Signature quilt question
 

I'm going to be making a quilt for a man's 60th birthday and want it to be a quilt where the party goers can sign their name and write a comment. I'm questioning whether to make the quilt and then have people sign the designated areas or do i want them to sign fabric and then make it into a quilt? My cautious side wants to just give them fabric but my creative side wants people to see the finished product.

Also any help and advice on the right markers or design would be appreciated. I would love to see your signature quilts as inspiration! Thanks.

This is a wedding quilt I made last July. I finished before the wedding and had each of the guests sign one of the light colored rectangles. I provided the pens. The bride and groom loved it.

It's so easy to mess up an already-made quilt, I would recommend having the guests sign on previously prepared fabric, ironed onto freezer paper for stability. Use some blue masking tape to provide boundaries around the area where you want them to sign. Then if someone makes a mistake they can try again, and if someone leaves a comment that you don't want in the finished quilt, you don't have to include it. I think pigma pens would work well for this.

I did one for our minister's retirement and we premade the blocks and have people sign--then put into a quilt. be sure to either make a template or lightly mark the 1/4" seams on the signature blocks so people don't write in the seam allowance(although you still get a few that do).

I made my parents a 50th anniversary album quilt. I had all the kids and grands sign with a white square and pigma pen. Then I assembled the quilt. They loved it.

My advice would be to make the blocks and have them sign them. Especially if there will be kids there. Kids want to sign and draw everywhere there is an open space! If there are no kids, it would be safe to make the quilt and have them sign, although it would have to be on a flat table to comfortably be able to sign.

Not only kids, but adults who may have partaken too freely. I would make the blocks, mask off the area to sign, have them sign with a pigma or fine point sharpie, and assemble later.

When my daughter got married I had squares of fabric with freezer on the back of the squares and during the time people arrive and mingle around I handed out the squares with a suitable pen and had them write a message or just sign their name. Later I gathered the squares and took them home and made a quilt. BTW-I cut the squares about 1" larger than the square needed to be for the quilt. This was much easier than packing a big quilt around and getting signatures. Good luck on your quest.

I'd use masking tape. So far, for every single signature quilt I've made, someone has signed so part of their name goes into the seam allowance.

I'm not sure why some people have such a strong desire to sign right on the very edge, but plenty do.

Even when I've asked people to sign at least 1" from the edge, someone will start out at 1" and then do a looping letter with a tail and end up right off the edge. I suppose even with tape, someone is going to sign so part of their name is on the tape.

The main problem I've had with kids is that they decide they've made a mistake and then they scribble it out and start over.

Thanks for giving me a lot to think about! MsHeirloom -- so pretty! I love that there were areas to sign, but it looks like a pretty quilt to start with. I hope that made sense! Some of the quilts on Pinterest are too "white", too much area to sign....loses it's "quiltness" factor!

For those that had the quilt prepared for the event, how did you quilt it? Not in the light area or signing?