Quilted Walls

An unfinished quilt top is left as is and used as a tablecloth.

Designer Ilona Saari collects quilts and uses them in a variety of ways.

• She bought an unfinished quilt top at a yard sale for less than $10, and rather than finish it, she uses it as a tablecloth.
• She folds quilts and leaves them on ottomans, chairs and sofas to be used for warmth as needed.
• She also hangs them on the walls--in fact, her guest bedroom has a quilt on three walls.

In the course of collecting and decorating, Saari has learned from experience that there is a right way and a wrong way to hang quilts on the wall. The wrong way is the pushpin method, simply pinning the quilt to the wall: eventually the fabric will begin to tear. The best way is to cut a strip of fabric the width of the quilt and stitch them together to form a rod pocket on the back of the quilt. Then you can run a wooden dowel through the pocket and hang it from hooks in the wall. Kitty Bartholomew also suggests attaching Velcro, either by sewing or by adhering the self-sticking kind , to both the back of the quilt and a length of wood, which you can then mount on the wall.

Guests
Ilona Saari
Design Consultant / Decorative Artist
E-mail: baysideli@aol.com
Also in this Episode

Kitty Bartholomew: You're Home : Episode KIT-141
•	Homespun Decorating
•	Garden Magic
•	Quilted Walls