How to Make a Photo Quilt - The Jolly Jabber Quilting Blog

How to Make a Photo Quilt

Kimberly holding the photo quilt

Photo quilts are an excellent and personal gift for friends and loved ones, or even to make for yourself! Today we’re sharing a tutorial for making a quilt with printable fabric sheets, plus some fun projects from quilty friends who put their own spin on printable fabric.

We know as well as anyone the importance of preserving memories and the thoughtfulness of a handmade gift. With printable fabric, you can bring photos and artwork to life – and to your quilts!

With children’s photos, this is the perfect Mother’s Day gift, but the options are endless when it comes to what you can do with printable fabric. Whether you’re looking for something to make for the maternal figures in your life this Mother’s Day, or a new way to add a unique element to your quilts, you’ll want to keep reading.

Photo Quilt Tutorial

Photo Quilt Block Supplies

Remember that you can create anything with these fabric photo sheets, including wall hangings, table runners, quilts of any size, and even more. This is because using Printable Inkjet Fabric Sheets allows you to render photos or artwork onto plain white cotton fabric using nothing but a simple inkjet printer. After a long water bath and some preparation, the sheet is ready to be sewn into a project. It’s colorfast and washable, believe it or not!

Kimberly's photo quilt blocks and the EQ Printables
Sweet memories. I turned the baby photos from my four children into star blocks.

I invited some friends to share what they are doing with the EQ Printables Sewable Inkjet Fabric Sheets. Read on to see the photo quilts and projects they are making.

Photo English Paper Piecing by Elise Baek

“Happy Mother’s Day to all the fur baby mamas!

Proud fur baby mama here of two little devils that keep me on my toes! They don’t always like to pose, but once in a while, I’m able to snap a quick photo of them. Taking those photos and turning them into fabric to use for a personalized project just for me, SO MUCH FUN! If you are or know a fur baby mama who just loooooves her fur babies, then a personalized gift like this is just the sweetest!”

Catch Elise Baek on her blog and Instagram (@elisebaek) for more on this EPP piece.

Elise's mini quilt featuring photos of her dogs

Art Print by Wendy Sheppard

“The printable sheets are perfect to incorporate drawings and artwork. I used a feather quilting design that I had drawn years ago for my mini quilt center. I then added a simple checkerboard border to frame the drawing for a mini quilt. This will be a Mother’s Day gift for a friend. I love that with the printables I am able to make a quick project with interesting visuals in the quilt center.

I love that the printable sheets measure at 8.5″ width. Once printed, one can immediately have an 8.5″ block center to work with.”

Keep up with Wendy of Ivory Spring on her blog and Instagram (@ivory_spring).

Wendy Sheppard's complete photo quilt project

Watercolor Quilt Block by Beverly McCullough

“My dad is a fabulous watercolor artist and one of his favorite subject matters is old barns! We have so many great barns here in Tennessee and when Mom and Dad are visiting us we love doing drives to take photos of those old barns. This mini quilt is a fun way to show off my Dad’s painting  – it is the barn in the center of the quilt – as well as all those fun drives we’ve taken together! The painting looks so fun with Riley Blake Blossom and Barn Quilts fabrics.”

Find out more about this mini quilt by visiting Beverly of Flamingo Toes on her blog and Instagram (@flamingotoes).

Beverly's photo quilt block

Overall, there are tons of projects you can create with printable fabric sheets. You can incorporate the artwork that you love or use your favorite quilting patterns, methods, and notions such as English Paper Piecing to get whatever look you want. The printable fabric sheets would even make an incredible tool for a signature quilt. The possibilities for creativity are endless!

If you’d like to make a memory quilt with signatures or messages on fabric, here’s a free signature quilt tutorial you can check out.

Share with #FQSPhotoQuilt

Share your personalized photo quilts with #FQSPhotoQuilt and tag @fatquartershop so we can see and share them!

Do you have any questions or ideas about how you will make this project your own? We want to hear them!

Happy Quilting and Happy Mother’s Day to all the maternal figures and guardians!

3 comments

  1. Beautiful quilts !!!!
    I have always wanted to learn to do photo quilts and the water color quilts are great idea.

    1. Once the photo squares are made following the directions from the packaging that fabric should act like normal fabric, so I believe so, but we recommend reading all the instructions included to be sure.