Question about cleaning a very old quilt

Okay so I have a little problem. I have several quilts that were made by my great grandmother. I love them and so I do have several of them out where I can look at them on a regular basis. Here's what happened. My very sweet lovely 3 year old daughter got a hold of my makeup the other day and she painted the walls with it. She also did a great job of painting one of my quilts with base. I realize this is pretty much my fault for leaving makeup low enough for her to reach and not keeping a better watch on my kid but either way it happened.(I just wanted to take a quick shower) It happened so fast. Anyways, she only used foundation/base on the quilt. I am wondering is there a way I can safely have it cleaned or has it been ruined beyond repair? I don't know much about quilts I just happen to have a few. I surely hate that this has happened. It is a pretty old quilt at lest 50 or 60 years probably much older than that.

 

Gramma did it like this

 

Freeze it?
Then brush it out?

 

Oil or water based?
If oil...layer baking soda on it, let it set for awhile to draw it out then brush off carefully and repeat as needed.
If water...soak in Woolite then rinse with clear cold water and repeat as needed.

 

Thanks so much Kingofthings. I think it is oil based. I will have to look at the bottle. I will try your methods. Maybe it isn't totally ruined. It is more sentimental than anything but still. If nothing else when my daughter is 30 or so I will give it to her and remind her of the biggest mess she every made as a tot. She just did it in the middle of like 3 circles. She stayed in the lines really well. LOL! Granted I wasn't laughing that day but hey it's life right.

 

Hi Robin,
Sorry about the mishap. It is good to see you around again. The cleaning depends on what materials are in it. If it is washable let it soak in a bathtub with cool water and a very mild soap. Then pull the plug and let it drain. Add the plug and fill it to rinse, do this several times. When done with the last drain. You can put it in the washing maching on spin only to help dry it out. Wringing out by hand can cause threads to break and strain the fabric. When done spinning lay the quilt out flat to dry. I wish 6 Rivets would stop in.
greg

 

When my older kids were 3 and 4 they got up before me one morning. It was very quiet - a sure sign of disaster. The living room was pretty much painted in peanut butter, including the perpetrators. Then I noticed my album covers on the coffee table. A bunch of my records were also buttered, but they heard me coming and hid them under the rug. It happens.

 

Ahahahahahahaaaaaaa!!!!!!

 

My grandson "painted" his bed and the wall it was next to with PAM cooking spray when he was about 3 (he's 12 now.) Got it all over himself too. My son and DIL were so mad. I just laughed. It sure was a mess, though I have to wonder about a child with enough hand strength to do that much damage.

Sorry about the quilt, Robin. I hope you can get it clean enough to continue to use.

 

I've also flushed such problems out over a screen using a hose outside or with a Shower Massage sprayer in the tub. A window type screen is really too tightly woven but I had 'hardware cloth' around to use. This is the screen with 1/4" or 1/2", or so, between the wires. Be careful of this stuff catching the quilt especially the galvanized type and be sure that whether or not you use that type, or aluminum, that nothing from those is getting on the quilt. Don't leave it on these after flushing for you may get some type of stain.
Put the problem side down and flush through it over a support rack or something that can get wet.
I like the spin idea if it's not too fast so as to stretch the fibers and seams.

 

Hi,
Our grams and great aunts used to wash the quilts except for those "crazy quilts" made with silk and velvet etc. Most of them were made before the synthetics and washed many times before piecing them together. After WWII when it was no longer a chore to make them for "fun" . Grams' old wool ones for warmth in unheated rooms were a different story. Most of them had coverlets to help keep them clean. Luckily none of my family had beards after WWI so they never had chin guards sewn on.
greg

 

I have used Dawn dish washing liquid for oil based stains and it worked great.

Another recipe I use needs to be tested on a small area first. Mix equal parts of liquid Whisk laundry detergent and peroxide. The most impressive stain I've used it on was tomato sauce stains on toile couch pillows.

Use a white wash cloth to put it on and gently rub it in. Use another cloth that is slightly damp to wipe it off. You will probably have to rinse the clean cloth a few times to get it all. It may take more than one application to get the stain out. After I cleaned those pillows, I left them out in direct sunlight to dry and there is no sign of the stains.

 

What became of this? Did it come out?

 

I haven't had a chance to try it yet. I am hoping to do it today. I will let you know.

 

I know an answer for this one too!!! Whoo hoo! <giggle> Call your local Quilt Shop, and ask them for the products that they sell to launder old and newer quilts. They will have a wealth of info for you. But the draw back ... washing an old OLD quilt is a "hope for the best, but plan for the worst" endeavor. I have dozens of Civil War era quilts and quilt tops and I wash them. I use a bar of soap called "Zote" for stains. I use Zote for all of my fine washables, Woolite works too, and so does Ivory Soap cake and Ivory Snow Baby Detergent (Dreft is another good one). Never, EVER use "Shout" or "Spray and Wash". They will eat your quilt like a moth on a wool binge!
First, get a large, lawn and leaf quality garbage bag. You will need it to transport the wet quilt. I put the quilt in the bathtub in COLD water (Dark Woolite works if you are a Woolite user for the red and black fabrics in an antiquated quilt). Get soaking wet, then drain the water but don't wring out the quilt, keep it soaking wet! Spread the wet quilt out as much as you can and I use the Zote for the spots, and drizzle Ivory Snow on top of the quilt. Then GENTLY roll the wet quilt like you'd roll dough to make a snake to cut into cinnamon rolls; a lot of the water will be squeezed out. Put the dripping quilt in the garbage bag and put it in your washing machine (dump the water in the bag from the wet quilt in the washer too). Set the wash and rinse and SPIN cycles on the gentlest setting your machine has and fill the tub on it's highest level. Put whatever soap you chose to use, and set it to go. That's how I do it. I hang my quilts outside till they are damp dry and tumble dry the remaining time on a LOW setting on your dryer.
I hope I contributed some help for you. This is how I do it and I have no problems with fraying.
If you have a quilt with damaged fabric, use a large nylon netting type of laundry keeper (you've seen them I'm sure, they have a drawstring closure?) and wash your quilt in the washer bundled inside the netting. Dry it that way too. It'll for the most part, keep your quilt intact throughout the washing.
JoAnn ... I buy junk and sell antiques!

 

It was very quiet - a sure sign of disaster.

<laughing hysterically and getting hiccups> Guess I'm not the only parent who didn't appreciate the "calm before the storm" atmosphere of small children playing.
JoAnn

 

Maybe everybody liked your answer so muuch there was nothing to add? Alternatively, maybe the right people have not been able to visit today?

 

Sometimes a thread ends with a good answer...!