For those who love to decorate their homes with fine and unique things, quilted wall hangings are an interesting idea. Quilted wall hanging is basically a wall hanging made by stitching together patches and pieces of old fabric that you are going to discard. It is a rather unique and innovative idea. It also acts as a way of recycling old fabric.
Requirements
Quilted wall hangings are easy to make. Here is a list of things you will need to make a basic quilted wall hanging -
- Sewing machine
- Quilting tools
- Buttons
- Lace
- Ribbon
- Old clothes and fabric - LOTS OF THEM!
General Guidelines
There are many different patterns that you can pick from to make a quilted wall hanging. You may go for a random patchwork, or you may actually work on a picture or a photograph. I will discuss how you can make different wall hangings that you may use in different rooms in the house. But first, here is how to make a basic random patchwork quilted wall hanging (as shown in the picture above).
- Gather all the old clothes, fabrics, scarves, shawls, etc. Anything and everything can be used to make a quilted wall hanging.
- Gather some accessories that may be lying around the house - buttons, lace, knitting yarn, sequins, fabric paints... everything!
- Decide whether you want to make a vertical wall hanging or horizontal. Accordingly, strip the different colored fabrics into thin and long strips. The strips need not be of the same width.
- Now we quilt! It is quite easy to make a quilt. However, making a quilted wall hanging is slightly different from making a quilt. The basic difference is that you need to actually pay attention to which piece of fabric goes where. You need to color coordinate the patches. The stitches also need to be well-concealed, or they might take away the visual appeal of the wall hanging.
- Add finishing touches to your quilt. This includes accessorizing it up with different decorating materials you have collected.
- Finally, get the picture framed, and your quilted wall hanging is ready!
Different rooms call for different kinds of wall hangings - be it paintings, picture or quilted wall hangings. Here is a general guideline on how to make different patterns of quilted wall hangings, and a few tips on which pattern can be used for different rooms in your house.
Quilted Wall Hanging Patterns
Pale-Colored Quilted Wall Hangings
Usually the living room or drawing room of a house is one where a lot of people are going to come in, apart from the family members. This is one of the reasons why people prefer not to experiment much with the living room. If your living room has a decor that is in the shades of brown, white and cream, then an Egyptian painting would blend well with your living room. A quilted wall hanging of Egyptian art would be quite easy to make, as the lines in the drawing are mostly straight, and the patterns mostly geometric. A painting in sepia mode as the one shown alongside would also look lovely and blend well with a room that has wooden furniture. Try to incorporate fabrics of different textures to bring out the right effect. For example, plain cotton fabric would be good to depict the dresses of the Egyptian figures, wool would be good to depict the huge tree, etc. Fabric paints can be used to add details.
Vibrant-Colored Quilted Wall Hangings
In case of a room painted in white or cream shades, adding a bit of color could drastically change the look and feel of the room. This effect can be brought about by making a quilt of vibrant colors. Take for example the two pictures shown on the right. Wouldn't they look lovely in an otherwise plain room? A modern art kind of quilted wall hanging would be very easy to make and would look nice in a drawing room stylized in a modern way with sleek furniture and compact decor. Alternatively, the picture of an aquarium would look beautiful! This fish looks a bit like Nemo, but you could have more vibrant looking fish too!
Quilted Wall Hanging with Repeated Pattern
The best part about these wall hangings is they need very little imagination or creativity. They look equally charming too. One idea could be to repeat the same pattern but in different color schemes (like the hearts shown alongside). This would allow you to be in sync with the color theme of the room. Another idea could be to repeat the exact pattern (like the flowers alongside). These quilted wall hangings would look good in the kitchen, or in the passages which lead from one room to the other. They would be very easy to make and sew together, all you need is lots of the same kind of fabric.
Quilted Wall Hangings for Kids' Room
If you have a son, I am sure he is crazy about some superhero, and wants to be a whiz kid himself! How about making a superhero quilted wall hanging for his room? The one alongside looks really adorable, isn't it? One idea would be to use your little boy's own T-shirts and shorts to make clothes of the superhero. The quilt would become personalized in a very special way! For a girl, a cute fairy, or an angel would make lovely quilted wall hangings. You can use strips of beige or yellow fabric to make the hair. It would look beautiful! Finally, you could use black buttons to make eyes. It would add a 3D effect to the picture.
Theme-based Quilted Wall Hanging
A festive quilted wall hanging could make a wonderful personalized gift, for someone who loves decorating the house! Halloween could call for pumpkin-shaped quilted wall hangings. Christmas themed wall hangings could depict pictures similar to those shown on the left. The white spots on the reindeer could be white buttons, Rudolph's red nose could be a fabric ball! The ribbons on the Christmas bell could be real ribbons, while any pale green-colored fabric could be used to make the leaves. Theme-based wall hangings can be used on special occasions.
In the end, creating a quilted wall hanging is as good as creating a painting - it is a lot quicker, but it is just about as tricky and requires the patience and skill of an artist! The finally result, however, is truly worth the time invested. One last tip I would like to give here is - draw on a piece of paper the picture you intend to quilt and work with, and have it in front of you as you sit down to quilt - it makes planning the quilt easier. All the best!
