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?

I'm another one who says to pass out strips showing some sort of margins and not have a big blot right in the middle of everything ruin a project.

Plus, I have a really long name and terrible handwriting. I have to practice my own signature several times before doing it for real.

Another thing I have envy over, you all with the nice writing!

I made square in a square blocks for my daughter's wedding using paper piecing. I left the paper on to stabilize. It eliminated the worry of people signing into the seam allowance.

I've made several signature quilts and have found 3.5" squares work well. I cut them out of a Moda fabric similar to unbleached muslin but with a little more substance. Then i cut 3" squares out of freezer paper and ironed them to the back of each fabric square. I provided a variety of colors of Pigma pens - some people like to illustrate their blocks and others just want to write their names. It's a wonderful keepsake and you can arrange the squares many different ways. My favorite was a wedding quilt with strips of floral applique between the squares (it was long ago so I'm sorry i don't have a photo to share).

This is the quilt I made for my sister in law’s wedding. I made the blocks, then ironed them to freezer paper, then taped a seam allowance around the edges. I brought a handful of pigma pens for people to use. I did a wash test before the wedding with a pigma pen and a few different sharpies. Nothing ran, but the pigma did the best in my test over several washes. My white was Kona from Joann’s
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The last signature quilt I made was for someone retiring. So I cut 12" blocks and put pressure sensitive stabilizer on the back. Does a great job and you peal it off when you don't need it anymore.

I sent them to different departments with an assortment of colored fabric pens and let people sign however they wanted.

Then I pieced them into the backing of the quilt. The Art Teacher took one block and drew the school logo on it, that worked out great for me!

Feathers-N-Furs: that quilt is amazing! I love that the guests were able to put more than a signature on it. Such a special memory.

I did make a "signature" quilt a while ago, please excuse the quality of the picture it was from 2004 before I had a digital camera. My daughter's Kindergarten class made this as a gift for their pregnant teacher. We had a shower party for her in class. Since it was five and six year olds I gave them the precut fabric and one fabric pen several weeks before the party, then I had it ready for the shower. I loved how it came out.

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I've made 2 quilts like that, everyone signed them at the party. I too wanted everyone to see the finished quilt. Both quilts are fine, no one messed it up. Good luck.