How To Repair Shattered Silk In A Quilt

Quilts are meant to be used. That might atomic number 82 to the need to learn how to repair a damaged quilt, merely quilts are meant to exist used.

Not everyone feels this fashion. Some call back they are too special to be used for every day use. Maybe these are the same people that have a hutch full of beautiful red china that is never used? I've never understood that, my grandmother's wedding china is my everyday dinnerware.

I've likewise never understood not using a quilt. I've got ii on my bed as we speak. There is currently but one quilt on the couch. But, we're having a warm winter, and the other couch quilts are on the quilt ladder, next to the couch, to exist viewed AND to be easily accessible when I'1000 actress cold. {Edit- There is a foot of snow out there now – every bit I edit what I typed earlier – and more on the manner. I'm all done with winter.}

Quilts are meant to be used.

Say information technology with me, "Quilts are meant to be used."

Yet, using quilts means clothing and tear, which leads to needing to know how to repair a damaged quilt. This particular quilt had a run in with a naughty puppy.

Some of the damage is readily apparent, especially the bites along the binding, and some will get clearer during the repair steps.

I am going to spend a lot of my fourth dimension this year teaching you lot what to do with scraps. Cleaning out the scrap bin was i of my goals for the twelvemonth, and I suspect using scraps may exist something you want to learn to practice too.

One important reason to save scraps, is for repairs. At present, unfortunately I no longer have the scraps from this particular quilt. But luckily, the most recent Hexie in a Hexie that I made was very similar in colors, and some of the scraps from that quilt volition piece of work well in the repairs for this quilt.

Supplies Needed

A damaged quilt

Matching and/or coordinating fabric

Thread

Rotary Cutter

Cutting Mat

Quilting Ruler

The first tutorial on how to repair a damaged quilt is how to fix frayed seams.

How to Repair a Frayed Seam

This seam that has opened upwardly is not the responsibility of the puppy, this is type of impairment is more likely to occur through repeated washing and drying. All of the quilts I make are washer and dryer friendly, because quilts are meant to be used, merely the agitation part of the bicycle can open upwardly seams. Fortunately, they are pretty piece of cake to prepare; all you demand is a needle and thread.

Thread the needle, and knot the ends together, giving a double thickness of thread. Knot the stop a couple times, so that the knot won't pull through the fabric.

Place the unabridged needle through the open seam, and bring it upwardly through the fabric in the location you lot want to kickoff your repair. I am right handed, so I work right to left, if you are a lefty, your procedure will likely be the exact opposite of mine.

Close the open/frayed seam by folding the fabric back into place. This is a short repair, only about an inch long, so I did not use needles, only for a longer repair, a few needles volition assist the fabric to stay in place.

Pull the needle through a little bit of both fabrics, in my instance the green fabric is folded on top of the gold star fabric, so the needle goes through the gold cloth first and and then the green cloth.

Pull the needle through, and pull the thread tight.

Continue along the length of the opened seam, making sure to stitch through both fabrics with every single stitch. Keep stitch length and altitude between stitches consistent throughout. This last bit is something I can retrieve Laura Ingalls Wilder complaining about. Her mending/hemming was ever taken apart and she was told to do it once again, because her stitches were non consistent. I hear ya, girl! Mine aren't either.

Continue until yous've reached the end of the open up seam, and one or two more stitches past the opening, to prevent time to come fraying.

Necktie off your thread by bringing the concluding stitch through the aforementioned spot equally the second to last stitch.

Double, or even triple-knot your thread, pulling each loop tight before making the next.

This will make your knot prissy and secure, while likewise keeping it as small as possible and so that it is less visible.

And voila! A closed-up seam, with minimum visibility of the ready.

I highly recommend using thread that matches the color of the cloth, to be as invisible equally possible.

See? Cream thread worked great where I was mending a gold and green seam. Here where both sides of the seam are green, cream thread is non so slap-up.

Now, unfortunately I am not a perfectionist. This side by side photo is definitely not the work of a teething puppy. It'south not habiliment and tear. That a Brand-NEW quilt, that just had its first wash and dry before commitment. It came out of the dryer with multiple opened seams. That is no ane's fault merely mine. That's sloppy work.

At to the lowest degree it'southward an easy fix!

Here's another example of a frayed seam, it looks quite awful before the fix, just at present you know, it's very easy to prepare a frayed seam!

How to Repair a Modest Pigsty

Now that you know how to repair a frayed seam, the adjacent step to repairing a damaged quilt is that it'due south time to motion upwards to bigger damage and talk about patching. I'm going to start with a small patch and move upwards to bigger and more complicated.

These two holes are small in diameter, and to make the prepare easier, the holes are simply in the material of the quilt top, not in the batting or the bankroll, so there is but i layer to repair.

How to Repair a Damaged Quilt How to Repair a Small Hole

Digging through my scraps. I knew I didn't accept anything that was an exactly perfect lucifer, merely that I had lots of options that were good blenders.

Not being able to match fabrics meant that any repair I made was going to be obvious. This quilt is going to be patched, non fixed. I decided that I would embrace the patching, and utilize a thread that would likewise coordinate but not disappear. This is a well-loved quilt. The puppy is a beloved puppy. Someday (in a million years, of course. Very far downwardly the road.) the puppy will be grown and gone. This quilt will still exist well loved. And hopefully I can preserve the memories of a naughty puppy who is adorable, and sweet, and loved through visible mending.

To make a patch that matched the seam, I sewed the two fabrics together along an angle, and them trimmed down to a smaller size.

Brand the patch slightly larger than the hole to embrace. Iron all 4 sides of the patch to hem each side so in that location is no unfinished edges visible.

Place the patch over the holes, lining up the seam between the fabrics and pin in place.

Starting in a corner, stitch forth one edge, equally shut to the border equally possible.

Keep around all four sides, stopping when yous return to the beginning.

Pull the threads through to the dorsum, and make a knot out of all 4 threads.

Patch complete!

Now that you tin can fix a small pigsty, the adjacent footstep to learning how to repair a damaged quilt is to tackle a larger pigsty.

How to Repair a Larger Hole

This next repair is slightly more than complicated, because this fourth dimension the damage was to the quilt top and to the quilt batting. Every bit earlier, brand a pocket-size patch, and atomic number 26 all edges under, to give it a finished, polished look. As well, cutting a pocket-sized patch of batting.

Stuff the batting into the hole, and smooth it out so it lays every bit flat equally possible.

Pin the patch into place and sew as in the previous repair section.

Look at that! A hole that goes through to the batting is really no more complicated to fix than a small pigsty that but affects the quilt elevation.

Are you developing conviction in your repair skills? Repairing a hole or tear virtually the binding is some other common blazon of set up needed to repair a damaged quilt.

How to Repair a Pigsty Virtually the Binding

I've got 2 repairs for you here. I felt I needed to show you two repairs near the binding, because the get-go is most a crook.

This hole was then small, so close to the edge, and the fabric was a picayune loose, that rather than patch the hole, I simply took the edge autonomously, pulled the fabric tighter, and stitched it back closed.

Gently cut the threads that agree the binding in identify. I started on the back, the side that was paw stitched, equally the stitches are further apart and easier to become started.

Separate the binding from the front too. Note, you are not cutting the binding itself. You lot are cutting the threads that attach the bounden to the quilt.

Pull the fabric taught and trim the excess. Piece of cake peasy.

Now for a repair about the edge that is a little more than complicated. This time at that place is a hole to patch on the forepart and dorsum, likewise as damage to the binding.

Again, trim away the threads that hold the binding in identify, on both the front and back of the quilt.

Set up the patch and pin into identify, taking care to match seam lines equally needed.

Stitch the seam, using a ¼ inch seam, and press the material towards the edge of the quilt. The patch hangs over the edge, but don't worry near that now, we'll trim it up in a infinitesimal.

Plough the quilt over, and if needed, brand a similar repair on the dorsum. You can see here that the damage to the back in this spot is fifty-fifty greater than the harm to the front.

This fourth dimension I wasn't able to sew the repair into the existing seam like I could on the front, and so I followed the earlier steps to "patch a small hole."

Once both sides have been patched, trim away excess fabric and reattach binding.

To add together cloth to supercede missing binding, read this Binding Tutorial on how to make binding.

To attach the repaired bounden to the quilt, read this Binding Tutorial on how to attach binding.

You are becoming an proficient on how to repair a damaged quilt! Are you ready to tackle a hole that goes through all of the layers of a quilt?

How to Repair a Hole Through Meridian, Batting and Backing

Now for a hole that is a piddling chip bigger, and a little bit deeper. Equally seen by my finger, some of the bite marks went through all three layers of the quilt.

How to Repair a Damaged Quilt How to Repair a Hole

Accept y'all noticed the changing finger nail colors throughout this project? This tutorial is several months in the making. No, repairing a quilt is not difficult or time consuming. You should definitely still repair the quilt(due south) that lead yous to read this tutorial in the first place. The reason it has taken me so long is A. the holidays, B. getting sick and C. every time I came to a new type of repair, I set the quilt aside for a few weeks, looking at information technology every fourth dimension I walked past, and thinking nigh how I would fix the next repair, before actually sitting downward to do it.

At first, I planned a repair the fixed the top and bottom pigsty at the aforementioned time. But that didn't go so well. As it turns out, a hole that goes through all three layers is really no different than any of the repairs we've talked about then far.

Outset, I repaired the hole to the back, following exactly the same steps in the kickoff section.

This is what it looks like from the front afterwards the back has been repaired.

Then, I stuffed in a scrap of batting, and repaired the hole to the front.

I chose to do the back first and so the front, to cut downward on seams that show on the front, but other than that, no more difficult than the other repairs I've talked about so far. Next up, how to repair a damaged quilt that has large damage.

How to Repair Large Problems in a Damaged Quilt

I saved this impairment for last. Both in this tutorial for you, and my repair work. I did this for several reasons. I idea starting with something big might scare you lot off. It certainly scared me off. Starting small-scale and working my way up gave me conviction that nothing was too large or too damaged for repair. It also meant I could trial and error my manner through small repairs, finding what did and didn't work for me, which gave me new ideas on how to repair the larger damage.

How to Repair a Damaged Quilt How to Repair Large Damage

I started by trimming abroad the textile hanging loosely.

And simply similar everything else you've learned so far, I placed a flake of batting between the quilt top and back, and did i patch at a time until the repair was consummate.

This one block would have been easier to fix if I had taken the whole quilt apart, as I could take only replaced triangles using the original seam lines. But since I patched the residue of the holes, I patched this one too.

I started in the middle, and worked my way out. Notice in this first foam triangle, I didn't sew the last side, that'due south because information technology will exist covered by the next section of patching.

Then the next triangle, making certain to cover the raw edges of both the tears and the previous patch.

And finally, the largest (and concluding!!!!) of the triangle patches for this block. And then to sew the bounden dorsum into place, and the project is finished.

Oh, shoot! There is one more little hole in the upper left of that last photo. I guess I have a little more than piece of work to practice. But it's a little pigsty, you know how to patch those now considering you are now an expert on how to repair a damaged quilt!

And hither it is, in all it's glory! Patches and repairs, that will always exist visible upward close (although not from a altitude) as a reminder of that very loved, very naughty puppy.