Reclaimed Quilts = New Life

As an author with C&T Publishing, I get to see their latest books firsthand. I was intrigued by this one that popped up in an email last month:

Reclaimed Quilts

I wanted to do a review on this because my oldest daughter Audrey loves vintage things, in particular, quilts. She has already had me make her a jacket from an old quilt that was sold to me for $5 and was destined to be a dog bed otherwise! I rescued it and it sat in my closet for about 10 years.

You can see all the worn areas where the batting is coming through.

Pink cutter quilt

I bought a simple jacket pattern and laid it out on the quilt, hoping to avoid those scraggly parts. It worked! This is explained in detail in the Reclaimed Quilts book. Taking a vintage item and creating clothing for today is giving them a second life.

Vintage quilt with jacket pattern

There really was nothing else I could have done with this! It truly was destined to be a dog bed. Here is the lovely jacket I made. I even had enough to add a pocket that aligned with the pink squares!

This made me nervous because I feared that Audrey would be accosted by serious quilters who happened to see this quilt-turned-clothing. But I was wrong! And that's the freedom that this book gives to the reader - Bring new life to an otherwise closeted quilt. "Sew modern clothes and accessories from vintage textiles." Audrey gets SO many compliments on her jacket.

Reclaimed Quilts has so many stories and steps on how to go from a quilt top or full quilt to getting it into various, usable items for today. They refer to it as "upcycling." Audrey likes to send me photos of garments made with vintage quilts. This next photo is from Etsy and those long pants had a price tag of $300! She asked if I could take one of the several vintage tops I own, get it quilted and then CUT IT UP for these culottes.

reclaimed quilt-to-culottes: $300

I gulped and grabbed a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt, got it ready to be longarmed, bought backing, binding fabric and took it to 2 Tubs Quilting. When I got it back we honestly couldn't imagine it being cut up for culottes! We prayed Audrey would feel the same.

Here is the top before quilting

And what she looked like after Ada and John's beautiful work:

Grandmother's Flower Garden quilted by John and Ada Gosser of 2 Tubs Quilting

Audrey took one look at it and realized it was a beauty and should be enjoyed as a full quilt. It now resides in her living room on the back of the couch. Yes, she and her family use it to snuggle under. It's made to be used and enjoyed and loved. It has many years of life OUTSIDE of my closet and that's the permission we all need. Reclaimed Quilts gives us that permission!

I have more to say about this, but this post is already too long. I'll be back with another story.

Go check out Reclaimed Quilts at the C&T website. Lots of photos to inspire you.