Hello there and welcome back for another weekend update at Bonjour Quilts. Plenty of quilts to show and lots to talk about today, including my adventures in wall hanging a quilt. Let’s get into it!
What I’m Sewing…
Not much! I got my binding attached to my triangle quilt, which was nice.
I worked out all my calculations for a throw sized version, which I’m going to make in deep teal, white and fuchsia.
The teal background fabric will be from Ruby Star Society so it will match my other throw quilt, seen below, under the cat. (That quilt is called Mountainside and you can see a blog post about it here.)
I still reserve the right to come back to the other baby sized quilt I had considered in these fabrics:
I had to order a bit of extra fabric as I realised I didn’t have enough fuchsia to carry me through (any excuse to order more fabric, right?). So while I waited for my order to arrive, I had time for…
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Wall Hanging a Quilt!
Ever wanted to wall hang a quilt? Well this week I put down the rotary cutter and picked up the tools and drill (actually, the husband did the drilling as he’s a fair bit taller than me). I have long wanted to hang a quilt on my wall and this was the week it finally happened. We installed two 2m (6.5 ft) picture hanging strips in our large study/quilt studio area of the house.
These picture hanging systems have strips that fit nicely under the cornices. There are tracks set into the strips and you can slide hanging wires (either stainless steel or clear) into the tracks. These can be moved horizontally along the strips however you like, and the hooks on them can be raised and lowered so you can basically hang something at any height you like all the way along the strip. If you want to hang tons of little things, you can put tons of wires on there, no problems. Just make sure you check the weight rating if you are hanging very heavy paintings, etc.
If you’re in Australia you can find the system I used, Gallery@Home, at your local Bunnings hardware store. Unfortunately this brand is only available in Australia but I found something that looks almost identical available in the USA. The US one is actually smaller in profile than the Aussie one, so it will be even more unobtrusive (letting the art/quilts shine).
I used one of my strips to wall hang a completed quilt, as home decor. The other strip is to hold my design wall. Yay, after more than 2 years I’ll have a design wall again!
Wall Hanging a Quilt
Here’s what I did to hang a quilt on the wall nicely. First, it needs to be supported across the width of the entire quilt. The easiest way to do that is with a run of wooden dowel (also from Bunnings hardware!). I used a 16mm (⅝ inch) diameter wooden dowel rod and cut it to match the width of my quilt. Then I could have sewn a sleeve for the rod but honestly, I couldn’t be bothered. Plus, I will want to swap out the quilts fairly regularly to keep things exciting, so the thought of sewing fabric tubes all the time just wasn’t sparking joy. But the gold standard would be a fabric quilt sleeve, sewn to the back of the quilt, to slide the dowel through.
My quick hanging method was to use duct tape/packaging tape to secure the dowel across the width of the quilt. I first put some safety pins (see below) at the top of the quilt, one each side and one in the middle. (A note on quilt size: this is a throw quilt, for heavy quilts/larger quilts you might want 4 or 5 hanging points.) The pins were placed vertically, just below the top binding and out of sight when hung on the picture rail hooks. I remembered to take the length of the hook into account too, so that it would stay hidden behind the quilt. I did actually measure them down from the top edge, to make sure they were all the same distance from the top (more on that in a minute, don’t fret if they’re not exact).
Once the safety pins are in place, the dowel can be taped down straight underneath them.
Don’t put your dowel above the pins or the top part of your quilted wall hanging will flip over when you hang it. Once the rod was in place I could hang the quilt using the safety pins on the picture hanging hooks dangling down from my hanging strip. Because the hook heights are adjustable, you can make small changes if you find your equal safety pin heights aren’t quite equal. Or maybe your quilt isn’t exactly square and you can adjust for that (which is usually my problem).
Below: behind the quilt is the hook, then safety pin, then taped dowel. The rest of the hanging wire is looped up and hides behind the quilt (I bundled the loops in a pink binding clip). Don’t cut the excess wire off. You might want to hang something shorter (or multiple things) on the wire later on.
So far the tape is gripping well and I haven’t had any problems. I figure once the adhesive starts to give that will be a good time to swap out for another quilt. A self-prompting quilt wall hanging system! It will be nice to see more quilts out of the cupboard and decorating our home. Also – seasonal art quilt hanging, yesssss!
Hanging a Quilt Design Wall
The process for creating my design wall was very similar to how I went about hanging my quilt on the wall. My design wall is actually a flannel flat sheet that I have hung in 5 of our houses now. Back when we were renting I would hang it with these handy and inexpensive 3M Command Decorating Clips, which are removable. The sheet has about 6 button holes spaced across the top – the only button holes ever sewn with my machine. Those little Command strip hooks are very flat and fit perfectly into a button hole to support the sheet. (I should say the option of a simple nail works well with these button holes, too.)
Now that we are in our own home, I was happy to fix this design wall a little more permanently. I did put the wire hanging hooks through the button holes up the top, but it did need a wooden dowel to keep it flat. Otherwise it tends to bunch up a bit like a curtain. Because the sheet is thinner than a quilt, I used a clear packing tape to secure my dowel – it couldn’t be seen through the other side. I also used a thinner dowel for the design wall (12mm or half an inch diameter dowel).
My one concern with the flannel sheet design wall is that our cats will use it as a climbing wall. If that happens (particularly if they both climb at the same time) they may tear through the button holes. If that happens I will try putting some curtain rings on the outer edges of the dowel and hang the sheet that way. That’s why I extended the dowel outside the edge of the sheet (in case you were wondering). I may even sew a hanging sleeve for this one given it will be staying put (cats willing).
One final note is the design wall covers up my power point (I like to have my iron and ironing board close). So I just creased and folded the offending corner under and safety pinned it. I might tidy that up with some cutting and actual stitches, but for now it will do. To be honest I’m waiting to see if the cats destroy it before I put in too much effort!
[ETA: I wrote this post earlier in the week and the cats have indeed pulled one end of the design wall sheet away from the dowel. I feel a bit silly not thinking of this before, but I can just fold the top of the sheet over to the back about 3 inches and sew it down along its edge. Voilà, that top edge will become a sleeve. I can then feed the dowel through the fabric tube and hang it. This will be a lot more sturdy than the tape. And if required, the load of 2 cats is distributed across the dowel rather than being focussed on 3 button holes. (If only sewing quilt sleeves were this easy!) The downside is I will lose several inches of my flannel sheet to the sleeve, giving me less design wall. But another upside is the sheet will no longer cover my power point.]
Around the Interwebs…
If you’re in the mood for a simple, yet beautiful, baby quilt project then you’ll appreciate this Checkerboard Quilt tutorial by Amy at Diary of a Quilter.
Ever loved a fabric so much you wanted to make it into curtains and look at it all day? If so, you’ll love this tutorial for sewing tab top curtains, by The Cloth Parcel.
This farmer-florist, Hannah, has such a pretty Instagram feed – I am in love with her drying room (that ceiling!) Hannah also has a gorgeous book coming out soon – Amazon has a pre-order special of 25% off for the next 3 days.
This handmade paper *heart eyes*, you can almost feel the texture in the photos! This quick video shows it being made – I had no idea it was made from something we quilters love dearly.
If you read this newsletter then I know you’re creative, and if you’re creative you’ll love the Canadian publication, UPPERCASE. They’re having a special at the moment, offering CAD$15 off subscriptions and renewals with the code loveUPPERCASE. I’ve currently got a 2 year subscription and I’m loving it.
Fabric and embroidery meet on this artist’s Instagram feed to create some wonderful pieces (and some great colour palette ideas).
Reader Quilts…
I always love to see quilts you’ve made from Bonjour Quilts patterns so please keep sending them in! Either email (Kirsty at BonjourQuilts dotcom), or tag me on Facebook or Instagram. Here are some of your past makes:
Speaking of UPPERCASE (see above), I remember when Janine Vangool of UPPERCASE used the Scrappy Lattice quilt pattern to make a sample for her fabric line? (This photo is Windham Fabrics’ photo, quilt sewn by Bonnie Vangool in Janine’s fabric line Breaking News.)
Here’s another example of Janine’s fabric (called Uppercase) – a Zed lap size quilt sewn by Tara.
Melissa sewed up an eye-catching version of the Rectangle Log Cabin Quilt. I love how different her version is to mine, shown here in the tutorial!
Jean from Sea2Sea Quilting in Canada sewed this beautiful version of Diamonds in the Deep. The added borders and the great quilting are her own.)
And here’s Melissa’s elegant version of the Kaleidoscope quilt pattern. Melissa has created an ombré effect with shades of dusty rose, pink and peach, as well as low volume prints. Very clever! I love it in these more subdued colours (compared to my hit-you-over-the-head-with-colour versions).
Cats’ Corner
Some fun to finish up with – our Burmese cats Tigger (orange) and Lulu (brown). There’s been a lot of sleeping this week. At least they haven’t tried to claw their way up my newly hung quilt and design wall!
These two look very zen as they nap sitting up. It’s quite relaxing to watch them.
Goodness, this turned into a monster post, didn’t it? Thank you for dropping by the blog this weekend. If you’re thinking of hanging a quilt on the wall I say go for it! I hope you also find the time to read through some links, find some inspiration and hopefully a little time for sewing. Happy stitching until next time,
Kirsty x
Oh Kirsty I’m sorry we guilted you into changing your quilt hanging with our fear of tape residue! But the revised methods sounds good to me, especially the expandable curtain rod. Great idea!
Celia
Thank you, Celia!
If you wrote a book the size of War and Peace, I’d read it – in small bits of course. This one was especially helpful. Always looking for ways to get the quilts off the shelves and out for me to appreciate. Have you considered publishiing a calendar of Cats! Very Zen. Thanks for all of it!
Oh a calendar, that would be good fun, wouldn’t it!? You’re tempting me Joan!
Kirsty I was hoping you’d get a pic of the cats actually climbing the design sheet, lol. Thanks for all the great info on hanging. I wonder if the tape would leave sticky stuff on my fabric? I guess it depends on the type of tape used. Have a beautiful day.
Hi Rosalie, the naughty behaviour tends to happen when we’re all in bed so sadly, no photos. I think they might have just been playing around with it, not climbing, as I didn’t find any claw holes in the flannel. Maybe they were just testing before their final attack!
No residue issues yet, some adhesive remained on the dowel, but not on the fabric. Cheers!
Hi Kirsty, I like the idea, however won’t the adhesive tape leave sticky residue (& stain) on your quilt back? Or do you plan to change them super frequently?
Hi Celia, I do plan to change the quilts out fairly regularly, so I don’t think there will be an issue with stains etc. I did have to reposition the dowel the first time I did it and there wasn’t any residue on the quilt (there was on the dowel, though). If there is a bit of residue it should wash off in a gentle machine wash.
I hang my quilts on the wall with invisible pins at each corner, far less hassle and unobtrusive.
I just don’t think our walls could take the weight if they were suspended that way, unfortunately. (A mini would be fine but a throw quilt, not so much.) But I’m so glad it works for you – I agree it would be a whole lot easier.
I never thought to TAPE a dowel! I’m reading this in the middle of the night and can’t wait to get going on some hanging-many thanks!
Have fun with it, Peggy!