kjohnson0523

A friend of mine is going to be celebrating her 50th wedding anniversary this summer. She wants a signature quilt for the occasion. She would like for it to be made from batiks but I am concerned that the pigma pens will not adhere as well to the batik fabric, any suggestions?
Also, she has mentioned making the quilt and quilting it before the event, is that the best way to construct it? I have read that people make blocks and lay on the tables to be signed by guests and then construct the quilt after the event.

Thanks
Kim

Up4BigChal

I am making a Wedding Quilt for my daughter. The only part I was told to quilt would be the area that will Not have signatures. I have made up over 50 Blocks that will be set out at the Receiption (with an attendant at the table) for guests to sign with a pigma pen. the area where they will write their wishes will be taped off so that they only sign withing the area allowed. Then I will assemble the Blocks and quilt them. Batiks migtht still have residual wax left on them from the dying process and may not allow a pigma pen to work. But you don't want people writing on a quilted piece what if they make a mistake? it's there forever.

SewCraftyGirl

I don't have any insights on whether pigma pen would work on batiks. However, I think you could easily mix batik fabric with non batik fabric to resolve this problem.

You could use non-batik fabric for the signature blocks, and batiks for the rest.

This quilt (http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...y-t262070.html) could easily have used batiks for all the colored fabrics.

I agree with Up4BigChal that I wouldn't want people to sign after the quilt is finished, in case of errors.

If you bring the signature fabric only, I have read that you should iron it onto freezer paper..... it stabilizes the fabric temporarily and makes it much easier to write on. I have also heard that it helps to draw an outer border so guests can sign inside the lines. That way, the signatures don't get caught in the seam allowance. (You could draw the border with a frixion pen, so you can make the lines disappear with heat after the guests are done.)

Good luck with whatever you decide!

ManiacQuilter2

I would find a good grade of cotton to use for the Pigma pens. Then use the batiks to make whatever design you are planning to around the cotton fabric. It is best to have the writing fabric backed with freezer paper and have extras because there is ALWAYS someone who will make a writing error.

nativetexan

look for various signature blocks, album blolcks, etc that give a space for signatures. By that, i mean blks that have a strip of light fabric that is added for signing on. that doesn't have to be batik. i think you would be better off doing that. then lightly heat set the signatures and they should stay fine. and when you wash the siggy fabric, do not use fabric softener. Micron pigma pens size .05 are good. I swapped for years and my quilts are still fine.

elly66

Someone had done this years ago at work. They were houses with a rectangle for everyone to sign. It was already made into a quilt. With using batiks, I would make the signature square cotton while the rest is batik. Perhaps someone here knows whether you can write on batiks or not. If the signature square (or rectangle) is small enough (say 1 1/2 by 2 1/2) you can quilt around those blocks not in them and should be safe for recommendations on most batting .
Then the day of event someone might want to watch and make sure people are signing in the squares or rectangles.

Doggramma

For my daughter's wedding quilt, I had plain fabric squares ironed onto freezer paper for the guests to sign with Pigma pens. Afterwards I constructed the quilt using batiks, fabric from the bridesmaids' dresses, and those squares. It would be too hard to have people write on a finished quilt (in my opinion). Batiks aren't a good fabric for writing on, I don't think. Another option would be to send out squares ahead of time, gather them, and make the quilt before the party.