Last night before I left the sewing room, I covered the new chair with an old quilt.
Of course I can’t remember the details but what I remember is that there was a department type store, The Whitehouse, in Lake Charles in the 80’s. It was comparable to Dillard’s, a bit more expensive than Sears or J. C. Penney.
From time to time, they get in these “handmade quilts”. They were a bit controversial because they were made overseas, back before everything was imported. The handwork isn’t great – huge stitches, points rarely meeting up, sometimes a raw edge pokes through, but they were very popular. For people who had no idea about quilting, they looked good. For people who wanted to give them as gifts and the recipient didn’t take good care of quilts, they were an inexpensive gift. As I recall, they were about $30 for a full size quilt.
My mom bought this one for me. I think she bought one for my sister, my grandmother, my aunt – everyone got one for Christmas that year.
Since I never get rid of anything, I still have mine and it doesn’t look a whole lot worse than it did 40 years ago. In Texas I had my quilts stacked on top of the storage units and Boots loved to get up there so I’d spread this storebought quilt on top of them and then take it down and wash it from time to time.
You can see that in the picture, it doesn’t look bad, even after all these years. It probably isn’t something I would ever have purchaed but it has been pretty useful through the years.
Linda Garcia says
I have a quilt on our bed, but I cover it with a flannel sheet. Our cats love to sleep on our bed and the flannel sheet grabs their hair. It is much easier to wash a flannel sheet than a whole quilt. Every time I strip the bed and wash our sheets, I also wash the “cat sheet”.
Also, I can’t remember where I read this, but it works for me. I put the flannel sheet in the dryer for about 15 minutes before washing it. The heat and motion of the dryer takes out a lot of the hair before washing. There is still some when it goes through the dryer after washing, but not as much as when I dry it before washing.
Judy Laquidara says
Thanks for that tip! I have a white fake down comforter that I keep on our bed and I use one of those lint brushes (not the sticky kind but the kind you rub one way and it picks up the hair and the other way deposits the hair). If I do that every day, there’s hardly any hair on it but it doesn’thang on to the hair like flanel does. I take the comforter out of the cover and wash the cover about once a month (we don’t actually use it at night because it’s hot) but I detest putting the comforter back in that cover.
Dot says
Watch this YouTube video on how to put a comforter into a cover. It’s magic!
Judy Laquidara says
I’ll check it out!
Dot says
I think your spam filter just refused to post the YouTube link I posted. Search on YouTube for “duvet burrito” to learn an easy way to put that cover back on!
Judy Laquidara says
Thanks. I’ll do it!
JustGail says
I have a Trip Around the World one from JC Penney. A few seams have pulled due to skimpy seam allowances, but overall, it’s still in good shape. I remember the controversy. But at the time, I wasn’t into quilting and didn’t know. In fact I’d say looking at those quilts in catalogs is part of why I got into quilting. I liked that design, but not those colors, love these colors but not the design.
That’s in interesting tip about using the dryer before washing a flannel sheet, I bet it would work on non-flannel items too.
Lilac Joan says
My good quilting buddy and I both had this type of quilt on our own beds! We didn’t want to waste time making quilts for ourselves when we were so busy making quilts for others. My has since good to goodwill or some such place.
Linda in NE says
I have one of those Chinese made quilts from years ago. Ordered from J.C. Penney for about $30 also. I had two but one was so poorly make it fell apart. The survivor has been relegated to a car quilt. It works great for covering things or being spread out to protect the car interior when I load something that might cause damage. Now I wouldn’t dream of buying something like that.
Dottie Newkirk says
I thought the quilt looked like an old one, but, from the picture couldn’t tell that it was one of those manufactured quilts that were so very popular a few years back. Perfect for Boots.
Julie says
I call store bought quilts “fake blankets”. My two granddaughters (8 and 13) would rather use store bought quilts then the quilts I make. The store bought they get usually have thick polyester batting that is more squishy then the 80/20 batting I use. I try not to get offended. lol I may have to buy some polyester batting just to see some of the quilts I give them used.
Judy Laquidara says
Addie is the same way. Give her something fluffy that makes her sweat and she’s happy. I would melt under all that poly but she loves it. Yes, I’m not offended. Drag that “fake blanket” through the house, down the stairs, out in the yard, let the dog sleep on it . . I don’t care. Do it with one of my quilts and it won’t be pretty! 🙂