4girlsmimi

What a wonderful treasure to acquire! Enjoy finishing it.

ann clare

Stunning 70 year old.

Kate

You are so lucky! Very pretty, can't wait to see it finished.

Friendly Quilter

If it is not stained or have a smell, I would not wash it before I quilted it. I would use cotton batting and so many quilts of the day 70 years did not have borders just binding to finish it. They did not always have the extra material to put borders on, they only had the scrap pieces of material to make the top.

Babs194068

What an awesome treasure. It is beautiful and I would not add borders or anything to it. It is perfect the way it is.

quilt3311

Be sure to check all seams to make sure they are secure. I don't detect any staining from the pictures, would not launder unless there is odors from being stored. You could get a reproduction fabric and add a narrow border, but I think I might just finish as is and bind with a reproduction fabric.

rosemaynes

I just finished quilting 4 quilts that were 25 years old and older for a member here on the board. I would not have you wash it before you have it quilted and only add borders to it if you want it to get bigger. As for batting and backing yes they both need to be cotton. I see large feather designs on this quilt. The feather designs that go in circles would be nice also. Very pretty.

kajaza

Wow what a Beautiful treasure!

katlady

What a neat treasure, I would not wash it. Use a thin cotton batting & for a quilt that old I'm sure they used muslin for backing. That is what I've seen on a 100 year old quilt a friend of mine just hand quilted.

Parrothead

I just had four tops done. They were hand pieced by my grandmother and a church group hand quilted. We did not wash them before quilting. They were all at least 50 years old, maybe more. We used sheets for the backing and regular batting. I would not add a border since the original does not have one. Very few of my vintage quilts have borders.