Personalizing Quilts

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Oftentimes the quilts shown on this blog (particularly the throw quilts) are given as gifts. I've gifted 5 quilts to date, 3 of which were to commemorate a marriage, and so initials+date indicators were added to suit the event.

Now that the Triangle Xmas Tree Skirt is personalized, it makes quite the package with a matching green doily and Wedding Invitation Ornament.

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Adding Letters/Numbers to a Quilt

This is the general process I use to sew letters or numbers onto fabric. It can require a variety of erasable pens or pencils, depending on the darkness of the fabric. Thread choice is largely determined by fabric color and how busy the fabric is. Busy fabric needs thicker thread.
For lighter fabrics (not white), print in reverse and trace with iron-on transfer pencil.

Cut into pieces for required layout.

Iron according to instructions.

Remove paper and sew/embroider.

For medium-darkness (or white) fabric, use a dark erasable pen/pencil and trace the cut-out of the desired symbol.

For dark fabric, use a white erasable pen/pencil and trace the cut-out of the desired symbol.

Embroidery Personalization

Sewing thread after quilt-sandwiching, embroidery floss before.
The above processes yield the following effect, if done after quilt sandwiching. I typically do this as part of the quilting phase, and this will show the stitches in reverse on the opposite side of the quilt. For hand-quilting with sewing thread (below) this is fine, but for the future I'd probably do embroidery thread personalizing before the quilt sandwiching, so that the reverse stitches do not appear on the other side. In this case, I had started with hand-quilting but because the fabric was varying in colors and had lots of pattern, it was near impossible to see some of the letters, while other letters stood out significantly. Embroidery thread had to be used, although I only used 2 strands (embroidery floss usually has 6).

A double running stitch would be much cleaner on the back of the quilt, rather than back stitch!


The typeface in this example is 'October Twilight.

Hand-Quilting Personalizations

I've done this approach with some other quilts, although just as part of the hand-quilting process. For example, the Double Wedding Ring Quilt in grays, peaches, teals, and yellows below had the couple's wedding date subtly quilting into one of the rings:


I don't have a photo of it, but the modern bear paw quilt received a similar hand-quilted personalization right in that 4-square grey block outlined by the colorful paws.

Applique Personalization

You can also add appliqué letters or numbers to a quilt back or top to personalize. I have not done this for characters, but I have added a complex paper-pieced police box to the back of the Isosceles Triangle Quilt. You could use a similar approach with other symbols. In this particular case, the appliqué was added to the back of the quilt, before quilt sandwiching, so the stitches used to attach the appliqué do not show through on the front of the quilt. A similar approach could be used for embroidering someone's name onto the corner of the quilt top, if you didn't want the letters to show up in the reverse on the other side, as in the Christmas tree skirt above.