I want to “rebuild” an old comforter that a friend gave me 30 years ago, which she brought back from Ireland. She passed away almost 30 years ago, which is part of why I want to keep using it, But the other reason is because it has the best design of any comforter I’ve ever seen: Instead of being made of squares which presumably are preferred by many people because it keeps the down even, this was made by putting the down in columns, which makes it perfect for all weather since you can shake the down all the way to the end when its warm, but still have a nice light cover.
Anyway, this comforter started falling apart about 10 years ago, the fabric becoming too thin to handle the stress of being used all the time, so I rolled it up and put it in plastic and stuck in a closet. Now I would like to “rebuild” it by using new cotton ticking and stitching it directly over the existing comforter in all the same spots, basically making it double layered, I guess.
But I’m having trouble finding exactly that type of fabric, that crisp light cotton that is used in making comforters. Does anyone know where I can purchase it or a better term to use to find it?
It might actually be cheaper to buy a new, cheap, comforter and take it apart for the ticking. I remember once my mother was surprised how expensive the pillowcase set she wanted to buy was. So she bought a flat sheet and sewed pillowcases herself.
It might be cheaper, but it would also be a hell of a lot messier. Although… My first thought was an actual down comforter, and the mess would be horrific…Lucy Ricardo levels of feathery mayhem.
But perhaps I can buy a cheap non-– down comforter with some kind of less messy filling? But then the problem becomes taking it apart: so far I have not seen much in the way of channel stitched non-down comforters… Everything seems to be standard box stitch. But you have certainly given me a good idea to pursue.
If it was my project, I’d start in a quilting shop and talk the whole thing through with them. I bet they’ve got lots of ideas on preserving both your quilt and your sanity.
This may not work well – if the cloth is that thin, it probably won’t hold stitches very well. (Note that stitching puts the pressure in just the small spot where the stitch goes, while your hand pulling on it spreads the stress all over the cloth. So cloth that’s getting too thin to use is even worse for sewing.) You might be better of disassembling it, and replacing that cloth. ATake it into a good fabric shop, and you can probably get a very similar material to the one she originally used to make the comforter. Or just pick sa color or pattern that reflects your late friend’s personality.
This is based on experience from my mother, who sewed al her life, and in her 70’s started a quilt-making group at her church that produced 2-4 quilts per week, year after year. The ticking material you want is available in many forms. The quilt-making group uses it mostly in sheet form, to avoid it shifting around. But that’s seems like what you want to happen, so you should look for the loose form of ticking. It’s available in good fabric shops.
If I was doing it, I think I’d take the top off the old comforter, buy a nice new comforter of the style that you prefer, and just stitch the top of the old comforter on top of the new one as a decorative layer.
It sounds like the old one is too worn to bear the stress of being re-sewn, but this way the new comforter’s top would act as a backing to the old comforter’s top, and there would be very little stress on the old top.
Alternatively, take off the old top, back it with muslin to strengthen and preserve it, and THEN stitch it as the new top of a comforter that you build.
I am not sure of all the issues you envision in this project, but it might be helpful for you to know that WET/DAMP feathers/down are MUCH easier to manage/ move from one container (cover) to another.