More Quilt Repairs

Roman Stripe Quilt

I made this quilt back in 1981, with scraps leftover from various other sewing projects (mostly from my mother sewing our clothes).  The pattern is called Roman Stripe; each piece of fabric measures 1 inch by 3 inches and the finished block measures 3 inches square. The patches were machine sewed and half the quilt is hand quilted with simple squares.  The other half of the quilt was never quilted!

The pattern directions I used said to make the patch with a patterned fabric strip in the middle with solid colored fabric strips on either side.  However, I had more patterned fabric in my stash than solid fabric (still do!) so, I decided to use two strips of patterned fabric with a solid fabric in the middle, instead.

I actually made two quilts in this pattern; the first quilt was given away to a friend and this quilt was made from the patches I had leftover.  This was one of the quilts my mother used all the time.    

Close Up

The fabric is now faded, worn, and fraying.  I am repairing it, instead of replacing it with a new one, because it is one of daughter's favorites. After my mother died, my daughter claimed it.  Partly because it was used by grandmother, but mostly because, after several years of use and laundering, it is very soft to the touch.  And daughter, like her grandmother, prefer soft items.  Of course, it is soft because it is worn, and that's why some of the fabric is fraying.  So, I am cutting out new patches and sewing them on top of the old fabric.  Other than cutting them out in the same shape, I am not making any effort to hide the fact that these are new patches.

The original cotton backing tore a couple of years ago and I replaced it with a new flannel backing.

I suppose, at a certain point, I'll have to stop repairing the quilt.  But until then, I'll keep adding new patches to cover the frayed ones.