I just got a great idea, why not use quilts as a source of insulation??
 

I woke up this morning and with windchill, we were in the negatives. So when I got home today, I was planning on putting up plastic on a couple windows because I had been putting that off for a while. Turns out there was no window plastic because we'd used it all up last year, so I decided to just hang blankets for now.

I was curious if anyone really knew how well those would work compared to plastic, when I came across this gem:
http://www.jasonmorrison.net/content...-wall-hanging/

To quote this tutorial,
I thought, "Wow!" What an idea! But why stop there? Why not make a quilt top, create a frame and put that mylar stuff between to insulate. That would give the double whammy of being a gorgeous piece of art to hang on the wall with a purpose! I happen to have a handy fiance that would love to save us some money off our heating bill and would be more than willing to create a frame for me.

Once I finish my last Christmas gift, this is next on my to do list. I'll make sure to post a photo when I have my first completed.

All things old are new again! Wall hangings and quilts were used to insulate draft palaces and draft sod homes through much of history. Let us know how it works!

pam

I was thinking the same thing, Pam!
This is a great idea, especially when hung over an oft-unused door in the winter. I'm glad you came up with it, SemiSweet.
The wall at the head of my bed is an outer wall in the older re-muddled part of this old cottage and it's cold as the underside of a snake's belly in winter. I placed home insulation foam boards there, 7' x 7', and covered that with a quilt that happened to fit it exactly. Two purposes served!

Jan in VA

We have a drafty sliding door which I cover with a king sized quilt in the cold weather. It works very well, though you do have to watch for condensation from the glass dampening the fabric and then molding or mildewing. Maybe that's just our climate, but it's a sad way to damage a quilt.

And remember that sun can fade your fabric, so make the backing & binding muslin.

It depends on your house. Wall hangings don't add anything appreciate to MY house, but my brother's 110 year old house, it makes some difference. This is especially true if the quilt is against a wall that takes most of the wind.

I find where I lose warmth is right around the windows (not the windows themselves - they are new), especially in a basement bedroom. I'm experimenting there. Just folding a quilt over the edge wasn't doing it. I'm making some simple quilted draperies that will extend about 8 inches on 3 sides of the window. Cotton and poly batting have an R value of 3-4 per INCH THICK, so I'm not sure how effective that's going to be. I do know draperies reduce draft.

I would think that they should work pretty well!

Must be the weather because I also woke up feeling like pulling all my extra quilts off of the shelves and hanging them in front of windows. I hate draft. I do not know how you ladies do it because we are in SoCal and hitting high 50s is cold enough for me. :D

It should work very well. I am in So Cal also, and when our air went out during the summer, I hung a quilt across my hottest window and it kept the room quite a few degrees cooler. I'm sure it would keep some of the cold out too.

I was looking at the neighbor's garage this morning--there is about eight inches of snow on the roof. The first thing I thought was, "that looks just like quilt batting"! Oh well, guess the winter weather makes quilters think of quilts!

I haven't used quilts over windows to stay warm, but I have used them in the summer to block off rooms that I didn't want to air condition.