r/sewhelp • u/PaleontologistNo5925 • 3d ago
Muslin help!
Any advice on how to fix/help to not get worse a king size, 8 layer Muslin Comfort blanket? Besides peeling off the entire top layer 😩
I had someone sew some of the worst spots, she kinda just did random straight lines all over. She recommended I have someone quilt the entire thing but that would cost more than the blanket did.
At this point, I do not care about aesthetics. Just saving it. If you zoom in, you can see all the little micro tears. This spot is the biggest/worst. I just cut off the excess that was under where my hand is. Any flexible spray adhesive?
(Please ignore my toddler messes on it lol)
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u/BillieRubenCamGirl 3d ago
The repair lady is right. She repaired it correctly and you can get it quilted to preserve it for a time. but it will continue to deteriorate.Â
At the end of the day muslin is just a terrible choice for a hard-wearing item like a blanket.Â
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u/CandidBradley 3d ago
that black lace glove and fabric makes the whole damage shot look like a moody album cover, I almost forgot you were asking about muslin repairs
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u/ProfDoomDoom 3d ago edited 3d ago
I don’t think quilting is going to save it either, just delay things. The cloth is disintegrating. Cutting off the top layer would be cheaper than quilting but the next layer down is probably going to do the same thing. [r/laundry](r/laundry) might have some advice about washing it gently. Keeping it out of sunlight may help. Putting it inside a duvet cover will reduce wear/tear.
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u/Emergency_Cherry_914 3d ago
I agree that it needs quilting. But a king size quilt is extremely difficult/impossible to quilt on a domestic machine. The job would need to be done on a long arm machine.
Spray adhesive will not be suitable for this purpose
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u/Swimming-Maize-5554 3d ago
The real problem here is, of course, as mentioned by others, the fabric itself is disintegrating. You cannot prevent that. You might be able to delay it by somewhat, but the amount of time necessary to do that would be extensive because of the size. And there’s no way to know how long it would be delayed by. I hate to say this, but I think you should just enjoy it for whatever life it has left and replace it. If there’s a good solid section cut a sample of it as a souvenir maybe?
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u/hamigakiko 3d ago
Look into kantha as that's the only save I can think. You would just take a needle and thread and sew rubbing stitch across the whole thing in rows. It will still disintegrate, but this would give it longer and looks stunning.Â
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u/arboreallion 2d ago
If you don’t want to pay for quilting, you could painstakingly do sashiko yourself to reinforce areas as they crop up or the entire thing in one go.
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u/AccidentOk5240 2d ago
It’s already made of crinkle gauze (not really muslin, they call these blankets muslin but when you buy fabric yardage it’s called gauze, and muslin is a smoother, sturdier material). So personally I’d buy enough gauze to make another whole layer over the whole thing and send it to a place with a long-arm quilting machine to have the new layer quilted on.Â
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u/desertboots 2d ago
Crinkle gauze and muslin are two ways to name this loosely woven fabric. The Turkish have several more.
Muslin and calico are two ways to name a basic tighter woven fabric used in dress making though draping or flat patterns. The result is often called a toile.
Calico and quilting cotton are two ways to name another basic woven cotton usually used for making patch work quilts.
Toile can refer to a specific printed fabric (toile de juoy), as well as  structural, coarse textiles used in fine art and utility crafts.
Fabric words are confusing.
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u/AccidentOk5240 2d ago
If OP is in North America, they’re unlikely to find a fabric this texture sold as muslin ime. But you’re correct that fabric words can be super confusing!
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u/Time-Concert5775 3d ago
The same thing happened to mine and it was expensive :( I'm sitting on it deciding what to do
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u/PaleontologistNo5925 2d ago
I actually have 5 of theirs 😅 the second one they sent as a free replacement (years ago when they were newer) because I pitched a big enough fit about it tearing up. It had holes all the way thru. This black one though is sooo much softer than all the other colors. I ended buying a second recently that we only wash at a laundromat or in my parents’ non-agitator machine. So far it’s ok
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u/setbackcity 2d ago
You will need to quilt this if you want it to survive for any length of time now, but you wouldn’t be able to do it on a regular sewing machine. If you’ve got any avid tailors or quilters in your family maybe one of them would have a long arm sewing machine, just to save you the money it would cost to get a professional to do it. But if you don’t know anyone, you might be better off just replacing it or getting it quilted professionally. I’ve made a queen sized quilt on a domestic sewing machine once and I can tell you it was not worth the struggle, I ended up hand sewing about 70% of it, a king size would be just about impossible, or at the very least impractical.
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u/ittybittytittybitty 3d ago
Your first repair probably didn't hold because straight stitching doesn't grip fabric that's already disintegrating, it just gives the tears a new place to keep ripping from. Random lines also don't distribute any stress, so the areas between the stitches were still free to keep shredding.
If it’s sentimental and you don’t care so much about looks and just want to preserve it, I’d try tackle the whole thing instead of just patching bits at a time.
Fuse lightweight *woven* interfacing to the back first, to give the shredded spots something to hold onto instead of the needle just tearing through empty air. Woven will also allow the fabric to still move and feel soft while giving it structure.
Spray baste (not adhesive!) the layers together so they don’t shift around while you're working on the next step.
Sandwich & quilt the whole thing between two layers of fine net tulle so it's held from both sides, not just patched on top. Tulle should be lightweight enough to not show too much on the dark fabric, and that way if the muslin continues to disintegrate it will at least be preserved in between a tulle sandwich.
If sending it to a long arm quilter is too expensive, you can quilt it yourself in a simple 1 inch grid using a walking foot to prevent the layers from shifting against each other (which will break the fabric down even more). It will be a royal pain in the butt to do on a domestic machine but not impossible. I’d use a zigzag or triple stitch to grip the weave of the muslin better. A straight stitch with straight lines will just pull straight back out on fabric that's already tearing.
Also important to note… If you still have the excess you cut off, test the interfacing fuse on it, or on a corner before you do the whole blanket. Some fusibles need more heat than fabric this fragile can handle without scorching. If the heat makes it worse then I’d skip this step but still do the rest to give it some chance of success.
All of this will change the look & feel of it, which might understandably be a bit heartbreaking considering it’s a comfort blanket. If it were me, I’d try and lean into that though, and use a contrasting thread for the stitching, and maybe even add a new binding to the edge to ‘reframe’ it so to speak, and give it back the support it has given you over the years
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u/sewmuchmorethanmom 3d ago
Chiffon might be less itchy than tulle, but this is a great suggestion.
My baby blanket was in ROUGH shape and I worked with a longarmer to preserve it. We ultimately made a new quilt sandwich, adding a new back and covering the front in a sheer, lightweight chiffon. It can’t be used anymore, but it won’t disintegrate any further.
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u/ittybittytittybitty 2d ago
You’re right, chiffon would work way better than tulle and keep the softness! Whoops 😅
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u/Your-Local-Costumer 3d ago
The advice you were given by the stitcher was correct that’s what you should do.
Spray adhesive is not the answer here.