How to Make Homemade Photo Quilts

Photo quilts are a wonderful way to preserve memories and make fabulous gifts. I will give you some basics that I have learned while making photo quilts. The difficulty of this project will depend on the individual pattern that you've chosen for your quilt. It can be fairly simple if you do a rag quilt or difficult if you choose a very detailed quilt.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Your chosen quilt pattern and supplies to make the chosen quilt
• Photos for your quilt, moderate amounts work best, but the amount is up to you!
• Photo transfer paper or plain white fabric (see description for details)

1. First, choose the photos that you'd like on your quilt. Many people do a "themed" quilt for an anniversary, memory, favorite trip, etc. You will want clear photos that aren't too light/dark so that they show up well when transferred. You can decide upon the number of photos that you use based on your particular quilt pattern. The more photos that you have on the quilt, the more work and more expensive it will be to make due to the cost of the transfer process. It's best to select your absolute favorite photos for the quilt and to keep them minimal if expense is an issue. There are so many different options with photo layout, the possibilities are endless and it can take quite a bit of time to figure out exactly how you'd like your quilt to look. You can get many ideas for layout and patterns by doing internet searches and seeing what others have done with their photo quilts. I find that rag quilts are the easiest to do with photos and they turn out great!

2. In this next step, you will need to decide how you want to transfer the photos. There are SO many options for photo transfer out there now. At any craft store, you will find a huge variety of different photo transfer papers that you can use with your personal printer at home. They range anywhere from very reasonable (I've even seen some at dollar stores) to fairly expensive, just depending on the type of printer you'll be using and also the different features you will get with the individual paper. For instance, if you are making a quilt, you are most likely going to want to be able to wash it, so you will want the transferred photos to be permanent on the fabric. Permanent photo transfer papers are much more expensive than the papers that just transfer the photo, but bleed/fade when washed. In my opinion, if you are going through all of the trouble to make the item, spending the extra money on having it permanent is the way to go. Also, if you are making a rag quilt, you will HAVE to use a permanent method since the rag quilts get washed to start the ragging process.

3. My preference is to avoid all of the confusion about WHICH paper to use and I take my photos along with some plain white fabric (you will want one with a high thread count so that the photos transfer well...ask your fabric store what they have available for photo transferring) to my local print store. You will want to call around to see if your local printing store does this since special equipment is needed, but usually most places that do t-shirt transfers are able to do this for you. They have high-tech machines and can do it in a fraction of the time of what it takes to do it at home AND they turn out fabulous since they are using professional machines. The best bonus is that they are 100% washable and you won't need to worry about the fading/bleeding. If your preferred printing center doesn't do it, they will likely be able to give you the name of one that does, since this is a frequently asked question in the printing industry.
   I've found that when it comes to cost, after pricing the transfer papers in the craft stores, that I actually come out ahead by having the professionals do the printing for me. Since I'd need to purchase a high end transfer paper and also the cost of the ink for the transfers, not to mention all of the time involved...it's well worth it to let the professionals do the work in a few minutes. In my area, they average about $7.00 or so per 8"x10" sheet to have them printed professionally.

4. If you take your photos to be printed professionally, be sure to have them leave ample room between the photos for you to cut them apart and have a bit of working room.

5. Once you have all of your photos printed onto fabric, you are ready to use them along with the quilt pattern of your choice. You can stitch around the edges of them and use them exactly as you would any other fabric. Photo quilts are so much fun to make and give! Have fun creating your layout and new quilt!

[seradis]

on 4/22/2009 This is a great idea! I would like to try to make this. Thanks! 5*

[FrogDoc]

on 4/21/2009 These are lovely! Great instructions. I wish I had time to do something like this for my family. :)