Ideas for Framing Wall Quilts

A wonderful way to display your wall quilts or any small art quilt is to use a frame. And a lot of us don't think about framing our work. Oh, one of the reasons is because framing can be so expensive, to go take it to a frame shop and have it framed after it's finished. So I kind of do it backwards. I find the frame first, and then build a quilt that fits that frame.

This small piece right here is one of my absolute favorites. I found this gorgeous little vintage frame that stands up and swivels and can be set on a desktop, for $1 at a secondhand shop. It was falling apart. I tightened it all up, took it home, painted a black line on the inside here and left everything else the way I found it, and made a quilt to fit it. So I carved a little stamp, I made the tree, printed it on there, stitched it and inserted it into the frame.

And I have this fabulous, fabulous piece. But the trick is, the frame comes first the quilt is made to fit that frame. This had no back for it, so I simply cut a piece of tag board and glued it to the back so that it has a nice finish. I found this frame also at a secondhand store, and it actually had good paper on the back. And I was able to remove that paper very carefully and use it again.

So I was quite pleased, and it's hanging apparatus. It was painted an ugly, ugly, ugly, purpley brown color and all chipped up. So I sanded it just a little bit and painted it black, and then painted the inside edge here, white. And then I made this quilt to fit this frame. Already had the frame, already had it painted, ready to go, make the quilt to fit the frame, and isn't that beautiful.

So much better than just the quilt plopped up on the wall, flat. Well, I had found this frame and I was so crazy about this frame. Isn't that gorgeous. Also found it at a tags sale. Whatever you want to call them, a garage sale.

Used the tag board to finish the back too, and left it in its original color. This is the color it was when I got it, and it has all this beautiful patina on it, and made the quilt to fit the opening. So the next time you're at a garage sale or at a, even a sale sale at a regular store and you see a beautiful frame, buy it. Take it home and put it in your stash. And the next time you want to make a gift for somebody or you need that perfect something for your newly remodeled bathroom, make a quilt to fit that frame, and just frame it.