To repair or not to repair that is the question!

[shuttlebuggy]

Just wondering - I have an old thread motif crocheted bedspread that I love - but with age it seems to be coming apart in several places - I was wondering at what point you all deem it not worth repairing???

When I had it on the bed I loved using it as a secondary throw so it wasn't the main blanket but I displayed it over the main blanket and rolled it down at night.

I just don't want to fix it by putting in tons of hours - trying to match the yellowed cream colored thread and then finding the thread will all just be coming apart from the rest of the motifs due to age.

What would you all do or how do you decide if this is a factor?

[birdlady1]

I guess it depends on how "bonded" you are with it. Perhaps you could "chop" it up to make it into pillows or an afghan (backed with warm fabric)?

 

Or give yourself a certain amount of time to repair it and, if you haven't reached your goal within that time, then consider its burial.

[shuttlebuggy]

:lol:lolOMG ~ Birdlady1 !!!! You had me laughing so hard that I went into a coughing jag (I am recouping from pneumonia), I needed that laugh though!!!

Especially the then -"consider the burial" part - I just lost it!

 

I really like the thought of breaking it down though! That could have possiblities ----

Like I am thinking - making a polar fleece babies blanket with my edgery doo and maybe including some of the motifs as an appliqued part - maybe in the center or included somewhere on it - and then when passed on to dd someday she will have a "piece" of great great grandmothers handiwork to pass on!

Or like you said for pillows and such!

I am getting ready to haul it out of the blanket trunk and assess the damage -

Last time I did this it recieved many safety pins between motifs where either the "join" hadn't held or the last "round" of the motif had weakened and unraveled.

It is really hard to match aged/washed thread too.

Thanks again for your reply - It gives me hope for it's ressurection in some form or another!

[Granny Square]

Chopping it up into smaller usable pieces is a great idea. You could use the same thread from unused pieces to rearrange or repair the motifs on the smaller items.

 

I'd suggest mortphing it into runner or doily, or maybe a couple (one for you and dd). A blanket or pillowtop will (usually, at my house anyway) get MORE abuse from wear than a doily (and I use doilies, but they just sit there, don't get sat on or pulled on like a pillow or blanket). Since the piece is already fragile, it will last longer and be on display as an heirloom memory of your GGGM.

 

edit - duh - I meant to say that doilies would be less likely to wear than blankets or pillows, I'd originally said the opposite.

[birdlady1]

Glad you enjoyed my post, Shuttlebuggy! People bond to all sorts of things, including inanimate objects. Sometimes we may go overboard with our bonding as witnessed by the chimpanzee situation in your home state. Yikes!:monkey So your "case" is a piece of cake:lol.

[Becky Morgan]

If it's really about to disintegrate, you could frame pieces of it. You could also (and I know some preservation folk would shoot me, but it works) iron the best bits onto double-sided fusible web and iron that onto a backing fabric that will show off the pattern (I'm thinking of white lace against dark blue cotton, fleece or what have you.)

[slicer]

I'd recommend framing pieces of it, or using them to make a pillow.

[shuttlebuggy]

Okay - the low down so far (taking a deep breath here :sighas the project suddenly is larger than I thought!!!)...

 

I took out the bedspread thinking that I would mark with navy blue yarn (so I can see them) the motif joinings and motifs that are coming undone.

 

But when I took out the bedspread - I am thinking to myself - I don't remember it being this heavy...

I go to spread it out and realize it is not just one bedspread I am dealing with but TWO!!!!!

 

I told you it had been years - but what I can figure is that one of them was fargone when I got them and I just put it away. Then the one that was usable - got many spots where things were coming undone between motifs and on the starting rounds of several motifs themselves. They are both yellowed somewhat from age - but I think that is part of the charm of them - neither has any ugly stains thankfully.

 

So what I did was compared the two before marking anymore join areas and areas of disrepair - and found that one of them did in fact have significantly LESS areas - so that one will be saved and spared from being dismantled

 

The other however at last count had 25 areas and I was not done marking them yet!!!! So I am thinking -

 

*divide up for pillows maybe a possibility - but the motifs are hexagonal and do not end with a straight edge so this may be tricky

 

*make doilies or runners of different lengths and shapes so I can give them away to good homes, and keep a few in the family

 

*if a large section is good - make a smaller throw out of that section

 

*odd single motifs from dismantling can be used for coasters or mounted on another larger yarn circle or square as a potholder

 

I am definately open to more suggestions here and am actually beginning to look forward to this! I can't help but thinking of my dh's great grandmother who made these and has long since passed on - being my crochet who is looking down on me and smiling that her work is valued after all these years and being resurrected into something that again will go on to future generations and hopefully to those that love crochet like she and now I do!