A giant thanks to special guest Lindsay Crouch of RipleyClark.com for sharing some of her vintage quilts during our April meeting. The quilts she showed have quite contemporary elements despite being more than 100 years old.

In addition to her trunk show, Lindsay offered tips for how she cares for these old quilts and sparked a larger discussion on the topic:

  • Use products such as Synthrolpol or Retroclean when washing the quilts to help with color fastness and yellowing; additionally, horse shampoo has worked for others and is available at local farm stores
  • Add as many as 10 Color Catcher sheets, or similar product, if the quilt has heavily saturated colors (e.g., red or black)
  • Use fabric of similar color to applique patches over a hole, using hand stitches to help the repair blend in
  • For a hand wash option, put your vintage quilt in a bathtub of water and gently agitate and swish to help release dirt; repeat several times as needed