MsKrista

Can anyone tell me what this is? I was told it was a old quilt frame but I can't figure out how to put it together or how to use it as a quilt frame ... HELP![ATTACH=CONFIG]392736[/ATTACH]

ragamuffin

I think it looks like a curtain stretcher. If there are little "needles" to hook the hems of the lace curtains onto, then it is certainly that. I have one in my attic. I am 70 yrs. old and helped my Mother years ago do the curtains. She would wash them, starch them in bluing starch to whiten them further, then we would put them on the frame, needle by needle. I think it sets up like a frame, with the legs on the ground behind it to hold it up. Sometimes if it was a windy day and the curtains were not dry, we would move it inside until they were dry. It was a little time consuming but they really looked nice at the windows later on. I was thinking too, you could use it to baste a quilt, but I believe you woud have to put a person on both sides of it. It would be better then getting on the floor to baste a quilt. I think I am done basting them on the floor. Try to put it together. It will look like an easel. Have fun.

NikkiLu

Yes, I think it is a curtain stretcher also.

0tis

I thought maybe it was a measuring tool that surveyor's use - but I don't really know.

bunniequilter

Wow, have never heard of a curtain stretcher.

jokir44

Yes, curtain stretchers. And if you back into those needles you surely know it. As a child I did that. As I got older I helped attach the curtains. You get poked-lots. We had to watch the wind when they were outside so the frame didn't blow over.

amyjo

yes, curtain stretchers. I have two sets upstairs, my MIL used to do her curtains that way. Me, I washed and slightly dried and hung them back up. No stretching for me.

Stitchnripper

Oh gosh, yes curtain stretchers. I remember them well. Dangerous items!

quilt queen

I've never seen curtain stretchers but have seen and used jean stretchers..they were placed inside the legs of the jeans and expanded to fit the legs and then the pair of jeans were hung on the line...it really did the job, very little ironing was needed..of course, this was before everyone had a clothes dryer.

Yooper32

Oh, yes, oh yes! Every spring, the lace curtains had to be carefully laundered and then affixed onto the needles of the stretcher and left until dry. You could put multiple layers on at one time too. And the little children are not to touch the precious curtains or the stretcher. If the little girl has been very ill and is left home on Sunday morning with Daddy while the rest of the family goes to church, she might pull at the rehung curtains so as to look outside. The Daddy would tell her "leave them alone, do not touch the curtains.." If the little girl doesn't listen, the Daddy gets terribly angry and shuts the little girl in a closet. The closet is very dark and the door is oak and little hands find a brass curtain rod and she commences to beat on the door with the brass rod. The Daddy hurries to the closet, opens the door and sees the little girl, blue in the face and frothing at the mouth. To this day, the little girl still cannot stand to be confined in any way. If the weather is anywhere near nice, the front door is open, when nobody is around, the bathroom door stays open....get the picture? The Daddy appologized for many years, even until his death. You see, Momma had just rehung those lace curtains after the washing and starching and stretching and the Daddy knew the Mommy would be angry if they were messed or mangled. The little girl is 80 now.