VINTAGE QUILTS

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Comment by Prairie Quilter/NE on July 13, 2017 at 7:41am

Yep, another sucker here, too.  I love those saves!  What a fun find and a great vintage quilt to work on.  

Comment by Pam/NY on July 13, 2017 at 7:35am

I'm a sucker also!!! It will be gorgeous after you get finished with it! Another treasure saved!!!!

Comment by handstitcher/IL on July 13, 2017 at 6:34am

Very quiet around here! I picked up some vintage butterfly blocks at a flea market a few weeks ago. They're quite large, 25" finished size, so the 9 blocks will make a full sized quilt when I add sashing. It's raw edge applique with a tight buttonhole stitch. The wings are completed, but half the bodies need to be sewn on and antennas embroidered. This is a photo before they were washed. I should have taken the after photo instead!

They're not the most beautiful blocks, but I'm such a sucker for 30s era UFOs. Not like I don't have enough of my own to be finishing!!

Comment by handstitcher/IL on July 3, 2017 at 11:02am

Happy Independence Day! Here's a bit of eye candy for my vintage loving friends...http://www.kansascitystarquilts.com/2014/07/04/happy-independence-day/

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.

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