Friday, April 9, 2021

A to Z Quilt Challenge: H = Hooks or How I Hang 'Em High!

For the month of April, I have taken up Frédérique's Quilting Patchwork and Applique challenge to blog daily (except Sundays) on a quilt topic related to a letter of the alphabet.  

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Today I want to show the Hooks that I use to hang up my quilts.  For me, command central (no pun intended, Lol!) for hanging quilts starts here:


This is my storage box of 3M Command Hooks.  For years I have used them to hang pretty much everything around the house.  Not only my quilts but picture frames, bulletin boards, decorative signs and even a large hook to hold my re-usable grocery bags.  My go to hooks for quilts are these:

Photo courtesy Command.com

These Mini Hooks can hold from small to medium size quilts.  I add really small safety pins to the back of the quilt in order to attach it to the hook.



I will use from two to five hooks depending on the width and/or weight of the quilt.  Janet over at the Rogue Quilter blog also uses these Mini Hooks to hang her "Yardstick Quilt Holders", a display option I'd like to try in the future. 

A tip I got from Bonnie Hunter's blog (and that she got from one of her blog readers) was to use these Cord Clips to hang mini quilts.

Photo courtesy Command.com



For the larger, heavier quilts that I hang behind the bookcase in our living room, I use a product called "Stick Klips".  

Photo courtesy Amazon.com



My two-sided Civil War quilt is hung on Command Designer Hooks large enough to support a curtain rod.



There are many different styles of the Designer Hooks so take your rod with you to the store to determine what would work best to hold the rod you want to use.  

Even my design wall is secured with Command strips!  I use the large velcro-style Picture Hanging strips for all of the design wall.  

This is what I did when I added an extension to the top of the wall.




The only con of using the Command hooks and strips is that I have found they stay secured longer on a wall painted with flat paint than one painted with special finishes like eggshell or gloss.  However, on those finishes, it helps the tapes to adhere longer if you rough up the spot where the hook will hang with a little fine grit sandpaper before cleaning the area and applying the glue strip.  

While most of the hooks have not moved since they were put up, a few need replacing of the glue tapes each year.  In a situation where I use multiple hooks, I will usually have to replace the glue tape on at least one hook and ironically it may not be the same hook that needs new tape year to year.  For that purpose, I keep some replacement Command strips on hand (the link is to the white pack but they also come in the clear).  Overall I like the convenience of the Command products and the fact that I don't have to put nails in the walls.  

While looking up the links for this post, I came across an interesting hanging set up that I've never seen before:  if you normally hang your quilts using a quilt sleeve on the back of the quilt, the "No See Ums"™ Invisible Quilt Hanger system with a bar and hangers secured by 3M tapes look like they would probably work great in those situations.  

How do you hang up your quilts?  Please share if you use or know of other innovative ways to hang your quilts securely! 

Linking up with Frédérique and the other Challengers at Quilting Patchwork and Applique.  Bonne journée!

2 comments:

Frédérique - Quilting Patchwork Appliqué said...

I have heard a lot about those magic hooks, but never tried them. Thanks for the review! I sew a hanging sleeve behind my quilts for a rod.

Vireya said...

I bought myself some Command hooks to use for hanging a up quilt, but I haven't been game enough to do it yet. I think the hooks I bought are different to any of the ones you show here. I may have to investigate further.