Have you heard the saying, desperate times call for desperate measures? I was looking at some older quilts yesterday that I often pull out at Christmas time. This is one.
I made this over 15 years ago. I love appliqué quilts, but I have never taken the time to get good at it. This is machine appliquéd. It is a pretty crude version of the traditional Princess Feather. I could only get myself to make one block. I still love it except for one thing. See that red print? I hate the way it has faded.
It used to match the inner border and the print was very subtle. I appliquéd and quilted this on my 1955 Singer 201. I should have done a bit more quilting in that border! LOL
Anyway, I while I love this raggedy thing, I cannot abide that faded print. So today, I am going to try this.
I plan to make some very strong tea to tea dye the whole thing. I haven’t anything to lose because I won’t hang it as faded as it is now.
Stay tuned for updates!
KatyQuilts 
I’ll be interested in how the tea-dying goes. I think you did a fine job of machine quilting it.
Katy,
I watched a video with Anna Buzzalino (spelling?) where she actually makes a quilt that after it is completed, she dyes. She uses Procion MX dyes and a large tote, something I would store Seasonal decorations in. If the tea doesn’t work you may want to try dyeing it. You can always start out with a tint of the color and keep going deeper. The one thing to remember, each cell on the cotton can only absorb a limited amount of dye. I once tried to over dye a black and red with blue to get a black and purple. Absolutely no color was absorbed at all. It was very disappointing. The cloth may have had some sort of finish on it also, that I wasn’t aware of. Anyway, that’s my 15 cents worth! I’m always inspired by your posts. Thank you.
Luann
http://www.letscreatetoday.blogspot.com
I love this quilt as is…BUT you have my attention! I have thought of doing this to a quilt that I own…can’t wait to see the results!
Katy, it’s beautiful to me as it is.
I think it’s still very pretty! I look forward to seeing the tea dyed look. Hugs,
I think I have a whole queen size quilt made with that print, and mine has really faded too!
Good luck Katy! Tea dye will look so good on this piece.