Hanging a Quilt: Build Your Own Frame

If you’ve been quilting for a long time and have found yourself with more full size quilts than you know what to do with and you’re ready to tackle a smaller quilt-Heather Thomas has a great project idea. She shows you how to showcase small quilts by building your own frame from wire.

Wire Frame

Heather shows how you can easily display one or more small quilts in frames made from bent wire. She explains what type of wire she is using and what gauge it is, and also explains how the gauge number listed on the wire corresponds to its thickness.

Tools to Have

Making your own wire frame for hanging a quilt doesn’t require a bunch of fancy tools, however there are several that Heather recommends that make the project easier.

First is a pair of round nose pliers. She shows how these can be used to make fun spirals as frame decorations. The next is a pair of flat pliers with teeth to grip the wire. Heather explains how these help in bending the wire if your fingers aren’t strong enough to bend the thicker gauges. She also recommends having a pair of wire cutters if none of your other pliers have that function.

Hanging a Quilt

Once you’ve built your frame it’s time to hang a quilt inside it. Heather shows how to suspend the quilt in the frame by placing grommets in the quilt corners and securing the quilt to the frame with any type of string. She even shows her favorite tool to use to make inserting grommets quick and easy.

Other Frame Ideas

Frames for hanging a quilt can be made from many different things. If you have extra fabric from your project, or maybe just a favorite fabric, consider making fabric frames. Or, add border blocks or strips to a quilted wall hanging that will make it look framed when it’s done.