How To Fix A Wall Quilt That Won't Hang Flat

Quilts are meant to be used. That might pb to the need to larn how to repair a damaged quilt, but quilts are meant to exist used.

Not everyone feels this way. Some think they are as well special to be used for every day use. Maybe these are the aforementioned people that have a hutch full of cute cathay that is never used? I've never understood that, my grandmother's wedding china is my everyday dinnerware.

I've too never understood non using a quilt. I've got two on my bed as we speak. There is currently only 1 quilt on the couch. But, we're having a warm winter, and the other burrow quilts are on the quilt ladder, next to the couch, to be viewed AND to be easily attainable when I'chiliad extra common cold. {Edit- There is a foot of snow out there now – as I edit what I typed earlier – and more than on the way. I'm all done with wintertime.}

Quilts are meant to exist used.

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

However, using quilts means wear 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 go clearer during the repair steps.

I am going to spend a lot of my fourth dimension this yr didactics you what to exercise with scraps. Cleaning out the scrap bin was one of my goals for the twelvemonth, and I suspect using scraps may be something you lot want to learn to do too.

One important reason to save scraps, is for repairs. Now, unfortunately I no longer have the scraps from this item quilt. But luckily, the most contempo Hexie in a Hexie that I made was very like in colors, and some of the scraps from that quilt volition work well in the repairs for this quilt.

Supplies Needed

A damaged quilt

Matching and/or analogous 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 up is not the responsibility of the puppy, this is type of damage is more probable 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, simply the agitation part of the cycle can open upwardly seams. Fortunately, they are pretty easy to fix; all you need is a needle and thread.

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

Place the unabridged needle through the open seam, and bring it up through the cloth in the location you want to kickoff your repair. I am correct handed, so I work correct to left, if you are a lefty, your process will likely be the exact contrary of mine.

Close the open/frayed seam by folding the fabric back into place. This is a short repair, just about an inch long, and so I did not utilize needles, but for a longer repair, a few needles will assistance the fabric to stay in place.

Pull the needle through a little fleck of both fabrics, in my example the green cloth is folded on height of the gold star fabric, and so the needle goes through the aureate fabric commencement and then the green fabric.

Pull the needle through, and pull the thread tight.

Keep along the length of the opened seam, making sure to stitch through both fabrics with every single stitch. Keep stitch length and distance betwixt stitches consistent throughout. This last bit is something I tin remember Laura Ingalls Wilder complaining most. Her mending/hemming was always taken apart and she was told to do it once again, because her stitches were not consistent. I hear ya, girl! Mine aren't either.

Continue until you lot've reached the end of the open seam, and one or ii more stitches past the opening, to prevent future fraying.

Tie off your thread by bringing the last stitch through the aforementioned spot as the second to concluding sew together.

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

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

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

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

Meet? Cream thread worked great where I was mending a gilded and green seam. Here where both sides of the seam are green, cream thread is not so groovy.

At present, unfortunately I am not a perfectionist. This next photo is definitely not the work of a teething puppy. It's non wear and tear. That a Make-NEW quilt, that just had its start wash and dry earlier delivery. It came out of the dryer with multiple opened seams. That is no one's fault only mine. That'southward sloppy work.

At to the lowest degree information technology's an easy fix!

Here's some other example of a frayed seam, it looks quite awful earlier the set, but now you know, it's very easy to set up a frayed seam!

How to Repair a Small Hole

At present that you know how to repair a frayed seam, the next pace to repairing a damaged quilt is that it'south time to move upward to bigger impairment and talk almost patching. I'1000 going to start with a pocket-sized patch and movement up to bigger and more than complicated.

These two holes are small in diameter, and to make the ready easier, the holes are only in the fabric of the quilt pinnacle, not in the batting or the bankroll, so there is just one 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 match, but that I had lots of options that were good blenders.

Non being able to match fabrics meant that any repair I fabricated was going to exist obvious. This quilt is going to be patched, not fixed. I decided that I would cover the patching, and use a thread that would as well coordinate merely not disappear. This is a well-loved quilt. The puppy is a dear puppy. Someday (in a one thousand thousand years, of form. Very far down the route.) the puppy will exist grown and gone. This quilt volition nevertheless be well loved. And hopefully I can preserve the memories of a naughty puppy who is adorable, and sugariness, and loved through visible mending.

To make a patch that matched the seam, I sewed the 2 fabrics together along an angle, and them trimmed down to a smaller size.

Make the patch slightly larger than the hole to embrace. Iron all four sides of the patch to hem each side so there is no unfinished edges visible.

Place the patch over the holes, lining upwardly the seam between the fabrics and pivot in place.

Starting in a corner, run up along one edge, as close to the edge equally possible.

Keep around all four sides, stopping when you return to the start.

Pull the threads through to the back, and make a knot out of all iv threads.

Patch complete!

Now that yous can gear up a small hole, the next step to learning how to repair a damaged quilt is to tackle a larger hole.

How to Repair a Larger Hole

This next repair is slightly more complicated, considering this time the harm was to the quilt elevation and to the quilt batting. Every bit before, make a modest patch, and iron all edges nether, to give it a finished, polished await. As well, cut a minor patch of batting.

Stuff the batting into the pigsty, and smooth it out then it lays as apartment as possible.

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

Look at that! A hole that goes through to the batting is really no more complicated to set up than a small hole that merely affects the quilt top.

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

How to Repair a Pigsty Near the Binding

I've got two repairs for yous here. I felt I needed to show you two repairs near the bounden, considering the get-go is about a cheat.

This hole was so small, so close to the border, and the fabric was a little loose, that rather than patch the hole, I merely took the edge apart, pulled the fabric tighter, and stitched it back closed.

Gently cutting the threads that hold the binding in identify. I started on the back, the side that was hand stitched, equally the stitches are further autonomously and easier to get started.

Separate the bounden from the front every bit well. Notation, you are non cutting the binding itself. Y'all are cut the threads that adhere the binding to the quilt.

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

Now for a repair near the edge that is a petty more than complicated. This time there is a hole to patch on the front and back, as well every bit impairment to the binding.

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

Gear up the patch and pivot into identify, taking care to lucifer seam lines as needed.

Sew together the seam, using a ¼ inch seam, and printing the material towards the edge of the quilt. The patch hangs over the border, but don't worry well-nigh that at present, we'll trim it up in a minute.

Turn the quilt over, and if needed, make a similar repair on the back. You can come across here that the damage to the back in this spot is even greater than the damage to the front.

This time I wasn't able to sew the repair into the existing seam like I could on the front, so I followed the earlier steps to "patch a pocket-size hole."

Once both sides take been patched, trim away backlog fabric and reattach bounden.

To add fabric to supervene upon missing bounden, read this Binding Tutorial on how to make binding.

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

Y'all are becoming an expert on how to repair a damaged quilt! Are you prepare to tackle a hole that goes through all of the layers of a quilt?

How to Repair a Hole Through Top, Batting and Backing

At present for a hole that is a little bit bigger, and a footling scrap deeper. Equally seen by my finger, some of the seize with teeth marks went through all three layers of the quilt.

How to Repair a Damaged Quilt How to Repair a Hole

Have you noticed the irresolute finger nail colors throughout this project? This tutorial is several months in the making. No, repairing a quilt is non difficult or time consuming. Yous should definitely however repair the quilt(s) that lead you lot to read this tutorial in the commencement place. The reason it has taken me and then long is A. the holidays, B. getting ill and C. every time I came to a new blazon of repair, I gear up the quilt aside for a few weeks, looking at information technology every time I walked past, and thinking well-nigh how I would fix the side by side repair, before really sitting down to exercise it.

At get-go, I planned a repair the fixed the meridian and bottom hole at the same time. But that didn't go so well. Equally it turns out, a pigsty that goes through all iii layers is actually no different than whatever of the repairs we've talked about then far.

Start, I repaired the hole to the back, following exactly the aforementioned steps in the first section.

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

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

I chose to do the dorsum beginning and and so the front, to cutting down on seams that show on the forepart, 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 Big Problems in a Damaged Quilt

I saved this harm for last. Both in this tutorial for you, and my repair piece of work. I did this for several reasons. I thought starting with something big might scare you lot off. It certainly scared me off. Starting small-scale and working my way upward gave me confidence that nothing was too large or too damaged for repair. It likewise meant I could trial and mistake my style through pocket-sized repairs, finding what did and didn't piece of 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 away the fabric hanging loosely.

And merely like everything else you lot've learned so far, I placed a scrap of batting between the quilt top and back, and did ane patch at a time until the repair was complete.

This one cake would take been easier to fix if I had taken the whole quilt apart, as I could have merely replaced triangles using the original seam lines. Merely since I patched the residuum 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's considering it will be covered by the adjacent section of patching.

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

And finally, the largest (and terminal!!!!) of the triangle patches for this block. And so to sew the binding dorsum into identify, and the projection is finished.

Oh, shoot! There is 1 more little pigsty in the upper left of that last photo. I guess I have a trivial more work to do. But it'due south a little hole, you know how to patch those at present because yous are now an expert on how to repair a damaged quilt!

And here it is, in all it's glory! Patches and repairs, that will always be visible up close (although not from a distance) every bit a reminder of that very loved, very naughty puppy.