Quilt Guild Antique Linen Challenge Project by Jen Eskridge

Jen Eskridge Author

Sep 11, 2026 |

When the local quilt guild issued an Antique Linens challenge, I decided to use ALL the linens I had to create a franken-quilt of free-motion delight.

Antique Linen Quilt Challenge

In 2019, before Covid, when everything as affordable and still reasonably-right-as-rain, my local longarm quilting guild issued an Antique Linens challenge. This followed the undeniable popularity of the wonderful, Kelly Cline Quilting having a feature at the San Antonio Quilt Show. 

The Test Piece

First, I wanted to make a test piece to see how I might use any type of antique linen in a quilt. I started small.

This is a bread basket liner, I believe. I've appliqued it onto a piece of satin brocade. This project is entirely done on the longarm, even the applique.

I would say that it turned out pretty well and the main tip I would have is to use a Glide foot or Spoon foot on your longarm so the needle doesn't get caught up in any of the lacy bits around the antique linen.

I was even able to "repair" a couple places where the lace had come unsewn over time, while it was on the longarm. Win/win.

Ok. This worked great! I'm in. Let's hit up that challenge quilt. 

The Challenge Quilt

I only owned a few old linens. It isn't something I collect or am particularly drawn to, but I did want to participate in the challenge. I gathered up my pieces and decided to use ALL OF THEM in on project.

Once I pieced my table cloth, bread basket liners, doilies, lace and more, (7 different pieces in total) I had made a very stretchy wild mess. Thankfully, the challenge allowed for us to add in other materials, which helped stabilize my whole project. 

I must have whispered to myself "That will quilt out." so many times during this process. Can you see all the extra room in the fabric in the image above? Phew. ...that will quilt out...

Although this was quilted on my longarm, I approached the quilting as if was on a home sewing machine or even hand-quilted. As to say: I basted the entire quilt. I started from the center and worked my way out as I stitched. I hoped this would cut down on any shifting and help eliminate some of the fullness in my project.

I tried to mix all sorts of quilting motifs. I wanted each color or section to have it's own time to shine withing the project.

You can see in the image above, the quilt backing is even an old old old sheet from the thrift shop. I knew this piece wouldn't be washed or used for warmth, so I wasn't that worried about fiber content or durability. I just really wanted to use as many antique pieces as I could in the challenge.

Our guild had the challenge quilts hanging together at the San Antonio Quilt show that year. It was wonderful to see them all together, though I didn't grab a picture of all of them.

After dividing that outer white border into triangles and crosshatching, I had some big ideas start to fill my head. Keep scrolling....

I ended up adding hot fix crystals to all the intersections! I don't know how well they show up in the photo below. I accidently bought a "gross" of crystals at my first ever Quilt Market in 2008. At the time, I didn't know what a gross was and thought: Well, that's cool, the pkg is small enough. Turns out... it is a zillion. A zillion little crystals. If there was a cross-to-be-hatched, it got a crystal! I also added a few costume/over-the-top buttons to the project too. More is MORE! 

And that is the story of how all the antique linens I own made it into a larger wallhanging quilt for the 2019 local longarm guild challenge. (Photo below is before crystals and buttons.)

Give it a try and tag #quiltyquill if you share it online.

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Categories: : Quilting