How many creative ideas can we come up with?
 

I have headed up an Employee Quilt Show, & we are now preparing for our next show. Over the years things have been tweaked for various reasons, and we sort of finalized rules for submission before last year's show.
One of the rules concerned size. Our show not only shows in a small art gallery, but also at a large museum. It was decided that if a quilt were too small, it would disappear on the museum's walls. So, we set a minimum size of 100" outside dimension (which we thought would cover most wall hangings too). Since our show is guest of the museum, we felt it was in our best interest to go along. Besides, it makes it a little easier deciding how to hang while at the art gallery too.
Anway, obviously some quilts are smaller than 100". We allow quilters to hang related quilts as a grouping, so that they come to the 100" rule. But, not all quilts have related partners!

I was just shown a really beautiful little quilt, but it comes to a bit less than 78" - so is not eligible to enter.
I suggested to the quilter to make a "mat" of sorts from coordinating fabric, to which she can pin or tack the actual quilt on top of, to make it seem larger, and meet the rules.
I also suggested making a couple tiny quilts (one block size) to hang beside the quilt, so the total display would be the proper size.
What other ideas can you think of? I am sure this won't be the last time this will come up. Thanks in advance for your creative ideas.

I like the mat idea. Of course, the quilter could add an additional border.

What about hanging one small, completed, quilt inside a frame of quilts? I am imagining four table runners laid out log cabin style with an empty space in the center. You could have the little quilt inside the frame, with empty "wall" space as negative space around it:
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Alison

I understand that you want to include this beautiful little quilt, and I applaud you for giving the maker options. However I don't think you should feel bad if you can't include every quilt in your show. Most shows have some kind of size limitations (although usually it's the largest quilts that they can't accept rather than the smallest ones). Some shows don't accept tied quilts, some cater to machine quilting or art quilts, one well known (and very successful) show featured only red and white quilts. I'm sure there are other shows in which that little quilt will shine.

Thanks for the input. I am making a "how to" sheet to be included with the Submission form, and will add these suggestions there. I like the idea of the log cabin around empty space idea. When I send the Submission forms out, they are allowed to enter 3 quilts, with the stipulation that if we get alot of quilters wanting to be involved, they may not get to enter all 3. So far, I have not had to turn any quilt away.

putting a mat behind to make a quilt look larger and be eligible to hang is cheating the rules. I would be offended if my quilt which is also too small didn't get the same consideration.

I think you need to be more clear on your 100". I assume you mean the circumference/outer border measurement all around should be at least 100"------------which is fairly small---------just a tad over a 2' square. Maybe the wording is clear to everyone else, but a bit murky to me.