How to Make a Small Quilting Rack for Sewing
A quilting rack for sewing, more commonly referred to as a quilting frame, has been around in one form or another since people started quilting. Quilting frames hold the pieced together quilt firmly in place, giving the quilter two hands with which to hand-stitch the quilt together. There are times when you don't need a large frame, though. Working on a small quilting project makes a large quilting frame feel like overkill. Making a small rack that is more portable can free up your small quilting projects, allowing you to sew while sitting in your favorite chair. Sometimes these smaller quilting racks are referred to as lap quilting frames.
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Things You'll Need
- Wooden folding TV tray
- Yardstick
- Pencil
- Hand saw
- Measuring tape
- 1-inch dowels
- Drill with bits
- Electric screwdriver
- 4 wood screws
- Spring clamps
Instructions
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1
Open a wooden folding TV tray and set it upright. Lay your yardstick across the legs on the side, and use your pencil draw a line across both legs, just under where the the legs attach to the tray section. Do the same for the other side, and use the hand saw to cut through your marks. You should now have a set of legs that scissors open without a top.
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2
Use your measuring tape to measure the distance between each set of legs. A set is the pair of legs that swing on the same axis. Often at least one set will be joined at the bottom with a cross-bar. A pair of legs always has a set distance in between the individual legs. Each set will have a slightly different distance, because they fold into one another, so make sure to mark down both measurements.
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3
Use one set of measurements to mark your dowel, and then cut it to measure. Do the same for the other measurement, so you have a dowel that will fit between both different sets of legs.
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4
Put a drill bit in your drill that is slightly thinner than the diameter of your screw, and drill into each end of your two dowels from the flat side. Use your measuring tape to mark each leg an inch from the top. You want to mark each leg in the middle, from the "sides" of where the tray once was. Drill through these marks.
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5
Hold the first dowel between the pair of legs it was cut for, where you drilled. Screw in your wood screws with your screwdriver. Repeat the process for the next dowel.
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6
Use your spring clamps to clamp one side of your quilting project to one of your dowels, and then to the other.
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Tips & Warnings
If you have a larger project in mind, screw eye bolts into the ends of larger dowels, and you can lash the dowels to other objects after you've placed the quilt on them.
