MPF Conservation recently had the pleasure of repairing a beautiful antique quilt in the Log Cabin pattern.

“Log cabin quilts have a rich tradition in America going back to the mid-1800’s and, according to Karen Griska, carried special symbolism – ‘A red center symbolized the hearth of home… a yellow center represented a welcoming light in the window… a black center hanging on a clothesline was meant to signal a stop for the Underground Railroad.” ‘  From A Quick History of The Log Cabin Quilt.

Mary’s antique family quilt is a beautiful example of one woman’s bold Log Cabin design, shown left.  A legacy piece, our client wanted to have the tattered pieces replaced in the spirit of what Mary originally created.

I thought it best to show the finished restoration,
then move to discussions of process and how decisions were made.
To discuss the details of the project, scroll to the bottom where we start PROCESS.

The quilt is 80 squares; each square is approximately 8.5-inches square.
With the trim at the edges, it makes it approximately 5′ 9″ wide by 7′ 4″.
It can sit on a double bed as a topper or be used as a twin bed blanket,
which I assume was how it was used at its inception.

THE ROWS

The finished squares are shown below, from left to right.
Row 1 is at the bottom of the image above, and Row 10 is at the top,
which is the order in which we worked the restoration.
Each row is in order, from left-facing to right-facing.

ROW 1

ROW 2

ROW  3

ROW 4

ROW 5

CENTER

The center is in Row 5 and Row 6, and shown below!
It is the only area where mirroring of squares was originally
created by Mary, so we followed suit.
The two dark blue flowered pieces are original fabrics in their original place.

ROW 6

ROW 7

ROW 8

ROW 9

ROW 10

These are strips of the new fabrics!

PROCESS

SET-UP

Kate likes to have the view, even if she doesn’t get to look up often.

The cats keep us company.  They are well-trained and never left alone (yes, we trust them only so far….).  They have their claws clipped every Wednesday night; some of them resist this process!

A small ironing board used for sleeves is a great tool.  It doesn’t take up much space and is always ready!

My datebook is for taking notes for the blog, right next to the quilting table.

ORIGINAL FABRICS

Unfortunately, many pieces were beyond saving (an extreme sample, right). We gathered viable pieces together and are returning samples to our client.

We’ve recommended the quilt be used gently, as a topper or a wall hanging, not a blanket she wraps up in and curls into.  While the new fabrics are sturdy, the older pieces of fabric are still fragile.

If a wall hanging is chosen, we recommend a large 3-inch dowel be used, and painted with acrylic paint.  This allows for gentle hanging, and the acrylic paint keeps oils from the wood from seeping into the fabric over time.

We tried to save original fabric wherever possible, example shown above, in an image of the original square and the proposed square.  However, the quilt also had to be a viable strong piece when completed.  Our intention was not to make it strong enough to use daily, but for gentle use, such as for display, or occasional use as a topper on a bed where no pets or children are able to jump on it.

Many of the original fabrics are fragile (see samples below).  Because we saved so many original gauzy or thin silky fabrics, and also due to the  sometimes poor condition of the coral backing fabric, we are recommending that the quilt never be cleaned by anyone other than a textile conservator.  Dry cleaning still tumbles the items in a large tumbler, and this would not be good for the quilt.

We recommend gentle vacuuming through a clean screen placed onto the area being vacuumed.  You can buy small ones at the hardware store, and wash then dry it thoroughly.

Using a new sharp ripper, right, we were able to remove many of the stitches, but if a fabric was disintegrating, it turned to dust as we tried to remove it!

All three fabrics are original!

All three fabrics are original!

Outer two fabrics original. The brown, though sheer, survived intact in several squares.

Center two are original. the blue, though sheer, was sturdy enough that it survived intact in many squares.

The bright orange is original.

The inner blue silky fabric is original. It was part of a longer piece and so had to be cleaned and ironed to be reused.

Center two are original.

The center silky lavender fabric is original.

The burgundy fabric is original: it is frayed and fading but intact!

Blue/white is original.

Center two are original. The sheer pink fabric is shockingly faded!

Center two are original.

The center silky yellow is original. I had to cover an edge of it to make it work, but it was so pretty!

Outer two fabrics original. The pink is found in many squares.

The outside and inside are original. The outside taupe fabric was a fabric that is in many squares intact.

The external gold is original, and very unusual in the pattern!

The gauzy blue floral is original, and there was quite a bit of that intact in many squares.

Center two are original. The gauzy brown fabric was intact in many squares.

Pink and dark blue are original.

The gauzy pink is original.

Above, images of original fabrics which we could save. 
These are only a few of the eighty squares;
many squares had one or two fabrics saved. 
The first two squares shown below are all original!

MARY’S VISION: BRIGHT BOLD COLORS!

When we opened up the seams (below left) we saw the original bright colors which was Mary’s intention!  Note the purples and bright pinks (before fading) versus the paler pinky fabric we see on the top.

When we see antique quilts, we see faded colors, but this is their condition after many years of use — sometimes over a century!  Many quilts were washed many many times in a lifetime of use, and this too causes fading over time.

To see the original colors you have to look at the underside of the quilt pieces.  As we removed fabrics, we began to see the brilliant colors of the faded fabrics, shown above right.  We chose fabrics that reflected that original intent.   Often all three patterned fabrics had to be replaced.

The only time Mary mirrored and balanced her patterned fabrics was around the center square, shown above left.  Note the reverse mirroring of the two bottom squares to the two top squares.  We followed her lead with the new fabrics, above right.

The back of the quilt, before.

The back of the quilt showing our stitches. We tried to stitch into the same areas as much as possible.

The quilting was originally stitched in coral thread.  We used Gütermann cotton thread color 5070 for our quilting, a close match.  The quilting pattern was, of course, the log cabin outlines.  Above, you can see original stitches, left, and my stitches, right.  Note the wear of the coral fabric.

STITCHING LAYERS

There is a difference in Mary’s original creation techniques and our reparation techniques, and the use of two different colored threads is our clue.

She used running stitches to piece the square together (white thread, shown above left) onto a square beige gauze (second layer, shown above right on the lifted piece).  Note that even the beige gauze she stitched onto was pieced together.

This square was attached onto a “stabilizing” fabric (third layer, and in this example the thin striped flannel fabric right) and onto the back coral fabric by quilting it into place, th fourth layer (coral thread, shown right in the original stitching).

The fabric which I believe was helpful in stabilizing is my assumption; I think she was trying to give the quilt some weight.  When you realize many of the original fabrics were gauze or lighter silky fabrics, this makes sense.  She changed this “stabilizing” fabric throughout the quilt, so it too was probably scrap.

Above left, an exterior edge showing the
coral backing fabric wrapping around the edges,
and right, in the center of the quilt.

We did not have the luxury of using running stitches to place the pieces onto the beige gauze, but pinned the pieces we needed to repair and then began quilting through all the layers.  And because we had to top-stitch all the pieces, we used a running stitch and made the smallest sized stitches we could and still go through all the layers, sometimes through four-five layers of fabric, depending upon where the piece was placed and whether she used a stabilizing fabric.

Here you see the running stitch on the fabric piece, and the beginning of the two squares stitched together.

Four squares coming together and stitched from the top.

Just as Mary had done, the squares were also stitched together. where they met, but from the top!

As she had the squares loose, she was able to create much smaller stitches by going straight up and down.  It was harder for me to create small stitches in this situation, because I was always top stitching with a small circular needle, shown above.  Even so, I am happy with my overall stitching pattern from both the front and the back.

We trimmed the ends on the new fabric pieces to reduce bulk, shown left.

NEW FABRICS

At first glance you see a Log Cabin pattern in black fabric and bright patterned fabric, shown in the overall photo right.

Upon closer inspection you also find Mary used many types of black fabrics.  She tried to group shiny black fabrics together, for instance, shown above left, but this was clearly a scrap quilt, and I imagine it was not always possible, as you can see in the examples of the original damaged quilt, above.

We did not replace any of the original black fabric, though we did sometimes replace the red square in the middle.

We tried to match color and pattern intention
wherever possible, shown above and below.

When replacing fabrics, we tried to match color and pattern intention wherever possible (two squares as examples, above), and to save any viable fabric.

If a long patterned fabric had a rip at one end, but enough viable length to use as one of the small inner lengths, then it was trimmed and repurposed into the center, such as the pink shown right.

In this way some of the beautiful original fabric was used again.

Removing the damaged fabric was as time consuming as hand-stitching the new pieces into place.  In rare instances we chose to “darn” or repair a small rip to save a beautiful fabric that was in otherwise good condition, as in the blue gauzy fabric shown left.

Mary’s squares were sometimes not exactly square, or did not line up with other squares.  This may be due to her creating the squares independently over time, then pulling them together.

THE EDGE

Shows the original stabilizing fabrics which are quite heavy.

You can see the fraying along some of the edge where the coral wraps.

Cutting some excess stabilizing fabric away to allow for an ease in wrapping the edge.

As pieces were exchanged next to the edge we were concerned about ripping the older coral fabric as we pulled it gently back into place.  In these instances we removed a bit of the quilting “stabilizing” material in order to ease the pull on the fabric, shown above.

By the way, this quilt changed the way we will estimate quilt restoration in the future.  Because of Mary’s unusual quilting format and quirks which could not be seen in images sent to us, sometimes everything had to be removed to replace one piece of fabric, which caused much more work.  Also, she frequently knotted a piece in two or three places, which made it hard to remove as well.  In future, we will ballpark quilts then reserve the option to inspect the squares closely by removing an area when the quilt first arrives, in order to see how the quilter’s work before committing to the estimate.

MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS

A problem occurred on those pieces where we found Mary had given us no edge to stitch into in the black fabric pieces, shown above and right.  In these cases we had to stitch along the edge just under the fabric, and then top stitch knowing we were not stitching into the black fabric.

It is good to have a color plan.  We generally planned several rows at a time, but then as stitching happens and we live with the colors, changes are made:

Here you can see the original flannel plaid below.

I pinned this with the green but then changed to the bright yellow before stitching.

Example 1, above, changing the interior new green fabric
to yellow to allow for more pop!
Example 2, below, changing the yellow fabric
as we had enough of the original silky blue.

Interior was shredding.

Original fabric.

I pinned it with bright yellow but changed it before stitching.

I found a lovely original piece that I was able to trim and manage to fit into the interior of the square.

Sometimes as I worked, bits of original fabric were extracted which were better suited to the square and able to be cut and used, shown in example 2 above.

I don’t know what the grey embroidery is on some of the black fabric pieces, but I assume it is a signature.  I don’t know why Mary cut it off in pieces, but there are about a dozen bits of the embroidered signature on the entire quilt, example shown right.

CORNERS

Corners were difficult.  Many layers of fabric, and we surmise that there have been repairs done to the corners, making them even more difficult to restore.  Above, a left-facing top corner from Row 10 that was so compromised we thought it was going to be impossible to create a proper square corner.  Below, the right-facing corner which was the same.

Unfortunately the before images of the lower (Row 1) corners did not come out.

COMPLETION

Below, we show the four quadrants and the center after restoration!

 dkatiepowell@aol.com / mitchellrpowell@aol.com
503.970.2509 / 541.531.2383
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