So if Monday was a rough day, on Tuesday we were tapping our Ruby Red Slippers. Every quilt agreed with its place in line. All the hooks hooked and all the clips clamped and all the wood stood. Yay!
Tuesday was hanging day.We had this hanging system built many years ago when the shows were organized for the purpose of raising money for the local museum. Now the guild organizes it and proceeds are used to advance quilting and educate the community about quilts. The museum donated the old system to us.
As you can see, the bases are huge, heavy wooden triangles (of sorts). Each one holds a 4x4 upright, which in turn holds 2x4 crossbeams. Additional 1x4 crossbeams brace the system and keep the uprights from spreading apart.
We put cup hooks into the 2x4s every 15 inches. Then using binder clips along the top of the quilt, we just hung the quilts onto the hooks. The only time we had an issue was when the quilts didn't measure in increments of 15. That required adding another hook and clip.
Because some quilts are heavy as heck, I had to devise a better mousetrap. On occasion the quilts would slip right through the binder clips. To avoid that, we slipped this open weave shelf liner over the edge of the quilt and pinned the binder on top. It gave just enough grip for almost all the quilts.
However, there were some that heavy as heck just doesn't describe. Those quilts we hung on long rods. Then we duct taped the rods to the crossbeams. It looked rough but did the trick.
One other issue occurred when we'd get close to the end of the line. We looked through the quilts and found one that would fit the last space. Sometimes that last space would hold a large quilt. Sometimes we had to dig for a just-the-right-size quilt. Sometimes, well, we just had to make do. But we did.
It turned out to be a pretty good system. Perhaps not the prettiest way to hang quilts, but it worked. Unfortunately, we could not afford to rent or buy a regular system, so making do is what we did.
Build a Quilt Show Series:
It all looks fine to me.
ReplyDelete