You don’t have to be an artist or sewing expert to create a moving personal tribute remembering a life lost to AIDS. Creating an AIDS Quilt panel is not as complicated as many people think. It doesn’t matter if you use paint or fine needlework, iron-on transfers or handmade appliques, or even spray paint on a sheet. Any remembrance is appropriate.
How to Make an AIDS Memorial Quilt Panel
Designing an AIDS Quilt Panel
What makes the AIDS Memorial Quilt special is that each of its panels is unique. These panels are personalized to honor, remember, and celebrate the stories and lives of those lost to AIDS.. The designs of these panels typically feature the name of the person honored and then photos, trinkets and other unique details showing a life that was lived. The only 2 rules are that the panel must be 3ft x 6ft and have a name of a person who died. (this includes multiple names).
Joshua Copeland’s life was taken by AIDS when he was just three years old. Designed by his caretakers Eric Rosenthal and Jeffrey Menzer, for example, Copeland’s panel features his name surrounded by tokens of his childhood, centering around his obsession with Sesame Street, and the characters that inspired him throughout a life cut short by AIDS.
Size and Materials of an AIDS Quilt Panel
Each AIDS Quilt panel should measure 3-foot x 6-foot leaving a 1/2 inch around the edge for sewing to other panels. To help us add your panel to the Quilt with ease, it is advised to hem the panel if possible. Because panels are sewn together to make a 12-foot x 12-foot Quilt, it is recommended that each panel have space around the edge without key design elements like words and images.
Quick tip: Find durable and medium-weight non-stretch fabric for the Quilt’s background. When crafting a panel, remember that the Quilt will be folded and unfolded many times throughout the years, so the durability of materials is crucial to your panel’s longevity. Try not to use glue, for example, to attach elements to the Quilt.
Assembling an AIDS Quilt Panel
A panel can be designed to be vertical or horizontal. Here are some popular techniques that are used when crafting an AIDS Quilt panel.
- Applique: Sew fabric, letters and small mementos onto the background. Avoid glue if you can as it will not last on fabric.
- Paint: Brush on textile paint or colorfast dye or use a permanent marker. Spray paint also works. Do not use “puff” paint as it can stick and ruin other panels after it is folded up.
- Collage: Make sure any materials you add to the panel won’t tear the fabric. Avoid large three-dimensional objects or heavy metal pieces. Instead, recreate the objects in fabric and sew them into the panel—it’s effective and fun.
- Photographs: The best way to include photos is to photocopy them onto iron-on transfers and then iron them onto the panel. You may also put the photos in clear, vinyl pouches and sew it to the panel.
- Stencil: Trace your design onto the fabric with a pencil and use a brush to apply paint or a permanent marker.
How to Submit an AIDS Quilt Panel
Here’s how to submit an AIDS Quilt Panel. Email rwilliams@aidsmemorial.org and gmcmullin@aidsmemorial.org with any questions!
- Please take the time to write a letter about the person you’ve remembered. The letter might include your relationship with them, how they would like to be remembered, and a favorite memory. If possible, please send us a photograph along with the letter for our archives, to help further our preservation of their story and life.
- Fill out the panel maker information form and include it with your panel.
- Send us your panel. There are several ways you can submit your panel to the National AIDS Memorial for it to be forever immortalized in the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
- Mail it to us directly at: National AIDS Memorial ATTN: New Panels, AIDS Memorial Quilt, 130 Doolittle Drive, Suite 2, San Leandro, CA 94577. Be sure to send it by registered mail or with a carrier that will track your package. We recommend panels be shipped via Federal Express or UPS.
- Bring the panel directly to either one of our Bay Area locations. Either our Castro office (543 Castro Street in San Francisco) or our San Leandro Quilt Warehouse (130 Doolittle Drive, #2 in San Leandro). Email rwilliams@aidsmemorial.org and gmcmullin@aidsmemorial.org to schedule a time to drop off your panel.
- Bring the panel to a local Quilt display. Please be sure to contact the local display host first for more information on how and when they are collecting new panels (many displays accept new panels only on the last day of the event, while others are prepared to accept new panels at any time during a display).
FAQs about Making an AIDS Quilt Panel
Can You Still Make an AIDS Memorial Quilt Panel?
Yes! The HIV/AIDS crisis is not over. Hundreds of AIDS Memorial Quilt panels are crafted each year as the HIV/AIDS crisis continues to take lives. Individuals and organizations continue to create panels for those who died from AIDS since the beginning of the crisis.
Can I make an AIDS Quilt panel for more than one person?
Yes, AIDS Quilt panels can include multiple names or the name of a group.
Can I make an AIDS Quilt panel for someone who already has a panel?
Yes, the more panels made for an individual, the more life the Quilt can breathe into their enduring story. Some individuals have more than a dozen AIDS Quilt panels submitted by loved ones and those who’ve heard their stories.
Can I find my panel online?
Yes, search for names on the AIDS Memorial Quilt today!
How does my panel become part of the Quilt?
When a new panel arrives at our national headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area, it is carefully logged and examined for durability. Some panels might require hemming to adjust for size; others may need reinforcement or minor repairs. Next, new panels are sorted – some grouped geographically by region, others by theme or appearance. When eight similar panels are collected, they are sewn together to form a twelve-foot square. This is the basic building block of The Quilt, and it is usually referred to as either a “12-by-12” or “Block.”
Once sewn, each 12-by-12 is edged in canvas and given a unique number, its “Block Number,” which makes tracking the block possible. All panel, panel maker and numerical information is then stored in our Quilt databases. Once this happens, you are sent information including which block the panel you submitted has been made a part of, how to request the block for displays of The Quilt, and a current display schedule.
The entire process, from our receiving the panel to incorporating it into a 12-by-12 in The AIDS Memorial Quilt, typically takes between 90 days and six months.
