Turn Your Guest Book into a Heirloom Wedding Quilt

When I saw it the hallelujah chorus went off in my head. I am not a big fan of straight-up signature guest books. While talking to my future mother-in-law about whether or not to have a traditional guest book, I asked, "what am I going to do with a book of 100 signatures?"

Image from Green Wedding Shoes

Instead of a standard guest book, how about a fabric guest book that you can turn into a quilt? Have your guests write their messages and well wishes on scraps of fabric with a fabric pen. During the wedding, they can and tack it to a cork board, an piece of wood, a french message board or what ever else your heart desires. Alternatively, you could also hang a photo booth blanket up and have your guests pin their signed fabric to it.

Sara, over at 2000 Dollar Budget Wedding, did something similar to this before her wedding.

Image from $2000 Budget Wedding

After the wedding you can sew the pieces of fabric together and make a quilt. Or you can find a quilter to do it for you.

What you will need:

• Mixed pieces of fabric in a variety of sizes (and shapes, depending on the intricacy of your pattern)
  • You can find "fat quarters," which are pieces of fabric in a variety of designs cut smaller especially for quilters. Each fat Quarter is less than $2. You can expect to cut each one into several smaller pieces.
  • Most craft, fabric, or quilting stores carry fat quarters
• A fabric pen that will show up will on your fabric. You may have to get both a dark and a light colored fabric pen
• Something on which guests can hang their signed fabric.
• Tacks, pins, or safety pins.
• You may also want to check a few quilting books out of the library for design ideas (especially traditional designs for yoru region or heritage)