Old quilts are restored all the time. One of my best friends is a quilt restorer. She collects quilt blocks that weren't used, scrap bags, etc to get period-correct fabrics for making the repairs. She will also ago new fabrics for repairs if she doesn't have vintage fabric to make the repairs. Your quilt definitely looks restorable.

Annie

To me, it is not really a question of the period-correctness. If the material is not as aged looking as the original, it will still look like a new patch on an old quilt and that will destroy the continuity of the appearance. Do these scraps your friend collects look old?

I suppose there must be a way of aging the appearance of material. The binding is a muslin--though now it is tinted pink. A new muslin would not work, but I think muslin could be aged.

Have you seen the restored quilts before and after? How old were they? Can you tell from the prints in my quilt how old this might be? They don't look familar to me, so they probably predate the 40's.

I am not expert on dating but the fabric looks like 40's or 50's to me.
I just want to say that I restored an old quilt for a friend a few years back and as I couldn't find fabic that was distressed I check out a used clothing store for a dress or shirt that was simular to what I was looking for. I found an old dress that was quite worn and faded but usable and I was able to do the repairs. If you are not too concerned about period you might check out the Salvation Army store or its equivalent you might beable to find something. Jayne

Good idea Jayne. I got to thinking that when you restore a picture, you are trying to take it back to its original apprearance. I like the old look of the quilt, so I guess what I want is not to restore it, but just to repair it and keep it from further deterioration.

In the areas where the cloth is gone, the batting is too. It was cotton. Would it work to just cut a small piece of cotton batting and insert it underneath the repair piece? Should I totally remove the worn piece or applique a new piece over what is there? When I have repaired quilts I've done, I remove the piece entirely, but that doesn't put much strain on the original. With a quilt this old, it might.

Maybe I should leave this one alone and just take good care of it. If I find an old quilt that I don't care about, I could use that for practice.

If I were doing it I believe I would try and remove the old pc. unless the pieces next to it were not in top condition. From what I can see it appears that only particular colors are in need of replacing and the others look in fair condition. If I were removing the pc. I would undermine the next pc and put a pc of batt(trimed and shaped) under the other pc as well for added stability, trying to secure the batt as I sewed the pc in place. If it were possible I would slide the new pc. under the others and sew the old pieces to the new one.
I wouldn't give up on it as I think you can accomplish good results with a little patience. Good luck, Jayne

Carol--Yes, I have seen Deb's restoration work and it is excellent and it is very difficult to tell the difference between the new work and the old. Keep in mind that replacing damaged areas is the last resort, and only done if nothing else will work. I forgot to mention that often Deb buys quilts that are truly beyond repair and uses pieces from them for the repairs on quilts of a similar age.

And, yes, she will age vintage fabrics if necessary. She's restored quilts as old as the 1880s up to relatively new quilts that have taken a beating.

One thing to remember is WHY a quilt is restored. It may be to preserve a quilt that has historical significance (in which case it is usually conserved--an entirely different process-- to prevent further damage rather than restored). It may be to increase its value (Deb has one client that has a large antique quilt business. She does sew a label on the quilts telling about the repairs, when they were made, and by whom. No attempt is made to deceive.) The most common repairs are made on family quilts that have sentimental value--like yours. It's important to the family that Grandma's quilt be preserved for future generations, so they have it repaired. These are Deb's favorite commissions.

Annie

Thanks for the info ladies. I am looking in Good Will for old quilts that might provide the right look to be used for replacement, but I think I might have to depend on slightly worn looking material of the right color. There are several of the prints that have worn spots, but the red solid is really in the worst shape--in some cases almost completely gone.

I am beginning to warm to this project and find the topic very interesting.

With the red solid, I think you could age new fabric and make it work. There are a couple of ways to do this, but the easiest is to get a piece of red, zig-zag, pink or serge the edges and begin sending it through the laundry. Every time you wash a load of darks or colors, send the piece through the whole cycle, including drying. In a couple of weeks, you should have a piece that is aged enough to work. To speed the process, wash it by hand in HOT water to pull any excess dye out of it. Repeat the hand washing until you can't see any more dye coming out, then begin the washing/drying cycles.
Annie

On a 1940's era quilt I have made a few replacements because of oil spots. (Somebody probably used it to cover an antique car or something LOL.) For one patch, I found an exact reproduction fabric, but it was much too bright. So I tested a scrap with bleach, and it absolutely refused to fade. However, another test piece left on a sunny windowsill for a few weeks eventually faded to just the right color. I will dig out the repaired quilt and take some pics for you showing the old and the new fabric.
Another block required a blue replacement patch, and I could not find an exact replacement, but the BACK of the new blue fabric matched pretty close. The quilt is scrappy, so it is very difficult to find the replacements.
Bluebars

Living in Texas, sun fading should do the trick and the washing to add wear. I suppose poor quality fabric could be aged faster, but that might devalue the repair.

I guess the first step is to catalog what needs replacing.

I'm still concerned about replacing the binding because of the pink hue--maybe I should just wash some muslin with the red cloth and see if I get the right color.

Thanks bluebars and Annie, Carole

Carole, fabrics will fade differently, so test swatches and write notes. And, I don't see why you couldn't replace the binding with a pastel solid, because you will never "match" the muslin with new.
Scrappy quilts are much easier to "repair" because they are busy and harder to see the new pieces. Once you have the appropriate fabrics ready, lay them down and look from a distance to see the effect. (You will see what I mean by that when you view my pics.)
So, as promised, here are pics of a repair I did on a 1940's era scrappy quilt. Several pieces had oil stains, and someone evidently tried to get the stains out, so there were lighter areas too; very distracting -- made it look dirty even though it was freshly washed. Fortunately, the backing was not affected.
First look at the full view and it will be hard to find the new fabrics. There are 3 yellow pieces and one blue piece replaced. Then look at the other pics, and they should be easy to find once you know where they are. I guess I could have faded the yellow more, but its still much better than it was. The blue piece is applied upside down for best color.
After replacing the pieces, I had to hand quilt as they were before, catching only the top and batting.
Bluebars

Bluebars: Beautiful job! A picture is worth a thousand words!

Annie

Thanks Bluebars. You did a great job. It occurred to me that in an old scrap quilt, a slightly off piece would suggest that the original quilter didn't have enough of that piece. That happens all the time. I think you are right about the binding too. Incidently, that was a nice scrap quilt. Do you know what the block is? Carole

You did a wonderful job Bluebars. I would have never guessed the quilt had been repaired.

Janice

I call it Rolling Stone. I could not find an exact match in Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Patterns. The closest I could find is Rolling Stone, but that has a solid center square where my center square is "square in a square". Another pattern called Peekaboo has the same center but the other squares are 3 strips instead of 2. There are about 20 name possibilities, depending on how the dark and light colors are placed, etc.
BlueBars