Cotton Counterpanes--Bedspreads of Yesteryear

Technorati Tags: counterpane,knitted counterpane,crochet counterpane,counterpane repair,crochet repair,knitting,bedspread,knit bedspread,crochet bedspread,fringe repair,crochet fringe repair,knitted fringe,knitted fringe repair,needlework repair

My client’s crocheted bedspread repairs are completed, and it’s ready to go to the cleaner’s. Here are a few more steps I took while finishing up my work:

  

The above photos show a bad place that needed repair, and the 2nd photo is taken from further away but shows the reweaving/re-crocheting.

    

These two photos also show an area that needed repair and was fixed

 

This (above) is a shot of the pattern. Shows the lovely popcorn stitching

 

Now everything is coming together in the main counterpane. On to the fringe repair:

		Fringe repair VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

     

The fringe had several issues. First, parts of the crochet chain stitch to which it was knotted had come undone, so I had to repair that. You can see it in the left photo just above this writing. Once that is repaired, then everything has to be unknotted. See the little fringe hanks that I’ve taken off? They all follow a knotting pattern from the top, down. So you have to un-knot the top ones and take them off. Then un-knot everything else. Re-do the top knots, and then re-tie the other two levels.

And now, here is the bedspread at it looks with all the repairs completed!

 

     

This got me to thinking about my own counterpane/bedspread, for which I once accumulated over 150 small balls of Aunt Lydia’s Fast Five cotton thread!! (Yes, it IS in a very large plastic tub in my attic.) This particular counterpane pattern I’m knitting is from Knitting Counterpanes by Mary Walker Phillips, c.1989. I know I began working on mine around 1990. I think I have 24 squares (the quarter units of the big square.)

I’ve pulled it out lately to see my progress. When people ask me how long something takes to complete, it’s really hard to gauge because I do have things I do other than knit or do needlework. However, I’ve noticed that with my busy schedule, when I’m only working on a knitted square for my counterpane, it takes a whole week. Each ball of thread is ONE unit, and each unit is ONE-FOURTH of a complete square for the pattern stitch.

So, here are a few pictures of mine, which Ms. Phillips created based on her sketches and photos from a late 1800’s counterpane she viewed in Larnach Castle, New Zealand:

 

This (above) is 4 units (each unit taking 1 week to complete) sewn together into one pattern square

Look how many I’ve done so far:

    

Once I complete all my quarter units + sew them into the larger squares, then I have to do a border insert. Once the border insert is completed, then there is a lace edging to be done.

Three thoughts:

1) I am a glutton for punishment, as I always choose ridiculously complicated projects for myself

2) There is a reason why Montgomery Ward, Sears and such began manufacturing bedspreads in the turn of the century

3) Why oh why did I have to do this for the king-size bed and not choose at least to do a full size instead, for the guest room?

4) Denise, I should listen to you and just make what I have right now into pillows, but no, see Thought #1 above

5) No dog or cat or grandbaby (way off right now but by the time I complete this project I’ll surely have some) will ever lie, sit, sleep, get a diaper changed, throw up, etc,… on my counterpane!!

Tools of The Trade

 

My one must-have tool is the head contraption product, Mag Eyes, which provides enough magnification (along with my 1.75 magnifying drug store glasses) for me to see teensy tiny stitches:

        

Another necessity for me is on the table to my right—a good Ott Lite type of lamp with a daylight bulb in it. That gives me the ability to note correct colors in my threads and on the textiles I’m working on. I also have a floor lamp Ott Lite in my workroom, right beside my work table.

I look so serious, but I’m really not! When I’m working, though, that’s pretty deep concentration.

I try not to wear my Mag Eyes out in public, but there have been times (like at the drive-in before the movie started) when I couldn’t help it, I had to be doing something with my hands, so out came the funny-looking headgear and my personal cross-stitch project. It was tote-able, and people who know me well know I have to always have some sort of stitching in what I call my “fun bag” in order to keep from being bored. There is nothing worse than standing in a queue or sitting in a car and not being able to distract with something interesting.

There are many other things I use on a regular basis for my needlework and needlework repairs, but for now I’ll just leave it at these two main products. More to come!

On my work table right now is Bob from Colorado Springs’ crocheted bedspread. Here is my work so far, which I’ve really just begun. On the area below, I’m reworking the treble crochets in the openwork that had come unraveled:

                   

Here is what I have just completed for myself. It’s a Quaker sampler pattern (“Thinking Quaker”) and the chart was generously shared online for free. I made a few small changes, mainly the little sewing machine on the upper left. That was an embroidery hoop with fabric in the original pattern, but I’d seen these little machines done in cr0ss-stitch and wanted to use it. Also added my name and the date, which stands out a little and I’m thinking about making it one stitch smaller and the same size as my name. I was considering installing this sampler

Technorati Tags: crochet,crochet repair,quaker sampler,thinking quaker sampler,free pattern

  in the middle of a small, glass-topped Sudberry House tray (below—and you can see that one side is off, as well as the glass and screws are sitting at bottom left of tray) but decided to put another “to be done” project in it, a “Home of a Needleworker” sampler that would fill the entire space better:

         

 

Punch Needle Art Piece Now Stabilized & Acid-Free

Technorati Tags: punch needle,punch needle repair,needlework repair,needlework finishing,crewel repair,embroidery repair,embroidery finishing,acid-free needlework,acid-free needlework repair

My client, Christina from MA, sent these photos of a piece she had recently purchased that needed help:

      

It’s a beautiful piece, very well done by the needleworker, and I don’t think it was from a kit at all. The way the stitcher used a lot of different colors of silk thread for shading makes it special. The problem lies in the deterioration of the fabric she used to punch thousands of little loops through to create the picture. It’s dirty, has holes, and was attached by very rusty nails. The wood it was backed with is also acidic, and it needed to be off there as soon as possible.

    

    

Pictured above are the nail tacks, and here is the wood the piece was tacked to. The plan was to make the whole thing acid-free and to stabilize it. The photos below shoe where, once the stitching was taken out of the frame, little pills came off and some of the piece was in danger of being lost.

       

Now we get to work. First I took matching thread and sewed into the loose side of the picture (the side showing above.) A lot of sewing up into the layers actually secured the pills in place and kept more from coming off. Once I was sure that side was firm enough to add some border fabric, I took washed, unbleached cotton muslin and machine-sewed it to all four sides.

Below, you can see the new border fabric. Then the gray is the original fabric, which was trimmed a bit. You can see my seams on both fabrics. My finger is holding back a new cotton backing that was hand-stitched (at sides) to the piece (actually to the border near its seam, because the gray original fabric is still too unstable to hold new stitching.

Next, a piece of foam core board (acid-free) is laid against the new backing, and the new border is laced fast to the back with cotton string. The edges are slip-stitched down:

  

Here is the final result. Most was saved and now it’s in good shape for its future and ready to be framed!

There are still a few places that aren’t 100% stable but once in a frame, it should be fine. Two reasons why these spots: 1) I wanted to save as much of the picture as possible, and 2) the backing on those spots was just gone and therefore the stitches had nothing to adhere to. I am going to tack the one on the right down more, for the framing. The other is fine for framing.

     

 

Customer’s Completed Needlepoint Repair

Here is a project I’ve just finished for client Ronald D of New York. It’s a woodlands needlepoint stitched by his mother. The frame is from Caroline Budd’s shop. They put it in a protective plastic--hence the glare and the wrinkling. I didn’t want to take it out and have to wrap it again since it is taped in the back. Looks good!