Interesting
Last night I watched an old episode of The Antique Road Show and they were featuring quilts. It drove home the point that we are germaphobs. In the world today we believe everything needs to be sterilized and cleaned so much more than necessary. The beautiful hand-me-downs of quilts would never be here to tell the story of times past if our grandmothers and great grandmothers had treated these treasures so carelessly.
I do know that my mom, Lena, would take the quilts outside on a bright spring day and choose the lushest green grass possible to spread the quilts upon after the dew had passed for the sun to do its job. If that did not seem wise at the time, she would spread the quilt over multiple clothes lines as to not put too much weight on the fabrics hanging from just one line.
The quilts of early days were made of used garments, feed sack fabric and the most conservatory priced fabric that Ben Franklin sold. It is amazing how well these quilts endured. My sister, Elvera, has a quilt that is entitled “Postage Stamp.” You’ve got it. The size of the patchwork pieces are just that small. This quilt belonged to our great grandmother. Laundering this quilt has been done on rare occasions. More than likely, while it was spread on the lawn, oatmeal may have been spread on the quilt and gently brushed over small areas until the entire top and bottom was so cleaned. Oatmeal took off the body oils from the daily use, remembering that bathing was on a Saturday night from the galvanized oblong tub.
Today the fabrics are loomed with 120 or 240 thread count, many times over what my Mom had to work with. We bath and shower daily. Is it any wonder why there are hundreds of products for dry skin. Do we have any body oils left?
I am fortunate that I still do have clothes lines. Looking over my neighborhood, they are a rarity. I do put our quilts out several times a year and allow the breeze to do a great job of freshening them. Nothing smells as good as a quilt after being outside. Now that winter is here, the clothes lines are under snow.
Some of the quilts in use today are for queen and king sized beds. The second best thing to freshen up the large quilts is to put them in a clothes dryer with the setting on cool or warm, with a quite damp towel and a pair of shoes, clean soles, of course. The tumbling does its job of freshening them, less the clean air smell. We have a stackable washer and dryer. None of our quilts would benefit from being tumbled in our small dryer. Actually, a queen or king size quilt would not be benefited in even a usual sized dryer unit. As luck would have it, we have a good laundromat in town. Dennis and I do a tag team effort in the winter to take the quilts and his three yard polar fleece blanket for a tumble at least once during the winter. There is no stress on fabric or seams and a fluffed up quilt is always warmer.
I would have posted a photo or two of some of my older quilts that have been handed down, but baby steps with the new computer. As yet, no photos have been downloaded. Always a new challenge for another day.