I show you three antique quilts and book review! INSTAGRAM: / mostlyquiltsbynora E-MAIL: (serious business inquiries only please): noramostlyquilts@gmail.com
The beds were smaller long ago. The binding and edges wore out faster than the middle. My granny died in 1988 and was a prolific quilter. She would take worn quilts her mother and grandmother made and ‘rework’ them to fit modern beds. She would increase the size by adding borders. She’d copy worn out borders and make them by machine wider than the original. She’d carefully attach them and quilt the new part by machine. They didn’t throw anything away.
That bird quilt is amazing. My theory is that the bird quilt was made by hand by an amazing quilter. At a later date, someone found/acquired it and decided it needed to have a spot on a guest room bed, so she took it to someone to add those edges so it would look good on the bed. I absolutely love it!!
Is the back of the first quilt just one piece? The purple flower is a maybe petunia? I would just accept the stains on the second one as part of the quilt and recreate one as close as you can to this one. The stains still would exist on the coat. I'm curious as to why the stains are acceptable on a coat.
I have this same quilt (sans birds and border)Garden Bouquet that my paternal Grandma made. We believe it was started for her daughter who died in 1929 at age 8 from an accident. It was just a top, my maternal Grandma eventually added a back to it (70's?) so we used it as a flimsy. A few years ago I had my quilter sister take it and she removed the backing, added batting and a new backing and bound it and had it machine quilted. I love that my family's hands have been all over this quilt. I will look into Nancy Page designs to perhaps get a better date of when it was made.
It’s fun to watch you look at old quilts. I enjoy that part of your program. How exciting that you found it in that book! I am no expert, but I would totally guess that the borders were added at a later date. Look how bright that pink is compared to the faded fabric of the middle. Plus why would she use a different background color in the borders? Of course she could’ve run out of that color, but the center is hand-pieced and quilted, much more faded much softer, whereas the borders look like they were added later with brighter, newer and stiffer machine quilted fabric. It could be they wanted a larger quilt, or could be the edges were so deteriorated that they saved it by adding a new border. That’s my guess! You know, seeing the close-up of the birds, I think a lot of those birds were replaced with newer fabric too! How do you explain how worn and faded the flower vase fabric is as compared to the new and brighter birds? I bet this thing was completely repaired at a later date. And it’s so great that you have a date on the grandmother’s flower garden. I have my great grandmother’s quilt, and it has the same yellow although more faded, and the same green. So your quilt should be from around 1935, and I would say mine was also from the 1930s then. Good to know!
Very Nancy Page flowers. I have loved her Magic Vine quilt since seeing it on Alex Anderson’s Simply Quilts TV show in the 1990s, and bought the pattern then. Wish I could post photo of my vine here. Thanks for sharing more info on Nancy Page and your great quilt treasures!
The purple flower is a pansy. I think that the 1st quilt you showed was done in 2 different time periods.The muslin on the border looks like a newer fabric,it has less yellowing. I think maybe one person started it and someone else finished it. Like maybe a mother started it and her daughter finished it. I am fine with making quilt coats but I prefer that it is made for the coat. I am fine with using a quilt that is mass produced and also a quilt that doesn't have historic value.
I loved looking at these old quilts. I was fortunate to get my grandparents home and everything in it back in 1991 and under a bed in boxes were several handmade quilts!! Oh what a treasure and an exciting find. I still have them and will pass them on to my 3 daughters. How exciting that you found the same pattern in that interesting book.
Great video Nora. Personally I’d keep the quilts as they are, stains are part of their history. I very much enjoy your channel. Thank you for your time. ❤️😁🌹
I have acquired a similar quilt to your nana’s flower garden. It was made by my MIL in the 50’s. I am going to restore the best I can so future generations can admire.
The pink and white quilt stains might be rust from water that was very high in it. I remember back in the mid sixties I was a little girl and my family was considering moving to a small rural town. One of the factors in moving there was the towns water supply. It ruined everything washed in it. I don’t remember them talking about drinking it! Times have changed.
Congratulations on your antique quilt collection, they are really beautiful. As per stains, you could try spraying cleaning vinegar, baking soda and dish liquid, soak it for 15 to 20 mins ) do not allow it to dry) gently scrub the area with baby toothbrush. Air dry, repeat the same after a day or 2, gradually the stain can be removed. Enjoy your beautiful quilts 💕
I think the staining comes from the cotton seed hulls that was usually left in cotton fabrics. Maybe over time they decompose and cause that. Makes me want to do research. This was exciting to watch, thanks!
Regarding the pink antique quilt, you could consider cutting out the best pieces and framing them. That makes great wall art and preserves the design and fabric. Best to frame without glass; never allow glass to touch the fabric when framed. Love your videos !!
Getting stains out requires a knowledge of what the stain came from. The star quilt looks like mildew. That comes from being stored damp. Mildew is one of the hardest stains to remove. The hex/oct ogon looks like rust. This comes from being washed in water high in iron. Iron removers mostly just change the oxidation of the iron which makes the stain fade out. If they were modern quilts I would try oxiclean. It works really well on rust. Less well on mildew. Bleach is the only thing that gets mildew out. BUT it will destroy that quilt. Bleach damages the fibers of new white fabric, and isn't safe on colors. The fiber damage on that quilt is significant. It needs to be kept in a dark, temperature controlled, dry or humidity controlled environment laying flat with few folds. I would consider donating it to the quilt museum in Lincoln, NE.
Oh wow Nora! How exciting ! You have been blessed with the care of these 3 quilts for your lifetime. Going thru family too. Adding some thoughts...the purple flower is a pansy, I thought the one on the left a trilliam. Check your back copies of Quilters Newsletter as I have a visual mind and am picturing it printed in there! Cotton fabric comes from cotton plant ( so natural) could the stain be cotton seed oil? Did anyone suggest laying the quilt out in the snow to clean it? I have always wanted to try this lol . I will see if the library can find me that book, sounds fascinating and right up my lane. You have your video but do you also journal your findings or label info right on quilt ? Tfs
Can you feel if there are any cotton seeds remaining in the batting of these old quilts? That is so fun to find. Sorry about all the multiple comments.
I think you should dye it one color. Try a pink and don'tlet the dye stay a full time so it will be darker on the pinks and lighter on The white. Eleanor Burns has information on removing stains with a special product. She is an expert on antique quilts. You might ask her.
It looks like the boarder could be newer than the quilt center. The fabric could have a rougher touch to it. Perhaps someone inherited the quilt center and they needed it to be bigger for their bed. They than added the boarder.
I was wondering if the fabric was stained or even tea dyed before the quilt was made. A lot of times quilt makers used whatever fabric they could find. old linens etc. Stain to me means the quilt was used and appreciated, therefore our use means we continue to appreciate it and it’s charm.
The first quilt - center was made and quilted and someone came back and needed it bigger for more modern day larger beds and added the border. The border fabrics are also newer. Not uncommon.
The feed sack fabrics are nice examples on the last hexagon quilt. I have hundreds of old quilts and hundreds of tops and various linens and tapesties etc. i don’t hesitate to hand wash and sun and store textiles, but it’s a tedious process and you have to just take it piece by piece i. Judging how it’s going to endure the process. I have a gees bend quilt id like to find a home for because it’s a pine burr and needs to be properly preserved in a museum. Other than that, I do t worry too much. I figure I’ve saved them from what could have been a far worse demise.
I think it’s likely that the border was added to the quilt by a different/later owner. That also could explain why the fabric in the border is so different from the center of the quilt.
Stains on white? I know with the family quilts I have, the "white" was also made of feed sacks. Maybe some of the contents of the original sacks left residual stains on fabric? Like breastmilk stains on babyclothes that wash out, but appear after time? Just an idea.
Depending on the back of the 1st Quilt I would think the center was done by someone and the border was done later on by someone else. Just as we might salvage an old quilt.
Reason for machine quilting in the border? It may have to do with the fact that you commented about that fabric being 'stiffer'. Because it is stiffer, it may have been a bugger to get the needle through to hand quilt it. That would have persuaded me to machine stitch it! So when you pick your fabrics for hand quilting, keep that in mind. I had tried to hand quilt some pieces 'back in the day' (like when your book was published) that were that 'stiffer' fabric, even though they were quilting fabrics. Kills the fingers! Don't remember what i did about it exactly, but I'm pretty sure it ended up with a lot less quilting! Love your quilts. You might just try soaking in a product called 'Restore'. It might just lighten it up a lot.
The maker made the first quilt by hand for a specific sized bed. Years later when the hand quilter finished the “ center”. The bed it was now for is bigger. Hence the machine border. She probably did not own a sewing machine when this was started
I am personally not bothered by the stains on antique quilts as it's also part of it's history. We llive in a world now of things needing to be perfect all the time but when these quilts were made they were primarily made with scrap fabrics and made to keep people warm. I would not cut that pink quilt up and make a coat. If you are truly bothered by the stains it's possible you could lightly dye the quilt a light pink which might hide the stains on the white a bit, but you could also ruin in it in the process. They are all very lovely quilts and you are lucky to have inherited them. Especially your grandmothers quilt, I would put a label on the back with it's history so down the road the story lives on. I think the borders on the pink quilt were added later possibly to enlarge the quilt, I can't see the original maker switching to machine quilting mid stream.
If you don't like the pink quilt to snuggle with are you going to want to wear it? (Its obviously clean... I'd use it because with the staining it isn't precious so you don't have to worry about any accidents.
The pink quilt is very well made, contact someone who is a fabric dyer, and you might be able to tea stain the cream, but you need help from a professional, how to handle that so you didn't effect the pink.
The basket quilt with borders on 3 sides…. The top may have been left plain as a “whisker cloth.” So scratchy whiskers would not mess with precious quilting.
The beds were smaller long ago. The binding and edges wore out faster than the middle. My granny died in 1988 and was a prolific quilter. She would take worn quilts her mother and grandmother made and ‘rework’ them to fit modern beds. She would increase the size by adding borders. She’d copy worn out borders and make them by machine wider than the original. She’d carefully attach them and quilt the new part by machine. They didn’t throw anything away.
That bird quilt is amazing. My theory is that the bird quilt was made by hand by an amazing quilter. At a later date, someone found/acquired it and decided it needed to have a spot on a guest room bed, so she took it to someone to add those edges so it would look good on the bed. I absolutely love it!!
Is the back of the first quilt just one piece? The purple flower is a maybe petunia? I would just accept the stains on the second one as part of the quilt and recreate one as close as you can to this one. The stains still would exist on the coat. I'm curious as to why the stains are acceptable on a coat.
I have this same quilt (sans birds and border)Garden Bouquet that my paternal Grandma made. We believe it was started for her daughter who died in 1929 at age 8 from an accident. It was just a top, my maternal Grandma eventually added a back to it (70's?) so we used it as a flimsy. A few years ago I had my quilter sister take it and she removed the backing, added batting and a new backing and bound it and had it machine quilted. I love that my family's hands have been all over this quilt. I will look into Nancy Page designs to perhaps get a better date of when it was made.
It’s so fun looking at old quilts
It’s fun to watch you look at old quilts. I enjoy that part of your program. How exciting that you found it in that book! I am no expert, but I would totally guess that the borders were added at a later date. Look how bright that pink is compared to the faded fabric of the middle. Plus why would she use a different background color in the borders? Of course she could’ve run out of that color, but the center is hand-pieced and quilted, much more faded much softer, whereas the borders look like they were added later with brighter, newer and stiffer machine quilted fabric. It could be they wanted a larger quilt, or could be the edges were so deteriorated that they saved it by adding a new border. That’s my guess!
You know, seeing the close-up of the birds, I think a lot of those birds were replaced with newer fabric too! How do you explain how worn and faded the flower vase fabric is as compared to the new and brighter birds? I bet this thing was completely repaired at a later date.
And it’s so great that you have a date on the grandmother’s flower garden. I have my great grandmother’s quilt, and it has the same yellow although more faded, and the same green. So your quilt should be from around 1935, and I would say mine was also from the 1930s then. Good to know!
Very Nancy Page flowers. I have loved her Magic Vine quilt since seeing it on Alex Anderson’s Simply Quilts TV show in the 1990s, and bought the pattern then. Wish I could post photo of my vine here. Thanks for sharing more info on Nancy Page and your great quilt treasures!
The purple flower is a pansy. I think that the 1st quilt you showed was done in 2 different time periods.The muslin on the border looks like a newer fabric,it has less yellowing. I think maybe one person started it and someone else finished it. Like maybe a mother started it and her daughter finished it. I am fine with making quilt coats but I prefer that it is made for the coat. I am fine with using a quilt that is mass produced and also a quilt that doesn't have historic value.
I hope you never decide to cut it up! That would be heartbreaking. I love all of the quilts. Thank you for sharing!
I loved looking at these old quilts. I was fortunate to get my grandparents home and everything in it back in 1991 and under a bed in boxes were several handmade quilts!! Oh what a treasure and an exciting find. I still have them and will pass them on to my 3 daughters. How exciting that you found the same pattern in that interesting book.
Great video Nora. Personally I’d keep the quilts as they are, stains are part of their history. I very much enjoy your channel. Thank you for your time. ❤️😁🌹
I think the border on the basket quilt was added on later (probably the 50s or 60s) and the hand quilted part was done in the 30s or 40s.
LOL quilt coat! I remember that video. I think because of the shredding it might make the coat pretty fragile.
I have acquired a similar quilt to your nana’s flower garden. It was made by my MIL in the 50’s. I am going to restore the best I can so future generations can admire.
The applicaded quilt is gorgeous
I have so enjoyed your last 2 videos and your explanation of each. Thank you for sharing.
Maybe the border was added by someone else years later to make it big enough to suit themselves? The fabrics in the border look much newer
The pink and white quilt stains might be rust from water that was very high in it. I remember back in the mid sixties I was a little girl and my family was considering moving to a small rural town. One of the factors in moving there was the towns water supply. It ruined everything washed in it. I don’t remember them talking about drinking it! Times have changed.
Thanks for sharing your lovely antique quilts. I agree, antique quilts are treasures that should never be cut up.
Congratulations on your antique quilt collection, they are really beautiful. As per stains, you could try spraying cleaning vinegar, baking soda and dish liquid, soak it for 15 to 20 mins ) do not allow it to dry) gently scrub the area with baby toothbrush. Air dry, repeat the same after a day or 2, gradually the stain can be removed. Enjoy your beautiful quilts 💕
I think the staining comes from the cotton seed hulls that was usually left in cotton fabrics. Maybe over time they decompose and cause that. Makes me want to do research. This was exciting to watch, thanks!
very beautiful quilt. I wouldn't even care if it was stained, I'd snuggle with it everyday and just enjoy it. lucky you have it
Regarding the pink antique quilt, you could consider cutting out the best pieces and framing them. That makes great wall art and preserves the design and fabric. Best to frame without glass; never allow glass to touch the fabric when framed. Love your videos !!
Getting stains out requires a knowledge of what the stain came from. The star quilt looks like mildew. That comes from being stored damp. Mildew is one of the hardest stains to remove.
The hex/oct ogon looks like rust. This comes from being washed in water high in iron. Iron removers mostly just change the oxidation of the iron which makes the stain fade out.
If they were modern quilts I would try oxiclean. It works really well on rust. Less well on mildew.
Bleach is the only thing that gets mildew out. BUT it will destroy that quilt. Bleach damages the fibers of new white fabric, and isn't safe on colors. The fiber damage on that quilt is significant. It needs to be kept in a dark, temperature controlled, dry or humidity controlled environment laying flat with few folds. I would consider donating it to the quilt museum in Lincoln, NE.
I love all the book reviews with your videos.
Beautiful quilt! Enjoy.
Oh wow Nora! How exciting ! You have been blessed with the care of these 3 quilts for your lifetime. Going thru family too. Adding some thoughts...the purple flower is a pansy, I thought the one on the left a trilliam. Check your back copies of Quilters Newsletter as I have a visual mind and am picturing it printed in there! Cotton fabric comes from cotton plant ( so natural) could the stain be cotton seed oil? Did anyone suggest laying the quilt out in the snow to clean it? I have always wanted to try this lol . I will see if the library can find me that book, sounds fascinating and right up my lane. You have your video but do you also journal your findings or label info right on quilt ? Tfs
Can you feel if there are any cotton seeds remaining in the batting of these old quilts? That is so fun to find. Sorry about all the multiple comments.
I think you should dye it one color. Try a pink and don'tlet the dye stay a full time so it will be darker on the pinks and lighter on The white. Eleanor Burns has information on removing stains with a special product. She is an expert on antique quilts. You might ask her.
It looks like the boarder could be newer than the quilt center. The fabric could have a rougher touch to it. Perhaps someone inherited the quilt center and they needed it to be bigger for their bed. They than added the boarder.
I was wondering if the fabric was stained or even tea dyed before the quilt was made. A lot of times quilt makers used whatever fabric they could find. old linens etc. Stain to me means the quilt was used and appreciated, therefore our use means we continue to appreciate it and it’s charm.
They also just develop a patina of their own. Just like old furniture or copper or silver or anything else
The first quilt - center was made and quilted and someone came back and needed it bigger for more modern day larger beds and added the border. The border fabrics are also newer. Not uncommon.
The feed sack fabrics are nice examples on the last hexagon quilt.
I have hundreds of old quilts and hundreds of tops and various linens and tapesties etc. i don’t hesitate to hand wash and sun and store textiles, but it’s a tedious process and you have to just take it piece by piece i. Judging how it’s going to endure the process.
I have a gees bend quilt id like to find a home for because it’s a pine burr and needs to be properly preserved in a museum. Other than that, I do t worry too much. I figure I’ve saved them from what could have been a far worse demise.
I think it’s likely that the border was added to the quilt by a different/later owner. That also could explain why the fabric in the border is so different from the center of the quilt.
Stains on white? I know with the family quilts I have, the "white" was also made of feed sacks. Maybe some of the contents of the original sacks left residual stains on fabric? Like breastmilk stains on babyclothes that wash out, but appear after time? Just an idea.
Depending on the back of the 1st Quilt I would think the center was done by someone and the border was done later on by someone else. Just as we might salvage an old quilt.
Reason for machine quilting in the border? It may have to do with the fact that you commented about that fabric being 'stiffer'. Because it is stiffer, it may have been a bugger to get the needle through to hand quilt it. That would have persuaded me to machine stitch it! So when you pick your fabrics for hand quilting, keep that in mind. I had tried to hand quilt some pieces 'back in the day' (like when your book was published) that were that 'stiffer' fabric, even though they were quilting fabrics. Kills the fingers! Don't remember what i did about it exactly, but I'm pretty sure it ended up with a lot less quilting! Love your quilts. You might just try soaking in a product called 'Restore'. It might just lighten it up a lot.
Correction: product is called Restoration, not Restore.
Thefabric was to high thread count to hand quit is my guess. I love the colors of Kona brand but personally, I'd machine quilt it .
The maker made the first quilt by hand for a specific sized bed. Years later when the hand quilter finished the “ center”. The bed it was now for is bigger. Hence the machine border. She probably did not own a sewing machine when this was started
I am personally not bothered by the stains on antique quilts as it's also part of it's history. We llive in a world now of things needing to be perfect all the time but when these quilts were made they were primarily made with scrap fabrics and made to keep people warm. I would not cut that pink quilt up and make a coat. If you are truly bothered by the stains it's possible you could lightly dye the quilt a light pink which might hide the stains on the white a bit, but you could also ruin in it in the process. They are all very lovely quilts and you are lucky to have inherited them. Especially your grandmothers quilt, I would put a label on the back with it's history so down the road the story lives on. I think the borders on the pink quilt were added later possibly to enlarge the quilt, I can't see the original maker switching to machine quilting mid stream.
If you don't like the pink quilt to snuggle with are you going to want to wear it? (Its obviously clean... I'd use it because with the staining it isn't precious so you don't have to worry about any accidents.
Probably the center was made and quilted by one maker and the borders were done years later perhaps by the makers daughter or grand daughter.
The stains are part of the history. One can dream about how they were gotten. Children pets etc
Thank you
Reupholster a cozy chair
The pink quilt is very well made, contact someone who is a fabric dyer, and you might be able to tea stain the cream, but you need help from a professional, how to handle that so you didn't effect the pink.
The basket quilt with borders on 3 sides…. The top may have been left plain as a “whisker cloth.” So scratchy whiskers would not mess with precious quilting.