Some woodwork projects seem to be very hard to find plans for, and quit racks is one of them. After searching through a few books I found a few designs that I somewhat liked and one particularly caught my eye more than the others. It looked tall, lean and elegant in a dark finish. As usual, there were no dimensions, but I surmised that with a bit of guesswork I could come up with a workable plan.

I started off my making some drawing and and finding out exactly what kind of measurements I would need to work within. Once I had a design that I liked (and that may wife approved)  I used an old piece of cardboard to cut out a patten that looked appropriate. The heart was added on the side gables to keep help the piece from looking "too heavy". This is a trick I learned years ago from and old woodworking craftsman who explained that lightening the look of a piece of furniture can sometimes be accomplished by adding "take-away" design elements (take-way as in cut-out).

I think one of the main things to remember with quilt racks is that the quilt rack should not outshine the quilt in terms of eye appeal, after all it is the quilt that is beind displayed not the rack.

Selecting a finish for the quilt rack was another exercise in agony. I knew that it would have to be a darker finish so that the quild rack would not stand out. Darker colors to "fade to the back" in terms of looks, ... but I also didn't want to make it too dark because then the texture and elegence of the wood is lost and that feature is another point that helps the quilts to stand out more.

If wanted it dark I could have simply painted it. After trying a few stains on test boards, this is what I can up with. The surface finish is hard, glossy varnish. I wanted a finish that would withstand a lot of use and there is little that can beat a hard glossy varnish.

Copyright Colin Knecht
woodworkweb

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