repair the back, I am hoping I can get some feedsacks of a similar age to use as repair since it won't be seen like the front will.

I started this today so I will keep updating! What's neat too when I exposed the binding near those blocks I could see their original bright colors (on the edges hidden inside the quilt under the binding). What is now a faded dingy light blue was once brilliant, like our reply buttons on the forum here. Can't wait to get this quilt back in shape!

oakdryad5

Ok so I'm fretting about some of the frayed blocks. Its looking more like I will need to add additional fabric. I have feedsacks in my stash that I got from estate/yard sales. some were made into kids pants or pillowcases, the problem is that they are not faded at all and super bright and colorful. while that's great, this quilt is faded. I took a photo so you could see what I have. I'm just going to proceed with what repairs I can make until I run out of original fabric. any suggestions? can i dye the fabric with tea to make it look less bright or is that a bad idea?

Prism99

It's light that fades fabric, and it actually does not take that many hours to do it. I think if you left your new feedsacks in a sunny window for several weeks, you would find them faded to a much softer look. If you Google, you can find info about how fast fabrics fade when subjected to light. After that, if the whites need to be yellowed, you could consider dying; however, I think RIT and similar dyes are preferable to tea dying as the tannins in tea are hard on fabric.

so-sew

What a treasure. Love all that quilting.

damaquilts

good luck with the quilt. I have some that were in that shape and I used them as the inside of another quilt. I figured it would keep the old ones safe and I could still use them for warmth. Not a good idea after I had to leave my daughters they got ruined because someone put them outside and left them for the dogs. GRR. Anyway. I have a friends 2 quilts that I really need to finish. She wanted them repaired so they were useable. I am very carefully trying to replace the fabric pieces with ones that look as much like the old ones as possible. I am appliquing on then requilting the replacement patches.

coldquilter

what a cool find

SandyQuilter

Since you plan to use it, I would wash it before starting to repair, unless there are holes in it, which should be cover-basted with netting. I had a 20s quilt that looked okay, but after soaking in the bathtub, the water turned Hersey chocolate brown, ugh it was awful. Add a two or three drops of liquid soap and let it soak in cool water in the tub for around 30 minutes, gently hand agitate it and push to the side of the tub to let the dirty water drain out. Rinse two or three times, as soil requires. Squeeze it to the side of the tub and gently press the water out. When lifting use care to grab large amounts of quilt so as not to break stitches. Have someone help you carry it out of the house on a sheet, open the sheet on the grass and CAREFULLY open the quilt to dry. Cover with another sheet to protect from birds and animals. This is how I wash all my good quilts--I want them to last.
Oh, the quilt fabric looks older than the 20s. You date a quilt by the newest fabric, not the oldest. We all keep our fabric for years before it is used up and so did earlier quilters. There a number of fabric dating books available.
Happy repair
SandyQuilter