Welcome to Ann Quilts
A couple of years ago, I told Part 1 of this story, in which I mended a memory quilt for a customer. She shared its sweet story for me to share here. On the post, you can see the quilt and read the story of family love across generations and many miles. I've also described the mending and rebuilding that I did.
Here are a couple of photos from Part 1 to whet your whistle. In today's post, I will share Part 2.
The next post of fun quilt repair moments.
This week: a prize-winning family heirloom quilt. Check out the design and sewing skills, about as perfect as a quilt can get.
I hope this beauty will inspire you to join in the virtual quilt repair and care workshop that I will be teaching in winter 2024. All the info is on my website. Email to be added to the mailing list for notification when registration opens.
The workshop will cover restoration and conservation supplies and techniques and how to choose which to use, and also, fabric history, and preservation concepts like storage and cleaning. Everyone will get to show a quilt or two and we’ll discuss how to proceed with their care.
The marvelous appliqué.
The marvelous quilting. The feather wreath echoes the appliqué.
Look at the border with alternating flower designs!
How many stitches per inch?! Beautifully made!
There were a few areas of worn fabric. Since the owner was planning to continue storing the quilt, we decided against doing any stitching into the weakened fabrics and left it as is. 
I recommended storing with proper materials, especially padding the folds with acid-free tissue paper rolls, and also, periodic refolding along different lines. These will avoid worsening the creases that have formed which could eventually lead to more fabric damage.
The Woman’s Day Sweepstakes Prize for appliqué. Unfortunately, some of the identifying info about the venue is illegible. Quilt likely dates to the 1930s or so. 
Kudos to this quilter of the past for honing her skills and making this graceful and wondrous quilt!
The second installment of weekly quilt repair tidbits and photos.
Schoolhouse quilt, c. 1915-20
This week: a wonderful schoolhouse quilt, a lovely and unusual rendition of a favorite traditional block. One of the benefits of working with antique and vintage quilts is that it’s like having your own up close and personal quilt show!
I hope I can inspire you to join the virtual quilt repair and care workshop I’m planning for winter 2024. All the info is on my website. Email me to be added to the mailing list for notification when registration opens.
The workshop will cover restoration and conservation supplies and techniques and how to choose which to use, and also, fabric history, and preservation concepts like storage and cleaning. Everyone will get to show a quilt or two and we’ll discuss how to proceed with their care.
The most damaged block, very ragged fabrics. I recommended against patching
(restoration) and for covering the worn fabrics with fine netting
(conservation) to protect them.
This block also has the highest color contrast, which means one color of net doesn’t look equally good on both fabrics. My assistant Pam and I agreed that patching with two colors of net will look best, light for the sky and building structure, navy for the house shapes.
So you can see why this quilt is such special fun, here’s a quilt with the traditional Schoolhouse block.
Here comes some thinking and wondering that I've been doing lately.
Over the last few years, people have been asking me to repair soooo many really seriously damaged quilts from the 1960s-70s and onwards. For the most part, these are family heirlooms, made by beloved grandmas and great-grandmas.
I'm thinking that what I'm seeing are the quilts that have been used and loved and "used up" in the old-fashioned terminology.
Many are not fancy in pattern or workwomanship. Part of this is that in the 1950s-70s era, the making of super intricate quilts kind of drifted off. I've heard that put to the country's excitement about all sorts of new technological advances, and the exciting prospect of moving into a modern world and leaving the past behind. Another culprit is the advent of polyester batting which doesn't need nearly as much quilting.
I've also thought about fabric quality, which I think has been on a decline for several decades. I think it was in the 1990s or so when people started complaining about being able to see seam allowances through white and pale fabrics, which hadn't been the case before that. A friend of mine who's been quilting for ages, brought one of the quilts she made in the mid-70s to a show and tell in about 2018. She told us how she has used it lightly, stored it properly, and all that, and yet the fabrics are just pulling apart along the quilting lines...while sitting quietly in storage. And this was name brand fabric, not a thinner, discount store knock-off.
It's lovely to have people wanting to have the everyday kind of quilt to be saved. Quilt historians of today certainly would love to have more of those from
previous centuries (not just the "best" quilts, in other words) - but
the time to save them is before they are really damaged.
These fabrics get thin before they tear. That means that one more wash can end up making massive damage, all at once.
The cautionary tale here is that the time to start caring for family quilts is before you see the damage, not after. Fabrics are not as sturdy as furniture or paintings or china. Clothes that are worn and washed don't last past a handful or two of years. And quilts are made of the same kinds of fabrics as our clothing. Heirloom clothes like wedding dresses get special treatment, so should heirloom quilts.
I like to say that I can repair just about any quilt, given enough time and money. And I have repaired things that have come to me looking like a pile of rags. I'm happy to do so, because I value the family memories, too. But the other side of that coin is that the more work I do, the less it is the quilt that the ancestor made and the more it has a lot of me in it, too.
I have developed a way to support very tattered quilts. This neatens up the appearance and makes it safer to handle the quilt, but doesn’t actually repair the damage. This can still cost several hundreds of dollars. Some folks opt to have me do this to maintain the heirloom, and then also find someone to make a replica that can join the family and be displayed or used. This is basically having the best of both worlds.
It's a personal choice of course, but I believe it should be a conscious choice between use and passing to the next generations. Sometimes, it's really not feasible to do both.
What's your opinion?
This small quilt that came to me for repair is a family heirloom with a touching story.
Here's the story as told by the owner:
Thanks so much for restoring this quilt. It was made for my grandfather
around 1962-63 after he suffered three consecutive heart attacks. Two
women who worked in his accounting practice made the quilt, so it is
precious to me.
What made the repair fun for me were the fabrics.
The fabric with the most disintegration was probably silk, given the nature of the damage. But the rest are probably rayons. (I didn't do any fiber testing because there weren't any really loose threads to remove and test.) The feel of the quilt is wonderfully soft and light, a real pleasure to handle while sewing.
The owner sent me these photos of her gorgeous crazy quilt for an initial assessment. She and I decided not to do any repairs at this time. However, it's such a beautiful quilt that I wanted to share it, and I am grateful that she has allowed me to share her photos.
It was made for my great great grandfather John Davis Cassada when he was born by his mother Lucy and his aunts. Many were single or widowed from the Civil War. All the initials are attributable to family members. They were very thrilled to have a male in the family and used many 'fancy' scraps of silk and velvet.
John Davis Cassada was born in 1874. His mother's name was spelled Lucie and Lucy alternatively. John was born in South Boston, Virginia. His family moved and he married and settled in Halifax then Raleigh area North Carolina.
The reason I didn't have her send the quilt to me for repair is that the damage, shattering silk, is minimal for a silk quilt of this era. Shattering is the damage caused by metal salts that were sometimes added during the manufacturing of silks during the Victorian era.
I am fascinated by this quilt. It was brought to me for minor repairs by the granddaughter of the quiltmaker. (Thanks to her for the photo above.) Not only are the design and fabrics really interesting, but the stories about the woman who chose them are great, too.
First, the design. I don't remember ever seeing a quilt like this, with it's plain, all-white center panel with a frame and the deep appliquéd drop around the sides of the bed. Have any of you seen such a quilt?
My mind wants to place it in the 1960s and as a pattern found in a women's magazine of that era.
The fabric choices are wonderful. No tiny calico prints for this lady. The prints are larger and bold. The flowers are more than 6" across, stylized and unusual.
I fell in love with this quilt while rebinding it and patching a few torn pieces.
It's a great set of blocks, each one different, totally fun.
A customer sent me two Double Wedding Ring quilts made by her grandmother. She asked if I could take pieces off of the more “loved up” quilt (great words!) and use them to restore the less damaged one. The quilts were both totally scrappy. Some fabrics appeared in both quilts, but not all. This is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to try that scenario!
The owner told me:
My grandmother... used my mom's little dresses and probably her sisters' dresses
also. My grandmother had 5 girls.
This family heirloom quilt has some unique embroideries and provides a glimpse into the quiltmaker's personality. (And no, I did not leave my scissors on the quilt by mistake. They are embroidered with a variegated wool thread, giving them a wonderful metallic appearance!)
Here's what the quilt owner told me about the quilt:
I believe it was made by my great-grandmother, Johanna Gerbracht (born: 1865). She was married to Henry Gerbracht (born: 1863). They lived in Chatsworth, IL. The best record I have online says that she married Henry in 1888. That would make the quilt (dated: 1897) around their 10 year anniversary. Online records show that she had three children, one of whom was born in 1898/1897. You would know better than I, but that quilt doesn't scream baby quilt to me. So I'm assuming that she made it for her and her husband.
There are plenty of photos below, and you can see some other views of the quilt and listen to more descriptive information in a short video.
I love a dated quilt. I love a dated quilt with a family story (see full story below). Combined together....well.... it's simply grand.
The fabrics have some preservation issues and staining throughout. And at some point, a critter chewed a hole in the quilt and almost chewed a second. The good part of that story is that the critter was polite enough to avoid chewing up any of the embroidered history.
#1
#2
A customer sent me a quilt for repair, and included photos of her collection of family quilts. She gave me permission to share them with you here. What a treat to have this many quilts passed down for so many generations! And only one, the Grandmother's Flower Garden, was in need of repair.
The owner says:
I have a quilt from every generation down through ones that my mother made for me and for her 9 grandchildren. My family tree goes back to the Mayflower as a direct descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Mullin; it also includes James Bell Stevenson, whose brother Adlai was VP of the United States and Secretary of War (equivalent now days to Secretary of State).
(The owner's comments continue below in italics.)
star (made by the owner's great-great-great-grandmother)
Made by Sara Ann McLure Marsilliott (12-19-1793/8-23-1868)
for her daughter Mary Jane Marsiliott
tag:
Quilt by
Sara Ann McLean Marsilliat
(Mrs Jacob Marsilliat)
(1797-1868)
I really fell in love with this "homey" log cabin. It's such a cozy look - and feel, too, as the fabrics are well-loved and very soft.
Family history says it was made in Virginia for the owner's mother, at or shortly after her birth, so in 1920-22. The fabrics support that oral history, and it's a lovely collection of fabrics from the 1920s.
The mystery is that the top row of blocks was cut off at some point, and then reattached. You can see that the straight furrow design reverses at the top row. The reattaching was done by simply overlapping the two raw edges and stitching several rows of machine stitching with no attempt to neaten up the rough cut.
I've just received a wonderful story in my email. It comes from a woman whose family quilt I've just repaired. If anyone ever asks why history is important and fun and how quilts can be a part of history, here is the best answer!
Good morning. Last evening my grand daughters, Desmin 7 and Cecilia 3 were over for dinner and we were sitting in the dining room. Desmin was facing the quilt and Cecilia with her back to the quilt. The girls are usually very observant and notice anything different in our house but had said nothing about the quilt. Suddenly Cecilia said I love this and went over to touch the bottom of the quilt. Desmin who is quite the artist at her young age and since very small done lots of art projects with her grandpa and daddy and on her own, still said nothing. I said Desmin what do you think. She said, I just keep looking at the quilt and how beautiful it it is. Then she gets up and go to the quilt and very gently feels some of the patches and is especially interested in the beaded ones (sparkle ones). Then they wanted to know how old great great grandma would be. Desmin wanted to know how old she was when she made it, how long it took her and how she did it. The quilt lives on.
I recently posted
about the subject of this story, a sparkling crazy quilt. On that post, you will find lots more photos of the creative
and fun embellishments and fabrics on this quilt, and why there is a
ribbon on the quilt bearing the name "Nordd. Lloyd / D. Havel".
This is a stand-out crazy quilt, isn't it?
I generally think of Victorian crazies as having so many more blacks and maroons, browns and navies, with brighter fabrics and embroidery threads interspersed only now and then.
So I looked back at photos of other crazies that have crossed my path, and well, was surprised to see how many are very colorful after all. So what is it about this one that makes it feel so very different?
This quilt is super joyful! It is packed of a wide variety of embellishments, all heightened by beading and other creative and fancy bits - it is simply dancing. The brightness has been heightened a bit by patching done in the 1970s that add in that era's colors, too. But clearly the quilt was a riot of color right from the start!
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| Binding |
And the horn-tooting isn't complete without a link to more info on content and purchasing.
