by Katherine Letherby, owner of Quilt Direct
Story of the scorched duvet cover turned quilt
My sister called me in a bit of a flap because she had been drying her rather posh, pure white, favourite cashmere blend duvet cover on her farmhouse Aga range cooker and left it to get a bit too toasty. There was a large scorch mark right in the centre which would not wash out no matter how much scrubbing and soaking she tried.
I told her not to panic – the team at Quilt Direct could probably come up with some sort of rescue plan. Everyone gave their opinion and we considered cutting it up the reassembling it, making it into a patchwork quilt without the burnt patch. In the end I went for a simpler option and decided to dye the duvet cover a strong, dark colour.
The easiest way to dye fabric at home is to put a tub of a well known textile machine washable dye into the washing machine, walk away and do something else then go back later without having to stand stirring a vat of bubbling dye.
I started off with 2 machine washable dye tubs but the results were a bit streaky as there was rather a lot of fabric involved. I realised that it would dye more successfully with less fabric in a standard sized washing machine so I unpicked the duvet cover, detaching the front from the back. With a separate front and back it could be made into a 'wholecloth' bedspread. Two washes and 4 more tubs of dye later, I had 2 evenly dyed rich green pieces of a cashmere cotton blend fabric.
The 2 large pieces of fabric were loaded onto the Quilt Direct Q24 longarm quilting frame with a cosy layer of 80/20 Soft & Elegant batting. To enhance the depth of the rich green I chose a pretty, open Edge-to-Edge automated design called “Marguerite” by Christy Dillon at “My Creative Stitches” that could be stitched out with the Bernina Q-Matic system.
I chose Isacord 40 trilobal polyester embroidery thread, colour 5374 in a matching deep green and the stitch quality was fantastic.
The reversible wholecloth quilt was finished off with a neat, double-fold French binding in Moda Grunge “Everglade”.
I think this upcycled project is a great rescue of a luxury fabric that could so easily have been thrown away when it seemed like it was ruined.
I hope my sister is thrilled with her new bedspread when I present it to her at Easter.