quilt photo frames

When I made the quilted "furnace thermometer" for our church I cut the frame for the thermometer from black fabric with a fusible ironed to the back of the fabric (a rectangle of fused fabric with a smaller rectangular cut-out to make a 2 in. frame in one piece). I printed the numbers for the dollar amounts with my computer and printer, covered the paper with clear adhesive-backed shelf paper, glued the inside edge of the fused fabric to the outside edge of the clear shelf paper and then fused just the edge of the fabric to the quilt so the iron didn't touch the shelf paper. You could do something similar by not having fusible at the top to leave an opening and using clear mylar rather than the sticky shelf paper. Here's a photo of it-

Anne, I have seen a couple of ways to have a place to put a photo on a quilt.

1: make a "block" that is plain, but before adding "sashing" or borders around the plain block sew a flat piping to the edges. Flat piping is just fabric cut twice as wide as you want the "frame" to be, plus 1/2" for seams. Fold the fabric, wrong sides together and press. Baste to the edges of the blank block, then sew on sashing/borders as usual. The frame will be loose, but flat to the block to hold the edges of the photo.

2: Similar to above, but instead of flat piping, make corners. Remember in old photo albums you used little "corners" that you stuck in place then slipped the photo into the corners? You can do the same thing. Fold squares of fabric in half on the diagonal. Press. Place on each corner of the blank block. Baste in place if needed. Sew sashing/borders around to hold the corners in place. Size of the squares for the corner will depend on the size of the photo. You could probably use as small as an inch and a half for small photos. Try a few and see.

3: Sew a vinyl pocket on the quilt. Best if top edge is encased with a binding of some sort, and the sides/bottom has fabric stitched around it. Use a fairly long stitch and do not backstitch. pull threads through and tie off. Easiest to do. Can accommodate many different sizes in the pocket and extras can also be kept there. Do change frequently because photos can stick to the vinyl and make a permanent mess.

Pati, > I'm wanting to incorporate a slot for a photo in a wall hanging, I've seen

I'm glad you posted that link again Leslie. That is a faboulous quilt! And if I remember correctly, you whipped that out in record time. Amazing! How is the thermometer going...is it rising?

Thanks, Kathyl. I designed and made it over Thursday evening and all day Friday. I hand stitched the binding Saturday evening after work and had it ready to hang Sunday morning. We have almost $9K now- halfway to our goal. Several folks have made memorial contributions for departed loved ones. That is a nice, and very practical, tribute.

Leslie & The Furbabies > I'm glad you posted that link again Leslie. That is a faboulous quilt! And

There's instructions (visual aid) on Martha Pullen's site. She has an instruction and embroidery CD to buy but there's a pretty good diagram and instructions on making a basic frame on the page. Hope this helps.

Val

That's an amazing feat Leslie! What a wonderful piece for your church. I like the practical tribute idea too. Perhaps you can have an auction for the quilt to put it over the top! I'm sure you'd get some good bids on it!

One thing about using Martha Pullen's instructions is that you *know* they're good. This is such a neat way to frame some photos -- thanks for the link, Val. I'm thinking I may make a couple of these for photos of the grandchildren (it's so neat that I can no longer say "grandsons"!). :)