Readying Quilts for Delivery to Waterworks Visual Arts Center

In taking quilts to trunk shows and delivering them for exhibition venues, I needed a way to wrap them that would be easy to handle by non-quilt enthusiasts and preferably would help use up some of my large stash of fabrics that I no longer use.

Here is what I came up with.

Your comments would be appreciated. How do you wrap for delivery and studio storage?


First, I create a two-sided cover from a one yard (or 1 1/2 yard) by the width of the fabric with two fabrics sewn back to back. Before sewing the fabrics together, I add a label to one of the longer sides. I use either a business card or create a label with my name and contact information on it. The label is sewn onto the cover inside of vinyl so it is permanent and indicates a bit of what is inside.

I pillowcase the two fabrics, and sew around the case, leaving an opening near the label to turn the case inside out. Once the cover is turned right side out, I machine sew the opening closed. I created long ties the length of the fabric. I put the ties on the end of the cover with the label and sew them on at their middles with some space between the label and the ties, so they can be tied around the bundle of quilts. I sew the ties on with a rectangle with an X in the middle for security over time.


When ready to use, I wrap the quilts one at a time, face out, around a swim noodle, being careful not to get creases into the face of the quilts. Then the cover is wrapped around them and tied with a bow.


Since I have multiple bundles of quilts to deliver, I took a 4 x 6 inch card and wrote the names of each quilt inside on the card, cut a hole into the card and slipped it onto one of the ties of the bundle before tying it. That should make it easier on the curator in hanging the show to know which quilts are in each bundle. I will also group the slats for each bundle together as well.

Here is another bundle ready to go.

And here are the five bundles with 17 quilts inside, 3-4 quilts in each bundle.

I am delivering the quilts tomorrow and am really getting excited about the exhibition that opens May 21 with an artists reception on Friday night May 27 in Salisbury NC. Hope you can come.

Do you have other techniques for storing and/or packaging for transporting your art work? Please let us know.

Nancy