You've spent hours, days, and painstaking months carefully cutting, sewing, and basting quilts. Chances are, if you've been quilting for a few years, you have a nice stash of lovingly made quilts in your closet. If you come from a long line of quilters, you’ve probably also inherited some heirloom quilts. You can never have too many quilts, right?
A new year unfurling before us presents a great opportunity to take stock and ask ourselves the question: how can I better display my quilts? For all the time, effort, and love you put into sewing, your finished quilts deserve to be on display. Works of art are made to be seen!
We talked to a few Thimbles customers to see how they displayed their quilts at home and found some fun ideas online as well. Two caveats to keep in mind as you strategize how you want to display your quilts at home: first, try to keep them in a shadier spot (the sun will bleach out colors!), and second, rotate often! The more quilts you have, the more you can rotate throughout the year, which will also preserve your colors.
Images © Regina Knapp
We love the pictures our customer Regina Knapp sent us of how she displays her quilts at home. Regina hangs her quilt above her fireplace in a space that is proportionally similar to the size of her quilt, which makes it very pleasing on the eye. The colors are also in keeping with the design aesthetic—it almost looks as if she designed her living room around the quilt!
Images © Regina Knapp
To help the quilt hang flat and straight, Regina folded squares of spare fabric into triangles, sewed them to the bottom, and inserted a rod, which weighs down the quilt. Pretty ingenious!
Images © Regina Knapp
And just for fun, this is Regina’s completed and in-progress quilt collection in cubbies. Nice work, Regina!
Images © Mickey
Another Thimbles customer, Mickey, hung a simple dowel on her brick wall to showcase her finished quilts. We love how the richness of the brick facade bolsters the colors in the quilts. The whole effect feels both elegant and homey at the same time.
Images © Charlene Valentine
Charlene displays her quilts in numerous spots throughout her home, showcasing her sewing efforts in a manner we can all appreciate—as works of art. If you have a lot of blank wall space, why not fill it with your quilts?
Images © Charlene Valentine
Bonus points to Charlene for surreptitiously sneaking in another quilt in the above fireplace photo (check the top left corner!). Charlene’s minimalist decor, marked by neutral furnishings and copious white space, is so well suited to displaying the exuberant color stories in her quilts. It feels like a gallery setting, but warmer and more personal.
As is evidenced by the above photos, there are certain places in the home where quilts will always shine…
Image © BlueElephantStitches on Flickr
Above the fireplace mantel is a classic position for evoking the feeling of a piece of art.
Staircases are another popular spot, whether you’re hanging your quilt like a backdrop over the top banister (below)...
Image © Beth Gutcheon and American Patchwork & Quilting
Image © Sarah and Drew B.
...or have the luxury of a generously-sized, well-positioned wall in your staircase, against which a colorful quilt will pop (above).
We’ve also seen quite a few quilts-as-headboards, which we love. Notice how each quilt acts as a design fulcrum, tying the overall color scheme of the room together. Quilts also look lovely above desks, low cupboards, couches, and other furniture, where they can act as statement pieces in a room.
Clockwise from top left: Martha Stewart, Pinterest, Pinterest, Pinterest
Wall mounted quilt racks are a neat and tidy way to display your quilts that frees them up from being folded in a cubby.
Images from Pinterest and Pinterest
And just for fun we’d like to call attention to the glory of pew quilt shows, which offer waves of glorious, gorgeous handmade quilts.
Top from Pinterest, Bottom from Pinterest
How do you display your most treasured quilts? Let us know on our social media channels by tagging your post #ThimblesQuilts!
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