Finishing/Machine Quilting a purchased Vintage Top?

[Melissa T.]

Is it "just wrong" to machine quilt an inexpensively purchased, vintage 30s feedsack, bow tie/9-patch quilt top?

The bow-tie/9-patch blocks are pretty nicely pieced but the cross-wise sashing doesn't line up (as you can see). The fabric is clean and in excellent condition (strong). The size is somwhere between single and full.

I'd like to finish it/use it for free-motion practice on my HQ Sweet 16 (and have something to show for it when I'm done) but don't want to wind up in quilter's purgatory. Your thoughts on the matter are welcomed.

Thank you! Melissa
P.S. I will be practicing on some quilt sandwiches first of course!

[Melissa T.]

I don't see why not, Here in UK a lady called Lilian Hedley quilted a whole cloth quilt that had been marked in the 30's and then put on the top of the wardrobe for 70 some years. Just remember to record your doings on the label on the back and everything should be fine even if the QP do find out :wink:

[Melissa T.]

It's not a quilt until it's quilted. Go for it!

[Melissa T.]

It's useless to you unquilted. It will still be a top, languishing in your dresser or closet. I happen to think the piecer would be thrilled to 'know' it will be completed and loved.

Yes, there might be a few very special antique tops that a person might find themselves in possession of, that could benefit from an appraisal before finishing. Technically, quilts are dated from the newest addition to them... so a rare, top quality heirloom top from a long time ago, would become a quilt with a current date on it if finished now. That is not totally a forbidden thing, but it does decrease it's antique value.

But a quilt bought on ebay, such as the one shown above, would most likely not be in that rare category, so go ahead and quilt it and use it and love it!

PS. IMHO, There is no such place as Quilters Purgatory!

[Melissa T.]

My thanks to you all for the posts! I too like to think the top's creator would be happy to see it finished and in use.

So, nobody has qualms about it being machine quilted vs. hand-quilted? I'm not sure how common machine quilting was in the 30s.

Regarding dating/aging a newly finished "old" quilt surely the batting and thread don't count? I do have some large pieces of vintage feedsack I could use for the back. Worth it?

Melissa
in Kansas City, Kansas

[Margo C.]

Melissa, you might be interested in this forum topic: http://forum/hand-and-machine-quilti...antique-quilts

I absolutely agree that it's not a quilt until it's quilted!!

[Rita C.]

Melissa, probably the reason this quilt never got quilted is for the same reason that most of us have UFOs in our cupboards - it takes such a long time to do by hand. I think that people would have quilted quilts by machine in the past if they had known how to do it, and some did. IMHO the original owner would love the fact that you had liked her (or his) quilt enough to BUY it and be just thrilled that you are going to quilt it either way. Go for it girl!

[Rita C.]

Quilt it and enjoy!

[Pamela O.]

Better to quilt and enjoy rather than languish unfinished.
Remember that the quilt is dated when it is finished or repaired. At least that is what a quilt appraiser told us in a guild program.

[Kathryn S.]

Hi Melissa, i say go for it and machine quilt your lovely old quilt top. Gyleen Fitzgerald, who was on TQS a couple of seasons back, actually wrote a book "Quilts- Unfinished stories-new endings" which covers exactly what you are talking about, taking an old unfinished top and breathing life back into it. You will be adding something of yourself to it, and I'm sure its maker would be pleased if she knew it was finished.
Kathy

[Melissa T.]

Margo, you are correct, I enjoyed the topic you suggested/linked to very much. I learned a great deal.

To all, I will sooooo be machine quilting and finishing this piece. I can only hand quilt so many quilts in a life time (not enough).

Thank you,
Melissa in Kansas City, Kansas

[Melissa T.]

Thank you for everyone's comments. I have two vintage tops purchased at antique stores and have been wondering what to do with them. Now, I won't feel guilty when I have them machine quilted and put them to use!

[Hannelore N.]

Melissa, I have a few (no, not giving numbers - blushing) unquilted tops, and an WIP collection that could keep a whole quilt group busy for years. If in 50 years time somebody finds any of my unfinished quilts, they are very welcome to finish them in whatever way they see fit; and then use and enjoy the finished piece.

I would only make an exception if the unquilted top has provenance, like you can proof that it was pieced by President Garfield's wife, or lovingly hand-sewn by Marilyn Monroe (with pictures of her working on it whilst getting ready to sing for JFK). Then I'd donate the piece to an appropriate museum.

Please, keep taking pictures as you turn that top into a real quilt, and share them with us. I find this whole feedsack concept fascinating. As a German living in the Uk, I had never heard about that before I started quilting.

[Lois B.]

Melissa, I have a few (no, not giving numbers - blushing) unquilted tops, and an WIP collection that could keep a whole quilt group busy for years. If in 50 years time somebody finds any of my unfinished quilts, they are very welcome to finish them in whatever way they see fit; and then use and enjoy the finished piece.

I would only make an exception if the unquilted top has provenance, like you can proof that it was pieced by President Garfield's wife, or lovingly hand-sewn by Marilyn Monroe (with pictures of her working on it whilst getting ready to sing for JFK). Then I'd donate the piece to an appropriate museum.

Please, keep taking pictures as you turn that top into a real quilt, and share them with us. I find this whole feedsack concept fascinating. As a German living in the Uk, I had never heard about that before I started quilting.

Lorchen, When I was a little girl my mother made all my summer sun suits, she called them, out of feed sacks. Although I don't remember other clothes I can picture the prints in many of those pieces of clothing. I also remember the texture of the cloth. It was coarser than store bought fabric. I must have been 4 yrs old. My brothers raised chickens, hence the feedsacks from chicken feed. I also had rag doll made from a pattern printed on a feedsack. I remember seeing it before and after. I remember it looking alot like today's cheater cloth before it was constructed. Your comment jogged a memory. I guess I had a fascination for all things fabric evn when I was a very young child.

[Annette R.]

I, too, had most of my clothes made from feedsacks. Especially before I went to school. After that the clothes were still hand made but more often with store purchased fabrics. One of my earliest memories, In the early forties (oops, I just gave away my age) I was three or maybe just four and had a bad cold or the flu so my Grandmother (with whom I was living at the time) did not want to take me to town. So she let Grandpa go to the feed store alone. She asked him to buy ten sacks of feed and get four of two patterns and two of a third pattern. Well, by the time he got to the feedstore - after a few other stops and shooting the breeze with the other men in town - he had forgotten what Grandma wanted so he came home with ten sacks of feed and ten different fabrics on them. Needless to say he was in the "doghouse" big time because it took two sacks for a skirt and four for a long sleeve dress for my Grandmother. I got a lot of new blouses and skirts then but Grandpa never went to the feed store alone again!!!!! I remember those days fondly but like the quilt shops and fabric stores of today much better. Ann - the traveling quilter, now in Wisconsin