Within the Frame Community Quilt Frame Project
Funded by The King Charles III Charitable Fund and supported by Heritage Crafts
2026-2027 funding for small arts institutions & museums across the British Isles seeking to activate their historic quilt collections through community engagement.
About this Opportunity
The Community Quilt Frame Project seeks to put quilt frames back into museums and community spaces. We believe in quilt frames as a tool of connection in places across the British Isles where vital community bonds were once forged through shared creative and practical collaboration, making quilts for family and neighbours. By returning quilt frames to accessible public spaces and supporting the skills needed to use them, this project will reseed generational practice of this heritage skill, whilst creating spaces for the building of community through cooperative practice.
This programme, running through Q1,2,3 in 2027, is initiated by application or by invitation from Within the Frame. The Community Quilt Frame Project is an initiative focused on small, local, and community organisations which have collections with a historical legacy of frame hand quilting in the 19th and early 20th century. Within the Frame (www.withintheframe.co.uk) is a research led academic and advocacy project supporting the skill of hand quilting in the frame, led by Dr Jess Bailey of the University of Edinburgh and Deborah McGuire of London College of Fashion and based in the Centre for Historical Reconstruction Research at UoE.
This Community Quilt Frame project is generously funded by The King Charles III Charitable Fund and supported by Heritage Crafts, as part of the Patron’s Award for Endangered Craft which was awarded to Deborah McGuire at the end of 2025 for her advocacy work preserving the skill of hand quilting in the frame in the British Isles.
Through the Community Quilt Frame Project, Deb will spend one long day or two shorter sessions with staff and volunteers at the museum/organisation. In this time Deb will:
deliver a wide ranging and locally specific 1hr public lecture on the history of the quilt frame in the British Isles and in the region, exploring the possibilities that using a frame holds for makers today. This presentation seeks to inspire local makers, artists, historians and cultural organisations to engage with their own community quilt history in contemporary ways. Organisations may offer this lecture as a free public event, or charge a small charitable fee which could be offset by the organisation against the provision of a community quilt frame for the space.
lead a 1/2 day workshop for an assigned museum curator, volunteer or museum demonstrator (perhaps a volunteer from a local quilt group), or staff members who will go on to use the skill to reintroduce the frame to local audiences. This session will be a practical ‘how to’ session which will include exploration of extant quilts in your collection (if appropriate), loading the frame, marking and planning patterns which draw on the local vernacular, executing the rocking stitch, and the use and choices of thimbles, needles and threads. Designated attendees will be identified and invited by the museum/organisation.
Qualifying for this Opportunity
To be involved, organisations would need to provide/demonstrate:
A quilt frame that could be used for the session and be on display for the talk. This frame might be a replica frame from Loose Fit Furniture or another maker (estimated price around £250-300) or could be acquired via the purchase of a refurbished extant frame, supplied in return for a small charge on the refurbishment costs (c.£100). We are sometimes able to pair donated or rescued frames to communities where they originated after being refurbished by Within the Frame.
The frame MUST be made available for public and demonstration events at the museum or organisation in future programming. This might be through the use of a space where the frame could be used by a local quilting group who can then offer interpretation volunteers in return. The frame may be used in regular community programming or special events, through display in the museum, for specific quilt (or rag rug) related events, or as a creative tool in other unrelated community projects such as making quilts as commemoration, community or identity building events, family or children’s events, etc. Within the Frame have recently run national events at the National Museum of Scotland and London College of Fashion which could inspire local applications of the frame in community programming.
A volunteer, demonstrator, or staff member as a dedicated quilt frame advocate, who can work within the museum/organisation at events and community outreach sessions to demonstrate the frame and feel confident to encourage others. This could be a current museum demonstrator, a volunteer from an adjacent community hand quilting group or an existing staff member.
Questions about this opportunity:
Please contact Deb McGuire directly at d.mcguire0620241@arts.ac.uk
Please note this opportunity is for small institutions & museums, Within the Frame hopes to launch a different opportunity for individuals and artists soon.
To apply, please fill out the form linked at the top of this webpage.
Deadline: 5pm November 30, 2026