VINTAGE QUILTS

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Comment by Prairie Quilter/NE on March 21, 2017 at 10:42am

I'll bet you didn't do that again, Pam!  :)  I can see how it would have been tempting, though.  

Comment by Pam/NY on March 21, 2017 at 9:04am

I'd rather have a knot also! My grandmother entered many juried shows and they would hold the piece up to light to be sure the front and back matched. I always look for as secure as I can get it. Especially, since it will be used. When we were little and the cousins slept over at grandma's. She had tied utility quilts that we made beds from. We untied all the knots one night. Didn't realize it was bad. She was furious! Funny now but at the time... not so much!

Comment by Prairie Quilter/NE on March 21, 2017 at 8:31am

Cat Lady, I love hearing stories of our grandmothers.  The "back must look as good as the front" must have been universal, as that's what I was always taught as well.  This piece came from an estate of an elderly prolific quilter in St. Louis, MO.  I wish I knew more about her, but that's as much as I was told.  I'm sure she knew what she was doing, I'd just not seen it before.  Maybe the ends were tucked in, but have come loose from handling, I'm not sure.  Or maybe she just hadn't gotten around to going back and weaving them in.  

When my grandmother taught me to embroider, she used small knots, but I can see why it would be discouraged.    

PS:  Embroidered tea towels are still my favorite for drying dishes and for hanging off my oven door.  

Comment by Cat Lady--MO on March 21, 2017 at 8:14am

PQ, when my Grandmother and Mother taught me how to do embroidery, I began and ended my stitching with a tail of thread that was then woven back into the stitches (on the back side).  I still have some "tea-towels" that they embroidered that have been laundered numerous times, and this weaving the thread ends back in has held up well.  The concept was that the back should be just as neat and tidy as the front.  Knots, unless they were decorative, were not to be seen.

I still use this method when I am doing embroidery, especially when there is enough stitches appearing on the backside to hold the thread tails secure. --Back-stitch and/or stem-stitch is an excellent example. For Cross-hatch, the ends were woven around the stitches that appear on the back. 

For your crosshatch, I would either make sure all of those tails were woven in, or, if you prefer and can, then knot them off, or as Pam suggested maybe a little permanent fabric glue to seal them.

Comment by Prairie Quilter/NE on March 21, 2017 at 8:11am

Lynne, I may take a crochet hook and see if I can't find a way to knot the ends.  I was just so excited to get it basted so I could start hand quilting that I'm dragging my feet about the knots.  It will be worth it to take the time, though.  

Comment by Lynne on March 21, 2017 at 8:06am

PQ,, can you take those long threads and try to secure a knot in them???  You might also want to secure with some very thin fusible.  It might work for the threads you can't knot.

Comment by Prairie Quilter/NE on March 21, 2017 at 6:46am

Diane, I used to do that on counted cross stitch pieces, but I'd not seen it done on regular cross-stitch or embroidery, for that matter.  I agree, I'd like to see those ends knotted or secured some way.  It would be just like a little kid to start pulling on a loose thread... :)

Comment by diane on March 21, 2017 at 6:37am

I've known cross stitchers to run the thread under stitches instead of knotting but I agree that I'd feel more secure with a knot. I think it was mainly done on pictures so there wouldn't be a bump not on quilts.

Comment by Prairie Quilter/NE on March 21, 2017 at 5:50am

Thanks, Pam.  Do you suppose that's just how all of those were done?  Can't imagine not securing the ends.  I'd rather have a knot there than to have all my hard work come undone!

Comment by Pam/NY on March 21, 2017 at 5:32am

I had that issue and I took fabric glue and glued them down. It worked well. When you quilt it try to needle in the dot mark. They don't all wash out. Luckily, you have to really look close to see them. Post us some pictures along the way!

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