How to Repair a Damaged Quilt
Quilts are meant to be used. That might lead to the need to learn how to repair a damaged quilt, but quilts are meant to be used.
Not everyone feels this way. Some think they are too special to be used for every day use. Maybe these are the same people that have a hutch full of beautiful china that is never used? I’ve never understood that, my grandmother’s wedding china is my everyday dinnerware.
I’ve also never understood not using a quilt. I’ve got two on my bed as we speak. There is currently only one quilt on the couch. But, we’re having a warm winter, and the other couch quilts are on the quilt ladder, next to the couch, to be viewed AND to be easily accessible when I’m extra cold. {Edit- There is a foot of snow out there now – as I edit what I typed earlier – and more on the way. I’m all done with winter.}
Quilts are meant to be used.
Say it with me, “Quilts are meant to be used.”
However, using quilts means wear and tear, which leads to needing to know how to repair a damaged quilt. This particular quilt had a run in with a naughty puppy.
Some of the damage is readily apparent, especially the bites along the binding, and some will become clearer during the repair steps.
I am going to spend a lot of my time this year teaching you what to do with scraps. Cleaning out the scrap bin was one of my goals for the year, and I suspect using scraps may be something you want to learn to do too.
One important reason to save scraps, is for repairs. Now, unfortunately I no longer have the scraps from this particular quilt. But luckily, the most recent Hexie in a Hexie that I made was very similar in colors, and some of the scraps from that quilt will work well in the repairs for this quilt.
Supplies Needed
A damaged quilt
Matching and/or coordinating fabric
Thread
Rotary Cutter
Cutting Mat
Quilting Ruler
The first tutorial on how to repair a damaged quilt is how to fix frayed seams.
How to Repair a Frayed Seam
This seam that has opened up is not the responsibility of the puppy, this is type of damage is more likely to occur through repeated washing and drying. All of the quilts I make are washer and dryer friendly, because quilts are meant to be used, but the agitation part of the cycle can open up seams. Fortunately, they are pretty easy to fix; all you need is a needle and thread.
Thread the needle, and knot the ends together, giving a double thickness of thread. Knot the end a couple times, so that the knot won’t pull through the fabric.
Place the entire needle through the open seam, and bring it up through the fabric in the location you want to start your repair. I am right handed, so I work right to left, if you are a lefty, your process will likely be the exact opposite of mine.
Close the open/frayed seam by folding the fabric back into place. This is a short repair, only about an inch long, so I did not use needles, but for a longer repair, a few needles will help the fabric to stay in place.
Pull the needle through a little bit of both fabrics, in my example the green fabric is folded on top of the gold star fabric, so the needle goes through the gold fabric first and then the green fabric.
Pull the needle through, and pull the thread tight.
Continue along the length of the opened seam, making sure to stitch through both fabrics with every single stitch. Keep stitch length and distance between stitches consistent throughout. This last bit is something I can remember Laura Ingalls Wilder complaining about. Her mending/hemming was always taken apart and she was told to do it again, because her stitches were not consistent. I hear ya, girl! Mine aren’t either.
Continue until you’ve reached the end of the open seam, and one or two more stitches past the opening, to prevent future fraying.
Tie off your thread by bringing the last stitch through the same spot as the second to last stitch.
Double, or even triple-knot your thread, pulling each loop tight before making the next.
This will make your knot nice and secure, while also keeping it as small as possible so that it is less visible.
And voila! A closed-up seam, with minimum visibility of the fix.
I highly recommend using thread that matches the color of the fabric, to be as invisible as possible.
See? Cream thread worked great where I was mending a gold and green seam. Here where both sides of the seam are green, cream thread is not so great.
Now, unfortunately I am not a perfectionist. This next photo is definitely not the work of a teething puppy. It’s not wear and tear. That a BRAND-NEW quilt, that just had its first wash and dry before delivery. It came out of the dryer with multiple opened seams. That is no one’s fault but mine. That’s sloppy work.
At least it’s an easy fix!
Here’s another example of a frayed seam, it looks quite awful before the fix, but now you know, it’s very easy to fix a frayed seam!
How to Repair a Small Hole
Now that you know how to repair a frayed seam, the next step to repairing a damaged quilt is that it’s time to move up to bigger damage and talk about patching. I’m going to start with a small patch and move up to bigger and more complicated.
These two holes are small in diameter, and to make the fix easier, the holes are only in the fabric of the quilt top, not in the batting or the backing, so there is only one layer to repair.
Digging through my scraps. I knew I didn’t have anything that was an exactly perfect match, but that I had lots of options that were good blenders.
Not being able to match fabrics meant that any repair I made was going to be obvious. This quilt is going to be patched, not fixed. I decided that I would embrace the patching, and use a thread that would also coordinate but not disappear. This is a well-loved quilt. The puppy is a beloved puppy. Someday (in a million years, of course. Very far down the road.) the puppy will be grown and gone. This quilt will still be well loved. And hopefully I can preserve the memories of a naughty puppy who is adorable, and sweet, and loved through visible mending.
To make a patch that matched the seam, I sewed the two fabrics together along an angle, and them trimmed down to a smaller size.
Make the patch slightly larger than the hole to cover. Iron all four sides of the patch to hem each side so there is no unfinished edges visible.
Place the patch over the holes, lining up the seam between the fabrics and pin in place.
Starting in a corner, stitch along one edge, as close to the edge as possible.
Continue around all four sides, stopping when you return to the beginning.
Pull the threads through to the back, and make a knot out of all 4 threads.
Patch complete!
Now that you can fix a small hole, the next step to learning how to repair a damaged quilt is to tackle a larger hole.
How to Repair a Larger Hole
This next repair is slightly more complicated, because this time the damage was to the quilt top and to the quilt batting. As before, make a small patch, and iron all edges under, to give it a finished, polished look. Also, cut a small patch of batting.
Stuff the batting into the hole, and smooth it out so it lays as flat as possible.
Pin the patch into place and sew as in the previous repair section.
Look at that! A hole that goes through to the batting is really no more complicated to fix than a small hole that only affects the quilt top.
Are you developing confidence in your repair skills? Repairing a hole or tear near the binding is another common type of fix needed to repair a damaged quilt.
How to Repair a Hole Near the Binding
I’ve got two repairs for you here. I felt I needed to show you two repairs near the binding, because the first is nearly a cheat.
This hole was so small, so close to the edge, and the fabric was a little loose, that rather than patch the hole, I simply took the edge apart, pulled the fabric tighter, and stitched it back closed.
Gently cut the threads that hold the binding in place. I started on the back, the side that was hand stitched, as the stitches are further apart and easier to get started.
Separate the binding from the front as well. Note, you are not cutting the binding itself. You are cutting the threads that attach the binding to the quilt.
Pull the fabric taught and trim the excess. Easy peasy.
Now for a repair near the edge that is a little more complicated. This time there is a hole to patch on the front and back, as well as damage to the binding.
Again, trim away the threads that hold the binding in place, on both the front and back of the quilt.
Prepare the patch and pin into place, taking care to match seam lines as needed.
Stitch the seam, using a ¼ inch seam, and press the fabric towards the edge of the quilt. The patch hangs over the edge, but don’t worry about that now, we’ll trim it up in a minute.
Turn the quilt over, and if needed, make a similar repair on the back. You can see here that the damage to the back in this spot is even greater than the damage to the front.
This time I wasn’t able to sew the repair into the existing seam like I could on the front, so I followed the earlier steps to “patch a small hole.”
Once both sides have been patched, trim away excess fabric and reattach binding.
To add fabric to replace missing binding, read this Binding Tutorial on how to make binding.
To attach the repaired binding to the quilt, read this Binding Tutorial on how to attach binding.
You are becoming an expert on how to repair a damaged quilt! Are you ready to tackle a hole that goes through all of the layers of a quilt?
How to Repair a Hole Through Top, Batting and Backing
Now for a hole that is a little bit bigger, and a little bit deeper. As seen by my finger, some of the bite marks went through all three layers of the quilt.
Have you noticed the changing finger nail colors throughout this project? This tutorial is several months in the making. No, repairing a quilt is not difficult or time consuming. You should definitely still repair the quilt(s) that lead you to read this tutorial in the first place. The reason it has taken me so long is A. the holidays, B. getting sick and C. every time I came to a new type of repair, I set the quilt aside for a few weeks, looking at it every time I walked past, and thinking about how I would fix the next repair, before actually sitting down to do it.
At first, I planned a repair the fixed the top and bottom hole at the same time. But that didn’t go so well. As it turns out, a hole that goes through all three layers is really no different than any of the repairs we’ve talked about so far.
First, I repaired the hole to the back, following exactly the same steps in the first section.
This is what it looks like from the front after the back has been repaired.
Then, I stuffed in a scrap of batting, and repaired the hole to the front.
I chose to do the back first and then the front, to cut down on seams that show on the front, but other than that, no more difficult than the other repairs I’ve talked about so far. Next up, how to repair a damaged quilt that has large damage.
How to Repair Large Problems in a Damaged Quilt
I saved this damage for last. Both in this tutorial for you, and my repair work. I did this for several reasons. I thought starting with something big might scare you off. It certainly scared me off. Starting small and working my way up gave me confidence that nothing was too large or too damaged for repair. It also meant I could trial and error my way through small repairs, finding what did and didn’t work for me, which gave me new ideas on how to repair the larger damage.
I started by trimming away the fabric hanging loosely.
And just like everything else you’ve learned so far, I placed a scrap of batting between the quilt top and back, and did one patch at a time until the repair was complete.
This one block would have been easier to fix if I had taken the whole quilt apart, as I could have just replaced triangles using the original seam lines. But since I patched the rest of the holes, I patched this one too.
I started in the middle, and worked my way out. Notice in this first cream triangle, I didn’t sew the final side, that’s because it will be covered by the next section of patching.
Then the next triangle, making sure to cover the raw edges of both the tears and the previous patch.
And finally, the largest (and last!!!!) of the triangle patches for this block. Then to sew the binding back into place, and the project is finished.
Oh, shoot! There is one more little hole in the upper left of that last photo. I guess I have a little more work to do. But it’s a little hole, you know how to patch those now because you are now an expert on how to repair a damaged quilt!
And here it is, in all it’s glory! Patches and repairs, that will always be visible up close (although not from a distance) as a reminder of that very loved, very naughty puppy.
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55 Comments
Jane
Hi,
I enjoyed your post on quilt repair. While I don’t actually make quilts, I did watch my grandmother growing up. Now I collect quilts. My friends ask me why I have them all. I don’t understand that question!
I find quilts at garage & estate sales, flea markets, many places. Often they are dirty & can be in rough shape. I have been repairing them the best I know how. Your post has let me know I haven’t been doing it all wrong.
I even work on quilts others would call “cutter quilts”. I don’t like that term at all. Cutter quilts to me are those cheap, mass produced, imported quilts. I believe the handmade vintage/antique quilts should be saved whenever possible. I hope many others feel like I do about them. They can still be used as quilts. They are usually the softest, most perfect weight quilts. Great for snuggling on the couch or keeping you warm on the bed.
Darcy
I’m sure they’re are lots of ways to repair a quilt, depending on the amount of damage, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen my mom take vintage quilts apart down to the top and do new batting and backing entirely. I’m glad you are on a mission to save the quilts!
pjam
Your post on quilt repair made me chuckle. About 5 years ago our dog ate (yes….ate) 6″ triangle corner of our hand quilted bed quilt. Not that she was naughty. She was about 7 years old and was having a very weird epileptic episode (she also took a piece out of a curtain). I did not notice until she was throwing up in the backyard and I was astonished to recognize the fabric of our quilt !! I carefully washed the thing….binding and all and was able to reattach it to the quilt. And yes, she was a much loved dog, now gone. The corner of the quilt gets mentioned every time we change the sheets and is known as the Dallas corner 😄
Darcy
This is exactly why I think visible mending is so important- the quilt has a story to tell and stories help us to remember those who are gone.
Amy In NH
True, visible mending/item’s history.
Babysat a favorite golden retriever, chewed a hole in my cotton scatter rug. Patched, with arced embroidery over it, “No, Theo! No!” Love it more every time my eyes land on it.
Thanks for your thorough instruction. About to do massive patching replacement of a niece’s quilt, put away damp – mold spots. Young mother, it happens.
Darcy
It does happen, quilts in use are part of life. I’d rather see my masterpiece in use, being loved, than folded up on a shelf to keep safe.
Jan
I am helping my neighbor repair her 73 year old quilt.
A mouse or some other critter chewed on the edge of the binding into the border! This is a hand quilted quilt!
Blue and white
Any advice?????
Jan
Barb
I have a quilt my grandmother made for me when I was a girl. She made one for my sister as well, and told her to never wash it. I did not receive the same instruction and washed mine several times with unfortunate results. It has been in a closet for years waiting for me to decide what to do with it. The fabrics on the top are a mixture of suiting materials from the late 1800s/early 1900s, so there is no fabric today that will match it. At least I haven’t seen any. Copying onto printable fabric will not reproduce the heavy weave of the original cloth. I am going to try your suggestion of reworking the frayed seams. I hesitate to take out the original hand quilting. I have made many quilts through the years, all marked with my DNA because I repeatedly prick my fingers. I always tell the recipients to never wash a quilt in a machine with an agitator. It isn’t worth risking the damage an agitator can do to your beloved quilt.
Darcy
I’m so sorry your quilt hasn’t held up well! I think mending the seams is a great idea, especially so you don’t have to take apart the hand quilting.
Lisa
Hi, I was wondering if I could get some advice on a quilt. It’s one that my grandma made and it has a very large hole in the backing and batting. As well as several smaller holes. It’s my favorite blanket and I still want to keep using it, and at the same time I want to reinforce it to prevent future wear.
Darcy
Lisa, of course you want to keep on using and loving it! You could take the top, batting and backing apart entirely to re-do, or you could follow the directions throughout this post for the types of damage you encounter, like small versus large holes.
margie bramer
I have a quilt that was pieced together by one grandmother and then backed by the other one!
It has been attacked by a guinea pig and I have been looking for ways to do the repairs.
Thank you for your tutorial.
It might give me the confidence to attempt fixing it!! 🤞
Darcy
This one was damaged by a naughty puppy, hopefully your guinea pig left smaller (and simpler to fix!) holes! You can definitely do it!
Holly Elam
Thank you for the easy to follow tutorial on how to fix a quilt. I have one on my bed that needs a little love and one that I bought at a yard sale that has a few spots. I feel a little more at ease about fixing my quilts now.
Darcy
You can do it!
Gabrielle Schmidt
I really enjoyed reading your blog. My sister and I just bought an old quilt at a neighbor’s yard sale, and she told us how her grandmother had made it for her and she used it the whole time she was growing up. She is now in her 50’s and it’s seen a lot of love! She hated to give it up, but didn’t know how to repair it. We are going to have a go at fixing it, and then give it back to her. With all the hints from you, I think that we can do this! Thank you so much!
Darcy
I love that you’ll give it back after you fix it up!
monna
I just removed a “top” from my grandmother’s quilt to find a beautiful, but in need of repair pieced quilt. Since my grandmother’s died in 1968 at the age of 85 I am interested in repairing her quilt. Wish me luck.
Darcy
What a fun surprise! I imagine that’s how painters feel when they discover masterpieces under other paintings!
Joan Sheppard
Gotta love the puppers. Thanks for putting this out there.
Embrace the patch is very Chinese, they “glue” pottery together with gold leaf to show the pottery’s beauty.
Also sometimes I have to mend and want the matching fabric. Long story: Find another corner of the quilt with identical fabric. Put a sheet of WASHABLE fabric sheet 8 1/2 x 11 in the printer (June Tailor makes some). Place the quilt on the face of the printer and COPY.
I sometimes use old hankies and aprons for patches for mending older quilts and use Crazy Quilt stitches, embroidery to put the patches on.
Thanks again for the great tips.
Darcy
That is such a great idea for how to make a copy of fabric for a patch that won’t show!
Kathy
I have been commissioned to remake a quilt from my customers grandmother. It’s in terrible condition, I have to take it apart and can only reuse a few squares. It’s going to be a process. There are 4 I have to make!
Darcy
That sounds like a big project! Fortunately the holes I had to fix were fairly small, but I have seen quilts with much larger damage.
Anne Marie Phillips
Brilliantly written. Very c.ear instructions. I am in the process of giving away some quilts to family and friends (downsizing!) And I am telling them to use them everyday. I must do the same. I am pinning your piece for future reverence. Many thanks.
Darcy
Thank you for the kind words! I firmly believe quilts should be used on a daily basis. Or makes me sad to see them stacked on shelves in a closet.
Jan
Some additional things you might want to mention is to use a scrap of batting of the same fiber content and thickness as the original batting, if possible, using cotton with cotton or polyester with polyester.
You don’t want the scrap of batting to move around or migrate to another area, so it would be best to anchor the scrap of batting that is inserted to fill a hole, either by loosely hand stitching it to the original batting surrounding it. Or if it is large enough, after the fabric is patched, hold it in place by duplicating the original quilting stitches of the quilt, either by hand or machine.
Thank you, Darcy for this information, and also a thank you to Joan Sheppard for her suggestion for creating matching fabric.
Darcy
Yes, all great suggestions!
Jan
I am helping my neighbor repair her 73 year old hand quilted quilt
A mouse or some other critter chewed through the binding into border making a
Semi circle type shape
Any suggestions on how to fix
Thanks
Jan
Darcy
Jan, I suggest looking for fabric as similar to the original as possible. Of course you can’t match exactly after 73 years, but a similar fabric should make the patch less jarring. Take it slow, study the area to fix before diving in. I wish you the best of luck!
Coby
I have a quilt my grandma made me for my 11th birthday that I have used everyday since then (I’m now 39). This quilt has been on every camping trip, road trip and sleepover growing up and is now my everyday couch quilt. The fabric has worn very thin after being washed on a weekly basis for so many years. The layers are not quilted together. They are just tied with embroidery thread. The binding is frayed all the way around and the fabric at the seam of the binding is so thin it’s just separating now. My idea for repairing it is to take the front and back apart from each other and use a fusible webbing to add a layer of new fabric to the inside of the front and back. Then just reassemble and add a new binding. Do you think this will work? I don’t want it to get stiff with the webbing. Is there a better way to address this issue?
Darcy
I think you have a solid plan! Or, to make it softer, do a layer of batting instead of fusible webbing. I think you’ll need all new binding, but I think you can add many more years of life to your treasured quilt!
Lisa
Darcy, thanks for this tutorial! I also have a quilt (the first one I kept for myself) that has been damaged by a very loved, very naughty puppy. I wasn’t sure how to go about repairing in until I came across your post on Pinterest; he went through all three layers. I’m looking forward to the visible reminder of my silly dog’s teething days 🙂
Darcy
You can do it! And yes, you’ll love that visible reminder of these silly puppy days!
Karyn
Thank you for the repair tutorial. the photos are helpful. I have been repairing quilts made by my great grandmother. She made simple patchwork using a variety of fabrics salvaged or given to her. There are so many holes and tears, that I really should give up, but it is full of memories. Like you, i do the easiest repairs first. But it has been sitting while I gather the courage to repair the larger holes. Thank you for making it seem so simple.
Darcy
Karen, you wouldn’t believe how long I stared at each new type of damage before I was brave enough to fix it. And then I did it, it was easier than expected, and STILL I hesitated before moving on to the next.
Virginia
My son handed me a bag several years ago and asked me to fix what was in it. I opened it up and there was the quilt I had made for his twin bed when he was small…….shredded, and I do mean shredded! So I went to work trying to fix it. The quilt ended up being the size of a baby blanket with no more material than I had to work with. There was enough backing to use, and I cut about two thirds new squares for the front, bleached and tea stained hem and voila! He could not tell the difference between the old squares and the new. A rather good job, I thought!
Darcy
A rather good idea I think too!
Jeff Knapp
A great repair aticle! Thanks!
I just acquired a very large quilt where about 45 squares of the same fabric have small holes, or abrasions on their way to becoming holes–just this particular fabric, all other squares are fine. All batting under affected squares is intact. I assume the not-yet-affected squares of this vulnerable fabric will have the same problem. Is this the time to replace all squares made of this fabric?
Darcy
That sounds like a good plan! Fix it now before it gets worse or more complicated.
JOY
THANK YOU FOR THIS TUTORIAL. I LOVED YOUR THOUGHT PROCESS (MULLING OVER EACH REPAIR BEFORE BEGINNING, GETTING NEW IDEAS AS YOU BUILT SKILLS). IT BOOSTED MY CONFIDENCE AS I AM ABOUT TO EMBARK ON REPAIRING SOME MINOR FABRIC DAMAGES ON A QUILT I PIECED AND GIFTED 15+ YEARS AGO (HEY, IT’S GETTING USED!). NOW…ANYONE HAVE TIPS ON TRYING TO REPAIR MACHINE QUILTING THAT HAS POPPED IN A NUMBER OF LOCATIONS? I DID NOT DO THE ORIGINAL QUILTING, BUT IT’S LOVELY–FEATHERS AND SWIRLS. LIGHT THREAD ON NAVY, IN THE BORDERS, REALLY SHOWS. ARGH.
Darcy
Joy, I’m glad you liked the tutorial, I hope you have repairing success!
I do not have any free motion quilting skills, it’s been on my to-learn list for years!
Gordana
Hello, I have baby quilted play mat and the stitching has come undone in a couple of places. How would you fix that? Is it possible? Or how to prevent bigger damage? Thank you
Darcy
Gordana, that should be reparable! You’re talking about the quilting that holds all the layers together right? I will unpick it a little bit further, until you’ve got thread long enough to tie together in a knot. Then pull the front thread thought to the back, tie, and trim. I would do that on both sides of where it’s coming from, and then restitch where there isn’t any, and tie those threads too.
Trish Darbonne
My naughty puppy chewed on the binding (easily repaired) but also chewed a hole the size of a small football through the entire quilt! It’s been sitting in a bench at the end of my bed for 2 years, but now I believe I can bring it back to life! Thank you for using so many photos in your post.
Darcy
I’m so glad you feel confident to give it a go!
Angela
I’ve been repairing quilts for years so I could continue to use them. Since I am mostly repairing old quilts, my technique is also to preserve the original fabric for posterity. I try to find fabric that matches the colorations of the original and sometimes use the wrong side out so that it has the proper faded appearance, tea dying can also help. I then applique the new piece over the damaged piece, all hand stitching as you showed. I can requilt the damaged area either all the way through or only through the top and batting so it does not look like a repair. If holes are tiny, I will sometimes place a close matching fabric into the hole and do tiny blanket stitches to hold it all in place, using a matching color thread.
Darcy
All great ideas!
Maria
Thank you so much for this article. I gave one of my favorite quilts to my best friend a few years back and her puppy put a six-inch hole in the middle of it. At first, I didn’t think it could be fixed, and I recommended we convert it into a bed runner or frame a portion of it. However, my friend was insistent that she wanted it fixed.
I didn’t think it would be possible until I saw your post. Fortunately, I have enough scraps of the back and the front is a scrappy design, so I should be able to match and repair using your techniques.
Once it’s done, I do plan to post about it on my blog and will link to your post.
Darcy
Puppies! Such rascals! I’m glad you’ll be able to fix your friend’s quilt!
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Darcy
Well done!
Cherie
Just wondering if you have any suggestions different from your examples here that may help me repair a crazy quilt my mother made years ago. (now age 92) She made her quilts with old silk ties, and velvet scraps and embroidered either on or right next to seams between pieces. I hate the idea of removing her hand embroidery stitching, but some of the silk pieces are now in shreds and really need to be completely replaced…
Darcy
Cherie, I’m sorry I don’t have any brilliant ideas. Could patches be added without removing the hand stitching?
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