I recently had someone ask me if I could repair a quilt for her. It's from her childhood and she wanted her daughter to be able to enjoy it as well. She brought it over and this is what I saw (click images for closer view)....
Actually it looked a little worse, because the quilt top was attached to a torn up backing....and the backing looked to be an old prequilted bedspread. The top was sewn "pillowcase" style to the backing with no additional quilting...so I just cut around the edges to remove it.
Apparently a dog had gotten a hold of it....
But the entire thing was threadbare with seams popping everywhere. It had numerous piecing issues and didn't lay flat, due to some puckering in the seams.
Many, many times I cried questioned why I ever agreed to this project. I started out by replacing each and every torn square. But that wasn't always working because all the squares are all different sizes and rows/seams don't match up perfectly.
I struggled A LOT with this thing...even thinking I needed to just give it back to her and tell her it couldn't be fixed. But I'm just stubborn enough not to want to deal with the humiliation of telling someone I can't do it. :P I stuck with it, finally taking my rotary cutter to it and cutting out the really bad parts and sewing the pieces I could save back together.
This is the result!
I put little "heart" patches on some of the threadbare squares...it would have taken hours and hours to remove and replace them. I backed it with a minkee type fabric, but no batting...it's nice and drape-y and cuddly!
I had a few leftover pieces...I sewed them together and made a pillow...
It's backed with blue minkee for her nephew...
She picked it up yesterday and seemed really happy with the result. I'm very happy with the result, happy to be able to help pass on a cherished memory to another generation, and even happier to be done with it! It's not a project I'll soon forget!
Happy Quilting!