Q is for...

Q is for Quiltie! John has two quilts from his childhood that he loves to death ... literally. One of them had ripped so badly that he kept sticking his feet inside the quilt against the batting (think of a quilt as a sandwich in three layers: a backing usually of muslin or cotton, fluffy batting, then the decorative top layer). Quiltie had degraded so badly that the batting was not attached to anything inside the quilt, so it was very clumpy and tattered. But because Quiltie was almost as old as he was, John had gotten it broken in and perfectly snuggly... needless to say, he refused to stop using it. I finally got sick of him ripping Quiltie, so I stole it and took it home to fix it up.

All in all, my first foray into quilting wasn't too bad, and I had lots of advisory help from Grandma Nancy who can make heirloom quilts in her sleep. Quiltie was just a tie quilt, so it was quite easy to take apart. First, I turned my attention to the top layer. I had to snip all the dangling strings and frayed edges on the inside that were tangling with each other into big knots. Then, I had to fix all the rips. Thankfully, most were along the seam edges, so they were easy to repair. There were only three rips in the actual fabric, so there was little need for much Frankenstein stitching. A little zigzag stitching and some fusible interfacing fixed everything. It won't be entered in any quilt shows anytime soon, but for a snuggle blanket, I think it does quite nicely. :)

The problems came in the next phase of reconstruction: Putting the layers back together. The batting was so damaged, it got thrown out. The new batting wasn't a problem; I tacked it down to the old muslin so it wouldn't slip around. The issues arose with the new muslin I got to make a new backing (I was upgrading Quiltie to a four-layer sandwich for extra durability). I had gotten only a little more muslin than exactly as much as I needed... problem #1 in sewing. Always, ALWAYS get more than you think you need. Even when you have already gotten a little more, get a little more!

So, my muslin, when washed, was about 4-6 inches shorter than the length of the quilt and I nearly flipped out. Mom sent me out of the house to cool off (I sometimes get angry when sewing, and then the project somehow gets out in the road... lit on fire... I don't know how that happens), and she washed the top layer, seeing if she could get it all to work together. When I came back, we were determined to get everything to fit together. After many repetitions of "no, it goes this way" (it's hard to arrange four layers of a quilt that is almost a square), we finally got everything close enough to call good.


With a judicious amount of pins (we were NOT going to let the quilt slip apart), Mom and I got everything secured. I decided to actually quilt it, instead of tying it again, just to make it extra secure. Quilting the layers gives less room for the layers to shift against each other, and thus there will be less wear and tear on the fabric. (In case, you hadn't noticed, the main reasoning behind everything I did to Quiltie was "Make it extra-strong so it won't break again!") So I was quilting, and Mom ran out to get some bias tape to use as blanket binding to make a clean edge around the quilt. That was quick and easy, since I had made a fleece blanket in the past with blanket binding edging. Then, voila! Quiltie had been turned into Super Quiltie!

I brought Super Quiltie back to John, and he was thoroughly impressed. He had been living with only one snuggle quilt to split between the bed and the couch, and he was very happy to have Quiltie back, especially in its new and improved state. I felt good that it all worked out, and Quiltie felt much better too. A successful project, indeed. :D