Care and Consideration of Quilts

    Hand made quilts are a beautiful treasure for any home adding welcome comfort and style. Vintage quilts are an even more exquisite attraction, often delicate and priceless, while modern quilts are constructed of hearty fibers and color fast fabrics making them more sturdy for daily wear. These priceless possessions need careful care and consideration to keep them in mint condition for generations to come.Let's consider the needs of vintage, hand quilted, and machine finished quilts.

    A vintage quilt is often a family heirloom hand pieced and hand quilted with cotton fabrics and natural cotton or wool batting. When I work with vintage quilts, restoring or finishing, I often recommend these beautiful quilts be kept out of direct light preserving their color and fabric as long as possible. For these delicate quilts it is best not to wash them if at all possible. Occasional airing in filtered sunlight gives them a much needed lift and keeps them sufficiently well cared for. If more cleaning is needed, I test an area before spot cleaning with gentle soap and water. Only if absolutely necessary do I hand wash a vintage quilts..in cool water, by hand, in a bath tub. Once allowed to drain, I never wring or twist them..instead folding and pressing water out before hanging them to dry.

    Hand quilted quilts may have modern, sturdy fabrics and batting giving them a bit more stability and strength. Once again, the first recommendation is simply airing them..and spot clean if needed; their fabrics are sturdy, their threads may be less so. When a hand quilted piece leaves my home, it has been gently washed in a delicate cycle and air dried in filtered light or tossed in a delicate, low heat dryer. Hand quilted quilts can be gently washed, but only on occasion, as their threads can snap and break leaving the quilt in need of repair.

    Machine finished quilts are the modern marvel. Sturdy fabric, synthetic batting, and a strong dose of dense quilting give these quilts serious durability. My machine quilts never leave my house without a run through the gentle cycle of the wash and a toss in the low heat dryer. While I still recommend only washing when absolutely necessary, a machine finished quilt will usually stand up to more use and wear then our traditional hand finished ones.

    When I work with any quilt..my own, or a client's..my motto is 'less is best'. The less stress we put on the fabric the better off we are... and the older the fabric, the more delicate we need to be. Sadly, our busy life styles leave us little time for hand washing and airing quilts bringing us to the need/demand for the modern machine made ones. Are the less wonderful? No way..still made with love and invested in by someone special.

     If you have tips or advice about caring for quilts, please share with us...or if you have questions, shoot me a message or comment.