The Sewing Place

Do you want your quilt to be used?

Hachi

Do you want your quilt to be used?
« on: June 29, 2017, 21:58:35 PM »
My question to you all who reside in the Dark Side is that when you gift your handmade quilt to someone, do you want your quilt to be actually used even though the quilt will get worn and torn and fade and tattered? Or do you want the quilt to be kept in good condition, even though it may just sit in the wardrobe forever?

I guess this question is not meant for your showcase, statement quilt that you may make intending to be a piece of art work and to be displayed. But rather, baby blanket, lap quilt, bed spread, and throw type of quilts.

I'm not a quilter (I made one bed spread, it was a log cabin, 20 years ago) but I love quilts. My mother-in-law and grandma-in-law are both fantastic quilters so I have many handmade quilts. The sad things is that my dogs love chewing on quilts, and some of the handmade quilts had been chewed on the corners. So now if I'm given a new one, it stays in the wardrobe.

I also had a same quilt over our bed for 10 years. It went through the weekly wash for 10 years and became really threadbare so it had to be downgraded to a dog quilt, which was then chewed on.

MIL is very understanding but I have to wonder, am I hurting her feeling? Am I????
Ladies, please tell me your honest opinion. How would you feel to see your handmade quilt being chewed on (but being loved and used to death)?

fajita

Re: Do you want your quilt to be used?
« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2017, 22:14:31 PM »
Absolutely it needs to be used. I've made one double sized quilt which is hung, all the rest have been baby sized gift quilts. Very pretty, often personalised, but always handed over with promises that they will wash and tumble dry easily so please use them. Otherwise what's the point of them. Cupboards don't need decorating with folded bits of cloth. What a waste.

Acorn

Re: Do you want your quilt to be used?
« Reply #2 on: June 29, 2017, 22:17:03 PM »
Oh yes, I absolutely want them to be used.

If I saw one being used as a dog quilt and didn't know that it had been used and loved into threadbareness before being given to the dog I would be very upset though!
I might look as though I'm talking to you, but inside my head I'm sewing.

Jo

Re: Do you want your quilt to be used?
« Reply #3 on: June 29, 2017, 22:30:48 PM »
As an owner of both dogs and cats that spends a lot of her time making beds or blankets for them, I wouldn't be upset at all if I would give a quilt and it were used by the animals. Animals are picky! I spent 2 days making a cat bed that my cats completely ignored!
But now that I think about it...maybe I would get a little bit upset if I made a baby quilt and it would be used by the dog instead of the baby. Better come up with a good story :)

Lowena

Re: Do you want your quilt to be used?
« Reply #4 on: June 29, 2017, 23:40:49 PM »
Like the others so far, I make quilts to be used. I also make placemats,mugrugs,bags and cushions to be used. There's little point otherwise.
However there is one proviso. If you want a quilt for a pet, please let me know in advance and the fabrics,wadding and stitches will be appropriate.
I would be happy if an old quilt was passed on to a pet, but only when it was obviously way past its best, ( after many years,hopefully )
 :ninja:
Triumph of hope over experience :D

Iminei

Re: Do you want your quilt to be used?
« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2017, 06:43:59 AM »
Absolutely!

However...Two tales

When I was just starting out in The Dark Side I made a 'quilt' for my then best friend and his wife for their new baby son.
It wasn't much of a quilt, ... this was before I started quilting for real, took any Craftsy class or knew pretty much anything. It was basically a rather nice piece of appliqued fabric stitched to another fabric with some curtain bump (which I thought was wadding) in between. I stitched around the appliqued bunny, house and flowers and down the sides and thought it was all rather lovely! I didn't even bother to take a pic!

A couple of years later Imself and I visited  my friends house and I was horrified to see, as she went to tuck their son into bed, that it was on the floor by the cot and they were walking over it in outdoor shoes!

Maybe  I was too precious about it and apart from the fact that I don't recall them ever saying thank you for it, they were immediately off my gift list for life!

Fast forward a few years and I made The Treasure Map Quilt for Reuben's 5th birthday, our next door neighbours lovely lil boy! This is a full blown single sized quilt and very proud I am of it too.



https://goo.gl/photos/fgJnqpQTbtPAHu156
 
Last year, just before Christmas, I dropped in to see Vicky, his mum, and went up to see Reuben who was playing in his bedroom. I found him laying on his bed, on my ...well his... quilt with mountains of lego in all directions.

My heart filled with joy, knowing that the quilt was very much in daily use and, Vicky tells me, washes very well.

Next year its his sister Jazmins turn as she gets 'Pink' for her 5th birthday!



« Last Edit: June 30, 2017, 06:46:58 AM by Iminei »
The Imperfect Perfectionist sews again

Hachi

Re: Do you want your quilt to be used?
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2017, 08:11:35 AM »
Thank you all for your responses, ladies.

Just to make myself clear, most of the quilts are used for humans, unless it has become too worn or unless it was specifically made for the dogs and outdoor use (you know the one with square denim on one side and quilting cotton on the other side and sew them together with the raw edges on the right side kind of ones?).

So, what if you gave me a quilt, and one day you visit me and see that I'm cuddling in your quilt, but you also found a hole in your quilt because when I left the quilt on my sofa and left the house for a few hours one day, my dog cuddled in it and chewed a hole.

This is a quilt Grandma-in-law made, hand-sewn, hand-quilted, chewed by the one on my avatar:


I guess I should edit my question:
"Do you want your quilt to be used even though it may get destroyed unintentionally?"

Would you consider giving me another quilt even after seeing a hole?
Do I need to ban myself from receiving any more quilts?

Jo

Re: Do you want your quilt to be used?
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2017, 08:17:39 AM »
Hachi, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I assume both grandma and mother in law know you and your dogs closely. I know my parents treat my bunch as children and wouldn't be upset if this were to happen.
But it mostly depends on them. You can ask them nicely and see what they say :)

rubywishes

Re: Do you want your quilt to be used?
« Reply #8 on: June 30, 2017, 08:43:46 AM »
Quilts I have made and gifted to family members are never used...I never see them on the beds...I involved them each time when it came to choices of colours and pattern etc but still they don't see the light of day. If they don't like the end product I would rather them be honest and either give the quilt back to me or not ask me to make one in the first place!  :angry: I don't make and gift quilts for family anymore. I am currently making my first "for a friend" quilt and I hope it will be more favourably received.
If I were to see one chewed up by the pets, or tromped on with "outside" shoes I'd be dismayed.....if you want one for your pets or for the floor........ like Lowena posted....please tell me beforehand and I'll be happy to oblige appropriately.
Juki TL2010Q, Juki DX7,  Singers: 1917 27K treadle (aka Gertie), 1957 99k (aka Vincent), 1951 99k knee lever (aka Shirley), 1950 99k handcrank (aka Alice), 1927 28K (aka Dora), 1947 201K treadle with motor conversion (aka Livvy)
....and the dusting and vacuming can wait!

Mama likes to make

Re: Do you want your quilt to be used?
« Reply #9 on: June 30, 2017, 08:59:35 AM »
Yes use them and don't keep them in the press from me too. I'm a firm believer that things should be used so I use the good glasses and the nice plates for dinner on a Wednesday sometimes cause that's what there there for!
2018 fabric used 12m.
2018 wardrobe items completed 6.

Acorn

Re: Do you want your quilt to be used?
« Reply #10 on: June 30, 2017, 09:14:31 AM »
Hachi, my response to the dog-chewed hole would be to ask if I could take it away and put an appropriate bit of applique over the hole (maybe bone-shaped) and return it to them for more loving and using. :)
I might look as though I'm talking to you, but inside my head I'm sewing.

wrenkins

Re: Do you want your quilt to be used?
« Reply #11 on: June 30, 2017, 09:17:16 AM »
If you give a gift, it is no longer yours.
If people have pets then you just have to accept that holes happen. If I went to all the trouble of making someone a gift and they didn't use it I'd be gutted. I think there's nothing worse than it languishing in a cupboard and being found rotted in a plastic bag when they are dead!!!
My mum was a champion knitter but she has sore hands now and can't manage so I knit her a cardi a couple of years ago in colours I know she loves. She wore it till it was virtually unrecognisable as a cardi. It's got a bit of a "fro" going on and when she stayed with me I popped my head in to say goodnight she was sitting up in bed reading in her big tatty cardi!!! If there's anything left...the dog might get it. Fine by me!  0_0
As Acorn says, you could look suitably abject, explain what happened and hand it back for repairs.
ps Imi I too will be five soon and really REALLY like "Pink". Just sayin'....
« Last Edit: June 30, 2017, 09:22:30 AM by wrenkins »
Harbouring resentment is like swallowing poison and waiting for the other person to die!

Efemera

Re: Do you want your quilt to be used?
« Reply #12 on: June 30, 2017, 09:23:34 AM »
They're meant to be used... once you've given it away you can't dictate what folks do with it... if it's so precious then keep it.

Ploshkin

Re: Do you want your quilt to be used?
« Reply #13 on: June 30, 2017, 09:28:43 AM »
With the dog chewed one that you use I think I would tell grandma what happened and that I was very upset by it and ask if she would be able to repair it.
I think one of the main reasons for quilts not getting used is duvets.  You don't really need another layer on top.  I, for one, don't do decorative things on my bed that need taking off before I get in like those coloured strips across the end of hotel beds.  Tbh, our bed is often in the same state when we get into it as it was when we got out.
Life's too short for ironing.

BrendaP

Re: Do you want your quilt to be used?
« Reply #14 on: June 30, 2017, 09:48:43 AM »
I agree, once you have given something away it's no longer yours to say how it's used.  If you suspect that potential recipients won't treat a quilt in the same way that you would don't gift it, give something else instead.

My own quilts get used, sometimes stood on, sometimes taken into the garden (in fine weather), sometimes used as tablecloths and get food/wine spilt on them, and when they get grubby they go into the washing machine.  They are meant to be used.
Brenda.  My machines are: Corona, a 1953 Singer 201K-3, Caroline, a 1940 Singer 201K-3, Thirza, 1949 Singer 221K, Azilia, 1957 Singer 201K-MK2 and Vera, a Husqvarna 350 SewEasy about 20 years old. Also Bernina 1150 overlocker and Elna 444 Coverstitcher.
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.