Jill Vanderwood-Historian

Meeting on Thursday, November 9 th , 2023.

It was decided that the quilt club will have hot lunches provided by the

luncheon committee during the winter months—October through March.

During the months of April through September the club members will bring their own sack lunches.

12-inch quilt blocks are needed for charity.

For December’s meeting: please bring 4 fat quarters for the gift exchange and a potluck item for lunch. The meeting will be held on Thursday, December 15.

During our show and tell, Brenda Daniels asked us to tell the group about our favorite quilting tool. The favorites included several ladies who enjoy their rotary cutters, a large cutting board that folds up, a fabric folding pen, several ladies really like a very sharp seam ripper—by Bernina or the seam ripper that goes over your thumb by Riley Blake and sold at Allen Drug. Other favorites include Press and Seal—a kitchen plastic wrap to use when sewing Minky fabric, a stand light to use over a rocking chair for hand sewing, favorite rulers and long measuring tapes, a stapler, a really good iron, or a rechargeable iron, and a steamer.

Tammy Benson taught us how to wash and repair old, vintage, heirloom or antique quilts.  Tammy worked for the Smithsonian in the quilt repair department. Her specialty was working with flour sack quilts.

Things have changed in quilting fabrics. We now have polyester, poly/cotton mixed, and 100% cotton. For your quilt repair, you can find something similar to the fabric to repair or replace a piece in your heirloom quilt.

Museums want quilts in their original state, and they don’t want patched up quilts.  The most important thing for you to consider in repairing a quilt, is to decide, “what am I going to do with it? Will I be using it on a bed for everyday use? Will I hang it up as a wall hanging? How many times will I need to wash it?”

A fifty-year-old quilt is an antique.

Ponder your game plan:

Will you put patches on it?

Retire it and keep it safe?

Cover it with another quilt and use it as your batting?

Quick and easy quilt repair:

Your seams are coming apart—You can hand stitch the seams together.

The fabric rips—You can zig-zag with your sewing machine.

Patching holes—Small holes: stitch over the hole, darn it like you would

with socks. Or use stitch witchery to seal the hole together.

Large holes: unpick and put in a new, similar piece. If you have a very

damaged quilt, you can cut out the part that is still good and make that part into a mini quilt or frame it. Quilts wear out. If you tear your quilt apart, take a picture so you will know how to put it back together.

Why pay someone $900 to $1000 to repair your quilt? You are a quilter, so you can do it yourself.

Don’t be afraid to wash an antique quilt. Wash your quilt in the bathtub with detergent. You may need to wash more than once. Wash your quilt gently, up and down. Rinse in clear water, the same way. Then, squish the quiltagainst the side of the tub to remove as much water as possible. Do not wring the quilt. Remove the quilt from the tub by placing it on a sheet as in a sling. You can lay it out on the sheet to dry or hang it over several lines of your clothesline. Dry outside in nice weather. Do not use your dryer.

Palmolive dish soap is recommended for hard water.

People are afraid to wash quilts. They are dirty. Old glory is washed every three months.

Storing your quilt: Store old quilts with cardboard and tissue paper. Don’t store it in plastic. Quilts need to breathe.