DIY Network

I would like to have the guests at my wedding sign quilt squares (or pieces of whatever pattern it is I end up choosing) rather than a guest book. I'm having a country wedding and love the look of quilts. There's one problem, I've never quilted and am certainly not a seamstress (my mom is pretty good at sewing and would help me). I adore the wedding ring quilt design and feel it suits the occasion. I understand this is a very complicated quilt to make. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make the individual quilt pieces that can be signed? Or should I have my mom and fiance's mamaw help me make the quilt first and then have the guests sign it? Can someone help me please?

I would not have the finished quilt signed, I would have them sign the blocks first. What if someone signed something you didn't like? You'd have to look at it the whole rest of your life.
Monica

I made one of these for my SIL's wedding. While the wedding ring pattern is very pretty, I don't know about trying that on for your first quilt, and I don't know how you'd do the signing.

What we did was cut out a bunch of squares. I used pinking shears on the edges so they wouldn't fray as much.

I would suggest you have a 'special' person at the wedding be in charge of this...we had people who do not sew sign right on the edge of the fabric--which makes it pretty hard to make any kind of seam.

The original intent was to simply sew the squares together, perhaps with a border between them. However, because of the writing on the edges, I ended up using fusible webbing (the double iron on type stuff) behind each square) and put it on another piece of fabric. I then zigzagged around each square. Then all the squares were sewn together. Only thing 'fancy' about this quilt--I did a bigger square in the center, and I used a t-shirt transfer to put a wedding photo in that square.

If you have any questions, pm me or drop an e-mail jesskcarl@yahoo.com I'm certainly not a super great or experienced quilter, but doing a simple squares quilt isn't too hard.

Good luck!

Jess

We just had our daughter's wedding and used a guest quilt block to sign in on instead of a guest book. Take a light background fabric and iron on freezer paper to the back of the fabric shiny side to the material. Mark off approx. 1/2 inch all around the outside edge of fabric with permanent fabric pens to keep guests from signing along the edge(this is your seam allowance). There is a great wedding ring quilt pattern by Seams and Dreams called "Wedding Rings" but you can also use any pattern you desire. Contact your local quilt stores or quilt guild for more guidance. Happy Wedding!

What a beautiful idea!! I don't quilt, just a lurker, but I think this is something you will treasure for the rest of your life.