Displayaway Quilt Hanger - A Review
featuring an Arpillera
by Patricia Cummings
Please note: This review is provided as a service. There is no affiliation with this company.
Displayaway is the name of a unique new product for safely displaying contemporary and antique quilts. Made of wood and available in a number of different finishes to suit your décor, this quilt hanging unit will safely display a quilt without the need to sew on a sleeve, as is generally the case.
The frame, which totally enclosed the top edge of the quilt, protects that edge from collecting airborne dust. Weighted metal devices into a groove behind the top edge of the quilt, once it is held in place and are moved to any position desired, making this unit desirable for a quilt with scalloped edges. The Displayaway unit has also been reported as being great for hanging molas and woven coverlets. Mary Bywater Cross and Ami Simms are among notables in the quilt world who have also endorsed this product.
We were able to try a small, sample version, and it easily held taut a Peruvian wall hanging which had been finished with a (thin) crocheted edge. If it works with something that fine, it should work well in most instances. This is a product worth a second look.
Una Arpillera Bella
Note added 3/12/03. Shown below is a type of folk art wallhanging made in South America. These are made in Chile, Venezuela, and Peru and are called both arpilleras and cuadrados. This one was purchased in an antique shop but is not an authentic antique. The crocheted edge is made of acrylic knitting yarn.
Arpilleras have common features of the sun, the mountains, a harvest scene, and llamas or alpacas. The surface, with its raised (stuffed) figures of people, vegetables and animals are reminiscent of an English embroidery technique called Stumpwork, originally named that for the small bits of wood that were inserted to raise the design surface.
This fascinating little arpillera has the word "Cosechas" (harvests) embroidered at the top.
For more information about these kinds of quilt hangers, please contact the company directly. Their website
is 
For more reading, see: Hispanic Issues, Arts, and Writing