Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Mouse Attack- help needed

I hope he enjoyed himself or better yet, was a mother mouse feeding her babies. Whoever lunched on my otherwise pristine pre-Civil War quilt top, left a gaping hole in an acid green fabric c. 1840 and a smaller chomp in a madder red print with black, white and tan motifs. See for yourself--






I have gone through my stash looking for reproduction fabric to repair the top but can't find either one in my stacks. They both look so familiar to me me, I'm pretty certain both were reproduced. Can anyone tell me which company made either of these, or the the designer? Here are closer shots.





I showed this top at a Guild lecture I gave last week and upon packing it noticed the brown fabric was splitting, cracking in one block. (Crocking is when color from the dye rubs onto another block) This happens over time to browns when they are washed or in the sun. That's not the case with this top, but the brown pieces feel dry and inflexible compared to the others fabrics. If the top had been batted and backed the splitting probably would not have happened, yet anyway. Iron was used to make brown dyes and this is what often happens to brown fabrics in quilts.They are the first to deteriorate, and this is how it begins--





Please help me find the fabrics. The brown fabric I have not seen reproduced. I plan on putting a dark brown plain fabric underneath it and crepoline across the top in order to save it from further deterioration from movement.

Lest you wonder, I bought the top with these mouse chews included, free of charge!

Piece,

Kim

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Your comments, questions and answers are welcome! It may take a little while for them to show on my blog - I like to see them first. Thanks for sharing.