Memorable Shower Gift

Photos all trimmed

     I had a call a few weeks ago from a woman that wanted a special wallhanging as a gift for her son's shower.  She wanted to use nine photos of the couple as they were growing up to present day.  We spent several hours on the phone going over all the details of what she needed to get for me to be able to do this project.

Adding the side pieces

     After some false starts, we finally got everything together.  The photos were originally all going to be the same size so I was planning on just cutting sashing strips and a border and putting it all together.  When I got the pictures from her, they were all different sizes.  They were all printed on 8.5 x 11" sheets of fabric but some had more white than others.

All trimmed to a 12" square

     I didn't think that would make for a nice looking wallhanging so I trimmed them all to have just a quarter inch of white showing after applying the fabric.  I measured each one and then sewed on side pieces and trimmed to be 12" in width.  Then I added the top and bottom pieces and trimmed it to a 12" square.

Pinned and ready to quilt

     I then sewed them together in a 3 x 3 grid.  I cut backing and batting and pinned it all together.  I then stitched around each photo, about an eighth of an inch from the edge.

Quilting around the photos

     Then I trimmed it all up and it was ready for the binding.  I cut my binding strips 2.5" wide.  I pressed the strip in half and then matching the raw edges, I sewed it to the back side of the quilt.  I then brought it around to the front and stitched it down close to the fold of the binding.

Applying the binding

     The client had wanted me to make a loop of the fabric to hang it on the wall.  That wasn't going to work without some support in the top to keep it flat.  I opted instead to sew three small plastic rings to the back instead.  Now they just have to put 3 small nails in the wall and it will hang nice and flat.

Finished wallhanging

     The client did report back to me that the wallhanging was the hit of the shower.  I was so glad I could help her make this very special gift.