Old Quilting Frame Boards. What is the holes for?
07-06-2019, 04:55 AM
#11
Super Member
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Central Wisconsin
Posts: 4,391
The quilt frame was originally held together with wooden pegs. That's what the holes are for. My friend has the frame with the pegs, and we used it like that for a few years. The holes were used to make the frame the size of the quilt you were making. My mother-in-law attached the quilt fabric to the frame with thumb tacks. I have that frame, and all the thumb tack holes are there. The women of Gee's Bend attached their quilts to the frame with tacks and a hammer. I have a picture of them and their set-up.
I have stapled strips of denim to each of the sticks of the frame and pin my quilt on with large safety pins. That works well. I also have a second frame that my son made for me in the 1980's. He used the boards that had been base boards in this house. Good wood and nine feet long.
Then we discovered C-clamps. So much more reliable. The frame didn't fall apart so often.
Then we discovered bolts. I use bolts now and put nuts on them.
Two years ago, I made a Gee's Bend quilt on my treadle machine. I used feed sacks, an old shirt, a table cloth and lots of used and left over fabric as the women of Gee's Bend used to do. It had no binding; it was birthed. I tied it on the frame. It was on display as part of a "Reproduction Quilt" at our quilt show.
I have stapled strips of denim to each of the sticks of the frame and pin my quilt on with large safety pins. That works well. I also have a second frame that my son made for me in the 1980's. He used the boards that had been base boards in this house. Good wood and nine feet long.
Then we discovered C-clamps. So much more reliable. The frame didn't fall apart so often.
Then we discovered bolts. I use bolts now and put nuts on them.
Two years ago, I made a Gee's Bend quilt on my treadle machine. I used feed sacks, an old shirt, a table cloth and lots of used and left over fabric as the women of Gee's Bend used to do. It had no binding; it was birthed. I tied it on the frame. It was on display as part of a "Reproduction Quilt" at our quilt show.
Last edited by maviskw; 07-06-2019 at 05:01 AM.
07-06-2019, 09:56 AM
#12
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Upstate NY, north of Syracuse Area
Posts: 6,003
My mom always used long nails for holding the boards in position, and used thumb tacks to hold the non-rolled sides of the quilt to the frame. It took two people working across from each other to make sure the layers were not distorted during the tacking.
07-07-2019, 03:43 PM
#13
Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Posts: 79
What memories for me!! My Mom had these frames with the holes. She used a long nail to hold them together. She tacked strips of ticking to pin the quilt top on. She started quilting in the middle and moved it out as she quilted. She used binder twine to attach it to the ceiling. At night she rolled it up and slipped into the bed which it hung over. She looked up at the quilting and become a better quilter realizing her stitches were pretty long. I cannot being to guess how many quilts she made on those frames in her life time.
We'd love to see your grandmothers tops!
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