Writing on a quilt after its finished?
 

I'm throwing an afternoon tea baby shower for my daughter so I want to make her a quilt with a tea party theme to give to her at her shower. Can I have guests sign the back of the finished quilt? Can that work?

It might work, but it's much safer to have them sign blank squares that have been ironed to freezer paper and assemble the quilt later. People tend to make mistakes while writing on fabric (or on paper for that matter). If there are lots of extra squares for them to sign, they can start over, but if it's on the quilt then it's permanent. It's also much harder to write directly on a quilt.

thank you dunster. That's what I was thinking. I was just hoping to give her that day a completed quilt. Any recommendations on what pen/marker they should use?

I went to a bridal shower where we copied Bible verses onto fabric squares that were later made into a quilt that was presented to the bride on her wedding day. We used fine tip Sharpies. Worked great for most people. Of course, you always have that one perfectionist in the bunch that wants to re-copy it four or five times until it's up to her standards. :p

If they're going to sign the actual quilt, I would make sure to show them quickly first & emphasize that they don't want to leave the pen in one space for too long or it will bleed, potentially straight through the quilt (happened to my friend Sarah's quilt in high school). Keep some hairspray on hand for ink emergencies. Aerosol works best. And realize that like anything else with quilting, that there is the possibility of a boo-boo but ... applique covers over a multitude of mistakes.

why not? do and learn.

I have always used Micro Pigma pens. It is very hard to write on fabric without the backing of freezer paper. And it seems that people ALWAYS make mistakes when writing on fabric.

How about designing a label that they can sign. You can applique the label onto the back after the shower.

Dont forget to mark the seam lines. Even if you tell people not to write to the edge, they will! Ask me how I know! Have someone in charge of that table and watch 'em like a hawk!

On my parents 60th anniversary I made them a memory quilt and had everyone that attended the open house sign a block. First I made a template to put on the block...I used Sandpaper for this. A couple of nieces helped people sign the blocks. It worked out great!!! 6" blocks gave them 5.5" to write on.
We used FINE TIP sharpies.

If they're writing on the back of the quilt you could have the pieced top for the shower so everyone could see it.