I repaired a log cabin quilt and was also told not to cut away fabric that was already there. I found fabric that was near in color and scale and appliqued new logs over the old ones. Since it was a scrap quilt, I didn't have to replace all of the logs of a particular fabric, only the ones with holes.

An AQS quilt appraiser told me to never remove anything from the original quilt. Instead she suggests patching by appliqué, but this would be very challenging with your quilt. Just yesterday, I saw an awesome antique quilt that was repaired by taking it all apart, adding replacement blocks and putting it back together.

Here's the link to a flickr photo ---> http://flic.kr/p/c8nyAs (Flickr will not allow me to post it here)

You can see before and after photos of the quilt and its story at this link ---> http://qisforquilter.com/2012/05/antique-album-quilt-remade/

This Q is for Quilter website is pretty cool with lots of free vintage/antique quilt patterns and embroidery/redwork designs. Have fun browsing around.

My sister Laura has repaired a few quilts and might be able to help you. Her screen name is lmorben. Email her from her profile and she might be able to assist you.

I have no experience with this sort of situation, so I can't help. But by posting you problem should go back to the top of the list and hopefully somebody who can help will read it.

Good luck with the quilt. I hope you can save it and give it a new lease of life!

I have a quilt that was made by my dad's great-aunt (the sister, i think, of my great-grandmother). It's a simple patchwork -- just alternating blocks, in 2 colors. The solid blue fabric, while faded, is completely fine. The alternate blocks, an orange w/blue flowers (though also very faded), all have holes in them. I assume the orange must have been a thinner/lower quality fabric than the blue.

(oh, it's from roughly the 1930s I think, but I'm not 100% sure on that)(maybe later...)

Anyway, it's right now just lying on top of a spare bed in our house but at some point I'd like to fix it. Am I looking at needing to cut away all the orange patches and replace them with something new? Or is it better to try and patch the holes? I have no idea how to go about doing this, but I'd like the quilt to survive future laundering as needed (though I will happily wash it by hand and line dry from now on, anyway...).

Is it better to take apart the quilt sandwich and totally remake it??

this is not something I'll tackle any time soon, just trying to get ideas. I'll be in the US in August and can buy period-appropriate repro fabrics at that time, though, so thought I'd ask now just in case.

Or is this something that a beginner should not mess with?