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.

Wouldn't covering the windows make your house dreary? I want all the daylight I can get in my house during the wintertime. I think the plastic would let in more light.

I have used a quilt for window covering in our tv room for years! It really does make a diff. We keep the blinds closed because of glare on the tv so we might as well be warmer!

I have a regular everyday quilt with polyester batting hanging over the bedroom window by the bed. It makes a huge difference in keeping the room warmer. I keep it there all winter, just hanging on a wooden rod. It extends a few inches beyond the window in all directions.

I put a quilt over our glass fireplace doors to cut down on the drafts, and am in the process of working on a long skinny hanging to go on the sidelight window of our front door.

People still do it here all the time...(Poland). In fact, people often have their "winter curtains" and their "summer curtains"...the winter ones are heavy insulated ones and their summer ones are lighter.

and I was just in a home yesterday where they basically curtained (floor to ceiling) off a whole section of the house--with a lot of windows in order to help the rest of the house stay warmer.

Did someone last winter show a curtain on a door either outside or conservatory
I am just planning after seeing on here a quilted blind to keep wind out but also to show a quilt as I have few big walls to display on. My cottage is well over 150 years old. Can't find build date yet.

I think its a great idea.

We lived on our boat (trawler) for five years in Florida. Even there it got cold in the winter on the water. I used to hang a big quilt from the bookshelf which ran most of the way along the bed wall and it kept me quite warm. Hubby slept on the outside and was never cold. Go figure!

Last year I took scraps and made quilted window coverings for 6 windows in my living room as it is hard to heat. They work great and look pretty. I don't worry about fading, they were just scraps I threw together.

t

Wouldn't money be better spent replacing the old windows?

great idea we have a few places that would help a lot. it was minus 26 here this morning

I have been using fleece for years now to cover doors in the garage to help stop some of the cold. We have a door in the kitchen which goes directly into the garage. Man, is that ever cold. The fleece really does help. I also hang fleece between my drapes and the slider in the dining room. It has made a big difference. I am in the process of making quilt wall hangings to help insulate the walls. It's been very cold & we're feeling the cold as we get older. Hopefully, these quilts will help. I've never used plastic on windows, so I can't compare the plastic to the fleece.

Bed curtains on four poster beds. Books were published on the subject. Several years ago a long arm quilter published patterns for them.

LOL I always told my gals never to worry about how large their stash was - buy more cause it's great insulation! Great minds think in the same channel :D:D:D:thumbup:

Yes! Many moons ago quilts or blankets were hung over windows and doors in bedrooms to be used to keep the heat in or out. My in-laws lived in a sod house for a few years and it was quite cozy with a heating stove and she hung quilts or blankets over the bedroom doors to keep the heat in the main part of the house. I once had a book with patterns for making insulated "covers" that were quite attractive. Our houses now are warn enough with central heat that we don't need to do this. Besides I would never hang one of my treasured quilts as insulation, but I sure would part with a few blankets if need be.

In place of an actual quilt, I have styrofoam panels (from Home Depot) that I covered with decorator fabric. These slip into the windows at night to block the night's colder temps. They just "friction ft"- no hardware needed. They work so well that there is ice on the INSIDE panes of the sliders and windows! Removing the panels in daytime allows that moisture to evaporate back into the house, where the moisture originally came from.
As to the stash: storing it against an outside wall adds a layer of "insulation" between you and the wall- that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Years ago I read an article about window quilts in Countryside Magazine. Luckily, I found this link online:

http://www.countrysidemag.com/86-6/sue_robishaw/

The article gives a detailed description of the framework, which keeps the quilt close to the window frame. Much useful information in this article. If you have quilts you no longer use for your beds (like ones you made as a beginner), this would give new life to them.

I made some quilted curtains for the motor home. Really helped in cold Idaho visits.

I could see where this would also work in the summer for those homes that only have Window A/C units.

years ago I made a few window quilts for some North facing windows. I used a product called "thin-su-late" I think that is how it is spelled. It was silver type material-no batting attached. I know you can now buy it with the batting already attached. Anyway, made my quilts the traditional way and added a layer of thinsulate. Used sticky Velcro to attach them to window frame. In the day time I just un Velcro-ed to let the sun in or left them up on dreary days. Make your quilts large enough to cover the frames of windows. What you are trying to achieve here is an air block that traps the cold air from the window between window and quilt. Works great.. Also good for drafty doors that don't get much use.. one of mine was the landscape that I would have seen out that window in the fall... (or you could do a happy SUMMER scene! ) Happy Quilting and STAY WARM....

I had a friend years ago that made a quilted sliding door cover, and put a "DriZair" unit between it and the glass for condensation. Worked great.

Hi semisweet your idea sounds great to me. One thing I have great window shades over my windows and during the window during the winter when I put the shades up in the A.M. my windows are all wet. My though is that you quilts would become wet and meldew would damage them.

Good luck and happy quilting yippie

We recently built on a downstairs bedroom, so now we can shut off the upstairs. Since it is an open staircase, I took 3 thermal backed curtains and hung them on a rod on the banister side & where the stairs start. I just put the 1 panel at the stair bottom yesterday, so I am anxious to see what the temp is upstairs today.

If you look at old movies, you can see where they had curtains all around the 4 poster beds.

How about using the room darkening fabric it is similar to the fabric we use for protecting the mattress from moistur it is also 54" wide. Will stop any draft . A friend of mine buys quilts for all the doors/windows on the ground floor of her lodge.

My son was telling me you can also duct tape Mylar to the under side of your drapes. Same purpose less expensive.

I just read the whole thread - not usual for me- but am interested in what you all have to say on the subject. My most dramatic moment with quilts at the window was when we had window quilts installed in our home in Colorado along the front range. We had pretty good sunny days there, and loved our big windows, but at night, the cold came thru and chilled me to the bone. We got the window quilts (commercial) and I was amazed at how warm they kept the room.

In this house, I made my own version of them just using some old unused upholstery fabric, insulbrite, and an old sheet for backing . I just tried it out to see how it would work, and hung them from a simple spring tension rod just inside the mini blinds that were already in place. I wanted them to keep the morning sun out of my computer room in the summer, cause it was so hot! They really worked and also kept out the light for my grandchildrens naps, and I just pop them in and out using the spring tension rods. Kinda temporary and lazy, but effective.

Good luck with yours - it is a good idea!!

Years ago I made quilted wall hangings using warm window insulated batting to cover drafty windows. http://www.warmcompany.com/wwpage.html makes a room snuggly warm and you can still raise the shades to see outside.

I've got some Warm Window insulated batting but haven't gotten around to making the shades, so right now I have a quilt hanging over a glass door. It makes a huge difference in how warm that room feels!

I have taken down the dry wall on walls facing the outside and insulated them. This one rancher I owned was brick on the outside, 2 inch insulated particle board insulation thingy from the 1950's and then the studs. No further insulation. Boy, did my heating bill decrease. I would put insulation over the window and then cover that with the quilt.

you can buy that styrofoam looking stuff and cut it to fit in the window and then hang a quilt over it. that would keep the moisture in the house instead of on the quilt.

Has anyone used this idea using bubblewrap?

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects...bubblewrap.htm