Vintage Quilt Tops and Orphan Blocks

Bed quilt made from vintage quilt tops, 92" x 100"

A friend contacted me because she had several quilt tops and orphan blocks made by her maternal grandmother but they'd never been made into quilts and she wondered if I could finish them for her. Most of them were hand pieced and I let her know that I could finish them but I'd wouldn't be hand quilting them and she was fine with that. She only have a few requests, she wanted some of them put together to make a bed quilt and there was one that already had borders on it that she wanted as a throw quilt. She'd like a few of the others to also be throw quilts but would also like some pillows and table runners, whatever I thought was best. 

The bed quilt (above) was made with two throw-size tops and some orphan blocks. The center is "Drunkards Path" which is an interesting quilt block because it has curves in it, which is more difficult to make. I included a thin border around it on three sides using the same maroon fabric that I used for the back and binding, to provide a visual break between the different patchwork patterns and to tie it all together. I created this using a quilt-as-you-go method so I didn't have to work with the whole bulk at one time and after quilting this part I added the sides and then the bottom.

The sides are made from a "Hunter's Star (variation)" that I cut in half. (My friend was totally OK with me cutting up any of these vintage tops). I considered using it for the center but some of the triangles had bias edges which had stretched some over the years and I was concerned about things lining up. Both this piece and the "Drunkards Path" were hand pieced so I fused innerfacing to the back of them to add some strength to the vintage fabrics and also keep them from stretching when I quilted them.

Across the bottom I pieced together some "Liberated Log Cabin" blocks that had been finished but never assembled together. These were originally machine pieced on foundation blocks so I didn't feel the need to fuse any innerfacing to them.

= = =

Stars and Cubes, 58" x 74"

This vintage quilt top was the only one to have a border on it and it seemed that the outside edges of the border were all selvage edges, which was nice because there wasn't any fraying along the edges. I fused innerfacing to the back of the quilt top, added batting and a backing fabric, and quilt it with large "x" shapes through the blocks.

Checkerboard, 46" x 55"

There was actually a little more to this as I think it was supposed to be bigger. There was a row of sashing (the white rectangles with the red squares that are between the blocks) along the bottom of this piece. There were also some checkerboard blocks in with the orphan blocks but not enough to finish a row, and these orphan blocks came in handy for patching some of the other pieces. So I removed the extra sashing, fused innerfacing to the back of the quilt top, added batting and a backing fabric, and quilt it with large "x" shapes through the blocks.

Bats on a Crazy Quilt, 54" x 75"

This piece had random shapes hand pieced on top of six foundation fabrics that were then sewn together. While the foundation fabric looked like a backing, the raw seams from where the six pieces were sewn together were visible. There was also a binding hand sewn to it and several of the pieces were either ripped or worn away, which makes me think this one was used as a summer quilt. 

My friend's original thought was for me to use some of the other orphan blocks as patches, and I did do that in five spots. I know my friend likes bats so I added six fused, raw-edge bat appliques using three different fabrics so if more bats need to be added it the future, the fabric won't have to match. All of the bats were strategically arranged to cover holes or fabric that had worn away.

Grandmother's Flower Garden table topper, 29" x 26"

As someone who has never made anything with hexigons, I considered this to be one of the treasures of this collection. This was also supposed to be larger as there was another hexigon attached but I saw that if I removed it, it would make a balanced shape that could be used as a table topper. I used a pillowcase method of attaching the backing fabric and binding then did a little machine quilting around the center hexigons.

Road to the White House, 38" x 10"

This piece started as four orphan blocks. They didn't seem to match any of the other pieces so I sewed them together and made this wall hanging that could also be a table runner.

Vintage quilt block pillows, 14" x 14"

There were eight orphan blocks, four of them with the same "Carpenter's Wheel" design so I made these into pillows.

(L-R) Carpenter's Wheel, Good Cheer (variation), Rolling Star, Crazy Quilt

Working with vintage quilt tops is a little tricky as over time some fabrics can fray or disintegrate all together. For any that are just one layer of fabric, it helps to fuse innerfacing to the back and if cutting one apart to be aware that the recently cut edges on a hand-pieced top might unstitch themselves without the knot there to hold them closed. 

They are likely more fragile than a new quilt so you'll want to not tug on the fabrics and wash them as infrequently as possible, using a gentle cycle and air drying, if possible.

Custom Quilts made in 2019

It's my annual look back on the custom quilts I made during the year that I haven't shared yet (some were gifts).

Click on the photos to see larger views.

Quilt using shirts, ties, and vests from the recipient's father. 60" x 60"

Baby quilt from a wedding dress. 34" x 44"

(It's hard to photograph white so here are some detail photos)

A set of mini quilts for the seasons. 8" x 6" each on stiff innerfacing.

A quilted stocking to match the other ones the family had. It's been awhile since I've done cross stitch.

Framed fabric mosaic of the Clinton County Courthouse. 14" x 11" framed.

Two more framed pieces, made from a vintage wedding dress. I'm posting the photos that I took at an angle to show off the quilting and the buttons. And because white is hard to photograph. Both are 8" x 10"

I just realized I didn't make any t-shirt quilts in 2019. I've already had a few people inquire about t-shirt quilts for this year so if they happen, I'll share them in the 2020 year in review.

Memory Quilt: Boxer Shorts & Bandanas

"Boxer Shorts," 77" x 91", made by Pam Geisel, March 2015

This is a custom memory quilt that I made using the customer's son's boxer shorts, bandanas, pajamas, shorts, dress shirts, and some home décor fabric that was left over from some curtains that they used to have.

The colored squares are 4.5" x 7" with two white pieces of fabric on either side of the short edge to make the basket weave effect. And even though they don't look like it at the top of the quilt, they are rectangular in shape, it's just that this quilt is to big to hang from the quilt stand!

Here's a close up:

The binding was made using the fabric from the sleeves of two of the plaid dress shirts. You can click on the photos to see them larger.

"Wedded Bliss" - made from a wedding dress

 

"Wedded Bliss", 58" x 58", July 2008

Five years ago (before I started blogging) Brandi got married. Because the wedding was close to Valentine's Day, and because her dress had red accents, her bridesmaids wore red. Later that year she contacted me about making a large wall hanging using her wedding dress, a bridesmaid's dress, and the flower girl's dress.

The wedding dress had lots of great beading which I was able to use in the quilt. It also had a lace-up corset in the back which Brandi wanted in the center.

The six hearts were paper pieced, each with different embellishments from the dresses.

A detail photo of the beading from the wedding dress.

Happy Valentine's Day! And Happy Anniversary Brandi!

Blue Ribbon Quilt

Blue Ribbon Quilt, 41" x 46", Nov. 2012

This quilt is made using ribbons that Hannah won at horse show competitions. She gave me over 150 ribbons but luckily I didn't have to use them all.

The most difficult part was dealing with the bulk. It was tricky arranging the ribbons temporarily to take photos to send to the client so she could approve the layout ideas.

Usually quilt tops are made by placing two pieces of fabric with the good sides together then sewing them together 1/4" from the edge. When you open them, the stitching can't be seen because the fabric folds to form a seam in the back. I didn't think the ribbons would work well being sewn together that way and folded back so once the final design was decided on, I layered the light green background fabric with some batting and the backing fabric then started attaching the ribbons to the top, so the stitching that holds down the ribbons is also the quilting.

Detail of the woven flat ribbons.

I started at the top. I wove the flat ribbons into groups that were 4 ribbons wide and 3 ribbons deep. I held them together temporarily with blue removable tape while I was sewing them down.

 

 Detail of the ribbons with rosettes.

Next I added the ribbons with rosettes. I started with the purple one in the top center then working on either side of that ribbon, I added the ribbons in descending order, sometimes leaving parts unsewn because the next ribbon needed to be tucked under it. I changed to my regular sewing foot instead of the walking foot normally used for quilting because the regular foot was smaller and allowed me to get closer to the rosettes. 

Once the center ribbons and the horizontal ribbons were in place I switched to my freemotion "hopping" foot which allowed me to zig in and out of the rosettes to make sure they were attached to the quilt.

The long brown and white ribbons, the medium-length green and purple ribbons, the center white ribbon, and the horizontal green ribbons were set aside until I did the ribbons with the medals.

 

Detail of the ribbons with medals.

I tried to do as much as the rosettes before I did the ribbons with the medals because I knew once I started those, the quilt would become more difficult to maneuver. Luckily these ribbons were attached going straight down. 

I sewed the one in the center to get it in the correct place then I moved to the left side and attached the three on the left, then did the long brown rosette and the green one above them. Then I did the three ribbons with medals on the right and the two rosettes above them. Then I finished adding the rest of the ones with medals.

 

Detail of the variegated thread.

Because of all the bright colored ribbons, I didn't want to have to change the thread color for every ribbon so I decided to use a variegated thread in rainbow colors which went from red to yellow to green to blue. Some of the rosettes were sewn with the variegated thread, while others were sewn down with a neutral thread, somewhat visible in the photo above around the white rosette.

Because of the weight of this quilt, which is 3.5 pounds, the hanging stick has two picture hangers attached to it, one one the left and one on the right side of the stick.

All photos can be viewed at a larger size by clicking on them.

Keepsake Quilts Made With Kids Clothing

 

"Baby Boy Blue", 31" x 25" 

I've made several T-shirt quilts and was thinking about making some quilts using baby and kids clothing. Since I don't have kids I asked my sister if she had some clothes that her kids have outgrown. I don't think I told her what I was going to do with them. 

 

So I made some samples quilts. I made one using 6 pieces of clothing her son wore. Just like his Daddy he wore lots of polo shirts and seemed to favor a blue and yellow color combination. I quilted over the shirts but I made sure that all of the pockets were left accessible.

"Sweet Pea", 27" x 32"

The pink one had 6 pieces of clothes her daughter had worn. The four shirts, the light purple row under "Big Sister" was from a pant leg and the wide strip in the middle with the flowers and cherries was the bottom of a dress that my sister loved.

Most of the embroidered parts were already on the clothing. I did cut out a few fun pieces that were on the sleeves and made them into patches that were appliqued in other places. 

 

"I've Been Very, Very Good", 25" x 25"

And there were even a few pieces of clothing that both kids wore for Christmas, so I thought it would be fun to make a Christmas-themed quilt.

With some of the tops that had snaps I left them so the snaps could be opened and left a secret message inside.

So guess what I gave my sister and brother-in-law for Christmas this year? Three quilts made with the clothes their kids had worn.

Like the T-shirt quilts, all the clothing was stabilized before it was cut and pieced together. The borders and bindings were made with cotton fabrics and pieced by machine. The quilts were machine quilted and all have hanging sleeves.