On the excellent advice of a fellow art quilter, I started using flat wooden rods to hang my quilts. The flat boards hang nicely close to the wall and there are no rod bulges of the front of the quilt (like you may have from a round rod).
I use pine lattice strips, 2" wide x 1/4" thick, which I then seal with a wood sealer. These are cut about an 1" shorter than the top of the quilt and hanging holes are drilled in the ends.
I have always been able to get these easily at all the stores that stock lumber. I was running out so off I go to my usual store. Nothing! A second store, nothing! Suddenly, I've found I couldn't get my favorite 2" wide strips anymore. All they handled were narrower strips that seemed a little wimpy for my large quilts.
Was I the only one who needed this size? Weren't the 6 strips that I bought at once enough to keep them stocked? Was my contribution to the lumber business to be ignored?
Since the stores are a half-hour drive away from home, I did buy a few narrower ones anyway. I didn't want to miss the opportunity and have to travel back again because I couldn't get anything else.
Well, not to give up yet, the next day I traveled 30 minutes in the opposite direction. One more lumber store is in my sight. Success! Sort of success, anyway. At this store, I found some that were a compromise. They were not 2" wide but they were wider and less wimpy than the others I had found.
Now to seal them and get them cut for my quilts.
At this point, I am thinking that it would have been much easier just to nail my quilts, sans rods, right to the wall.
Mary Koval, a well-known antique quilt dealer, hangs her antique quilts with push pins. Shocking, I know, but it if works for her maybe it would work for us.
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