Honoring Heritage
I found these unfinished quilt tops in my grandmother’s belongings after she passed. She didn’t piece all of them herself. Some, we think, were sewn by her sisters. Only one of the eight quilt tops was machine stitched, and the other seven had been pieced together by hand. My first thoughts were of the hours and care it took to sew all those fabric swatches precisely together. Had it been a communal effort? My fascination then shifted to the fabrics they used and trying to date them. My mother, sister, and I thought we recognized a few swatches as remnants from family garments, but much of the fabric came from feed sacks.
Granny stored them in her attic for decades, and even though they were in boxes, they had gathered a plethora of dust and grime. Some even had water stains from where the roof leaked onto them. I wasn’t sure if I could get them completely clean, but I had to try. I was determined to see them completed even if I couldn’t remove all the stains. The long hours and dedication that got these quilt tops to this point deserved the respect of finishing them. Fortunately, I dropped into The Christmas Goose quilt store before washing them to begin selecting backing fabric, and they introduced me to Retro Clean. It is a fantastic product!
I followed all the manufacturer’s suggestions. In my case, I heated water in a tea kettle and poured it in large plastic totes from Costco with the recommended amount of Retro Clean, and submerged the dirty quilts. I picked a 100+ degree day and placed the totes outside in the full sun for two days. I periodically churned them to guarantee equal coverage and check for color bleed. The results were beyond my expectations! Retro Clean has become a laundry room staple at my house.
Before Retro Clean
After Retro Clean
As I mentioned, I felt these quilt tops deserved to be finished, but I don’t have the patience or ability to quilt. The staff at The Christmas Goose came to my rescue once again and introduced me to Georgi Shalhoob. Georgi is a customer at The Goose and a local quilter who enjoys hand quilting, which is what all of the hand-pieced quilt tops deserve. The one machine-stitched top was a patchwork of eleven-inch squares made with fabric from the 1960s and 1970s, and it didn’t warrant Georgi’s expertise, so I had The Christmas Goose machine quilt it with a daisy pattern.
I usually have an opinion on everything design, but Georgi and the staff at The Christmas Goose helped me choose the backing and trim fabric. I left the quilting pattern entirely up to Georgi, and she didn’t disappoint me. One by one, Georgi completed every quilt, each one more beautiful than the last.
Fewer and fewer people create this type of work anymore. It is tedious and time-consuming, and time and patience are in short supply these days. That’s why it was so vital that I facilitate their completion. They are a glimpse of my family’s heritage. A testament to their hard work, dedication, and simple roots, and every time I wrap myself in them, I feel the love of all the hands that created them.
So, before you throw out vintage or antique textiles, consider giving them a second life. Quilt stores everywhere can provide you with local resources, like Georgi Shalhoob, and expertise with fabrics and techniques.
Because of sections like this, Georgi thought this quilt top had been used to teach someone how to do piecework and how to repair quilts. This is also the quilt top that was water-stained from where the roof leaked while it was stored in my grandmother’s attic. Several of the fabrics in this top faded when I washed it, and I wasn’t able to get all the stains out, but it remains one of my favorites. Its eclectic construction inspired Georgi to quilt it in a freestyle, wabi-sabi pattern.
