Hi, my uncle has asked me to make both him and his son a quilt each from my late aunts dresses and although he won't be able to get them to me for a while I wanted to start looking for advice.

Firstly they be at least 25 years old! and will have been stored well but in a slightly damp environment and will be an array of weights and so on. As they were hippies back then I imagining light sun dresses etc. but I really won't know untill I see them. So i am wondering what is the best way to deal with potentially fragile fabrics and different weights, is it best to use bigger or smaller blocks, hand or machine piece and quilt.

Secondly this is going to be quite an emotional quilt, it will be a memory of her, and neither of them have many physical things to remember her by and I really want to make sure that I make the best choices in the design process to respect this. Are there any traditional patterns for this, would it be best to be simple or perhaps sentimental, I thought a star block. I know nothing about her as she passed before I was born and she is rarely spoken of in terms of who she was a person and her son was very young so hes only known her as Mum rather then as an adult, I suppose I think my uncle would be happy with any design but I just know I've got to get it right for my cousin.

Thanks for any advice