Rescuing the Unlovable

Yesterday I went to Berkley, Michigan to visit Guildcrafters Quilt Shop and the Oddfellows Antique Mall.

At the mall I found a sweet appliqued coverlet for $28. It featured a center medallion and a border.

 

 It had two stains which I decided I would be able to remove. I was told that people had passed it up many times because of the stains. The price had been reduced over time.

 

The applique in pink on a white ground has remarkable small stitches.

 

 

 

 

Over the years I have brought home numerous unlovable quilts. Last month I found the Double Wedding Ring on a blue ground that I am repairing by appliqueing vintage fabrics over the fabrics that have decayed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many years ago I was given a quilt which needed a new binding, and I used vintage fabric for the binding and to repair decayed fabrics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found a quilt made of matching fabrics in three color ways, repaired with a house dress so the button holes show. It was badly stained, as if it had been used as a mattress pan. Three washings and the stains were out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I finished a quilt top circa 1900 by repairing the decayed fabrics and layering and quilting it.

This wonderful one patch quilt also needed a few squares replaced. I used reproduction fabric, appliqued over the original square. The fabrics seem to date to the early 1900s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know that today finding beauty in decay is quite mainstream. Upcycling, repurposeing, and Shabby Chic in decorating is very prevalent. At The Rust Belt in Ferndale, Michigan you can find industrial repurposing in furnishings and décor, such as Hudson Industrial's reclaimed wood and metal furnishings. I wrote a few months ago about a book on Detroit's abandoned buildings. Urban decay is another contemporary fascination.

 

One of my brother's creations; his cabin chandelier

I think in my case it is genetic. I cried when I saw good things in the trash when I walked to elementary school.

 

My brother hauls things from the canal behind his house and turns them into décor. He has repurposed for years before it had a name.

 

Our grandmother worked at the Goodwill store, and I think she wanted first crack at the good stuff coming in! She once found and gave me a winking eyeball ring! She had a sense of humor!

Best of all, rescuing unwanted animals is now mainstream! Our Suki was in a puppy mill for seven years, and so unsocialized that even after a year in foster care her first 'forever' family returned her! It took several years, but she is a Real Dog now. It just took a lot of loving.

And I am really glad there are many of us ready to take on the unlovable.

Vintage Blue Double Wedding Ring Rescue

Thursday was one of those rare sunny days this winter, when the roads were dry and clear, so  I decided to get outta town and go buy fabric. The Scottsville Variety and Crafts store in Scottsville, MI  (home of the Scottsville Clown Band, quite famous locally) sells last year's fabrics for $5.99 a yard. They have a good selection of reproduction fabrics, and I needed to finish off my Charles Dickens quilt so I knew I'd find something there. I found a great border print and bought the whole 3.5 yards. They tempted me with several Centennial prints, so I need to return...after these latest storms are done.
 I also visited two other stores in town, a hardware/flea market combo and a new and used furniture with antiques store. There were loads of goodies to be found!

At the flea market I got some Brown Drip Hull covered French Onion Soup bowls and an oval shallow serving dish for our son, who has been collecting these dishes. 40 years ago my husband and I had a complete set! It was there I found a shabby quilt for $24.

Yes. $24. It had been washed. Perhaps that was not the wisest idea, as in many places the ring fabrics were worn or ripped or shredded. The binding is missing. But the blue background fabric is bright with no fading, although with some holes, but it is my favorite blue of all blues. $24. I had to bring it home.

It has nice hand quilting done in white and dark blue thread. There are red squares in the ring centers; most of the red fabric is good but some is dotted with holes.

There are some interesting prints, including Mexican hats, folkloric dancers, and best of all an Indian head/Bison coin print!

In the past I have repaired quilts with shredded or missing fabric by appliquéing vintage fabrics overtop of the bad. I do this on quilts that do not have a real value. I was given a quilt made by Alma Noonan of Lansing, MI that needed new binding and repairs. I used vintage and reproduction fabrics to repair it.

The purple and blue fabric is feed sack, appliqued over the worn original fabrics.

I have started repairing this quilt already, sometimes using the reverse side of fabrics. I try to match the fabrics I am replacing; that is using prints with the same motif and color as the original. The new fabrics do not have quilting lines through them, so they are discoverable.

I used feed sack on the center right ring, the a white flower on red fabric seen in the photo above. In the photo below I used fabric from an old apron, the yellow, red and blue round shapes print. I used the wrong side of the fabric as the ring fabrics around it are very faded.

Another feed sack print appears below, the red with white and blue stripes on the left.

The blue background is similar to fabric I used in my Ruby McKim's Ship of the World quilt, so I have hopes of finding this color and rebinding the quilt.

At Holden's Home Emporium I found a great carafe. They sold it as Blenko, but I have not been able to verify this. I bought it for our 1969 ranch retirement house that we are decorating with a Modern living room. I just love that color, and what a great shape! It is about 14 1/2 inches high. I already have my mother's four small crackle glass pieces which she bought when I was a little girl, and a Pilgrim carafe, missing the stopper, which I bought many years ago for $2 at a yard sale.

 

I have one other Double Wedding Ring in my closet, set with Bubble Gum pink. I found the top, backing, and binding in a garage sale in Hillsdale, MI in the early 1990s for $20 and I finished the quilt. I often wish I'd had the money to buy the other Double Wedding Ring top, binding and backing they also had for sale, with a lovely lilac background. The one that got away.