There is no shortage of reasons why having a few quilts around the house can prove endlessly handy. The problem comes when you have five or six quilts that are clumped up in a corner of your guest bedroom serving no real purpose aesthetically or practically.
So how can you make your life a bit easier and your house more pleasing to look at with these dust collecting quilts? You can fold them and display them in various spots around the house!
If you want to optimize your quilt allocation and freshen up the look of rooms you haven’t changed up in a few months, then keep reading! By the end of this article, you will know every place you can display a quilt in your house, home, shed or crawlspace.
How to Fold a Quilt for Display
When folding a quilt, we want to be extra careful that we don’t put permanent creases in the quilt. This issue can arise from folding as tightly as we would sheets or other more malleable fabrics. Now depending on how you choose to display the quilt, you may choose an alternative fold altogether.
If you are looking to preserve the quality long-term though, you should do the following steps.
- You will start by grabbing one corner and meeting the opposite corner of the quilt, folding diagonally.
- It should look like a very large triangle, now fold the two corners that haven’t been touched, which will create a smaller triangle.
- Now you will have a triangle with one point that is shorter than the other two. Fold the longer point into the shorter point, covering half of the quilt.
- Repeat number 3 with the opposite corner, which should now give you a folded square.
This will make it so that all of the edges are sitting on the bias so the possibility of creasing is greatly lessened in your quilt. However, some of the displays I will present below will not allow this fold (I’m thinking of things that require the quilt to hang).
If you want a compact, non-damaging fold for your quilts that allows them to be stored in a tight and cozy position, this will be the least damaging to the overall quality of your quilt.
11 Places to Display Your Quilt
If you thought we were just going to go over how to properly fold your quilt, rest assured we have far more bases we will cover to make sure you get the perfect spot for your library of linens.
Whether it be the old, familiar methods we have seen for decades or new inventive strategies to display several quilts at once, we will cover all of it and more!
Over the Foot of a Mattress
I know, I’m stealing the idea from your grandmother as much as my own. But it has been a proven method to not only keep a quilt spread out for display but allows the quilt to breathe, which will prevent creases and fabric degeneration over time.
So if you just need a place to throw a new quilt and can’t think of anything at the moment, don’t be afraid to steal a tip from our ancestors and let it breathe at the base of your bed.
Throw It Over a Sofa
This was another pretty common one growing up, especially for those of us that grew up in colder climates. If you didn’t want to take out a loan for the heating costs, chances were you stayed wrapped up in the trusty, familiar sofa quilt.
This can also double as a way to cover up unsightly stains, fabric frays, or other aesthetic disfigurements that plague an aging La-Z-Boy.
Hang It With a Curtain Rod
This is great for those with particularly spacious living or dining rooms looking to cover a big junk of unoccupied wall space with something charming and pleasing to the eye. But placing curtain rods over your fireplace, desk, or simply the middle of a wall helps create warmth to an otherwise empty room.
When doing this, make sure the place you hang the quilt doesn’t get exposed to sunlight as this can damage the colors of the quilt.
You also should regularly rotate the quilts out so that they don’t see too much reduction in quality due to light pollution.
Place an Old Ladder on Your Wall
One of the most creative ideas I have found on the internet makes use of another object that can attract clutter as much as a pile of quilts can.
If you have an old wooden ladder hanging around that you have no particular use for, place it sideways on a wall and use the spaces between each foot-peg to fasten the quilts through!
This allows you to display several quilts at once and the holes are spacious enough that you don’t have to concern yourself with clumping or creases!
Hang From Drawers or Cabinets
If you have a smaller quilt that can’t quite fit the length needed for the other options, you can always run it through a drawer or cabinet to allow a bit more charm into your kitchen.
This is a good way to add a bit of style to an otherwise drab kitchen counter. It also gives you a space to display some of the more petite projects that you have completed over the years.
Make Your Quilt Into a Makeshift Poster
If you have an unusually large quilt that you really like the design of, you can just as easily place it in its entirety across your wall to display every inch of its grandeur.
This is especially great if the quilt compliments the rest of the room in color and theme and can make a room look lived-in and comfortable without spending a small fortune on superfluous visual accessories.
So the next time you sew some personal magnum opus, don’t be afraid to drape it across your wall and let everyone know just how talented you are!
Use It in Place of Door Decor
When people are getting into the mood for seasonal decorations, we all have been guilty of being a bit too generic with our choices. A wreath, some fake pumpkins, and orange foliage through metallic wiring, a witch riding a broom and some sheet ghosts, etc.
But instead of spending ten dollars on something that will surely occupy some closet for three-fourths of the year, how about displaying a small quilt that matches the colors of the season?
You can use a shower curtain, use some thread and a nail, or even some ribbon to keep it up, and you will stand out from the countless neighbors who have been stealing your far superior designs for years now.
Place It Over a Railing
This is a great way to utilize a lot of empty space around your staircase. You can place it at the opposite end of the top of the stairs, to cover the banister and give a visual pop to your upstairs hallway.
This also is great for keeping your quilt without creases and typically out of reach of harmful sunlight that can deteriorate the color in the fabric over time.
Frame Your Quilt Blocks
If you have some blocks of a quilt that you never got around to integrating into a full quilt, you can still proudly display your hard work!
All you need is the measurements for your quilt blocks and a corresponding frame that matches the sizes, and you can display those individual blocks throughout your house.
This is especially helpful for those who tend to get sidetracked from a finished product but want to show off more recent blocks they have sewn together.
Use a Drying Rack or Towel Shelf
This is especially helpful if you have an older piece lying around that you don’t find much use for anymore, you can use it to place several quilts through in a compact, attractive display!
Whether it is an old drying rack that you have to move from place to place on the floor or a mounted towel shelf that you can fold the quilts between, both will work great for storing and displaying your quilts!
Be sure when doing this that the room your quilt is in will not see a lot of moisture which can ruin the quality of the fabric over time.
A Couch Cover
If you have an older couch or sofa and don’t want the vulnerable and ripped fabric to show through to potential guests, you can use a larger quilt like a second layer of upholstery and cover the couch.
This is ideal for keeping older furniture from having to be replaced and gives your quilt a practical use that you can utilize for years to come.
Do try to be careful when doing this as creasing can take place from the friction of people sitting on the quilt and scrunching it over time.
Conclusion
Told you we would be thorough, and thankfully these different methods can apply to all types of homes and all sizes of quilts. We are equal opportunists when it comes to displaying the attractive quilts we have toiled over for hours—small, large, ladder or railing, you can find a spot to place them!
So the next time you are staring at eight to twelve quilts stacked on top of each other in a stuffed dresser drawer, you will know where to place them and how to avoid the dreaded quilt crease!