Tuesday 22 September 2009

Hanging Sleeve

After a question about hanging EBDQS3 quilts today, I thought I'd show some photos of the hanging sleeve I usually use. I might try and take some in-progress photos next time and make a quick tutorial.

I use a 4in-wide strip cut about an inch shorter than the width of the quilt. I double-fold a 1/4in hem at either end, then fold it in half along the length with wrong sides facing. I machine the binding to the front all the way around, then centre the folded sleeve on the back of the quilt along the top the quilt and pin it in place. I machine it in place about 1mm inside the seam attaching the binding, just to be sure it's hidden, and reinforce either end. Then I hand-sew the binding down using an almost invisible ladder stitch, including across the hanging sleeve. Once that's done, I sew down the bottom of the hanging sleeve using the same stitch.

The first few photos below show where I stitch, about 1/4in back under the actual edge. I just guesstimate, fold and pin.
This allows the sleeve to form a D shape:
About 1/4in:
Here is the finished sleeve:
And here it is with a length of dowel for hanging:
I use tiny cup hooks to hang the quilt on the wall and cut the dowel so that it stops just inside the binding and is invisible.
(And yes, I went with the zingy binding!)

2 comments:

Becky said...

Thank you for taking the time to show your hanging sleeve method :)

Helen said...

Same way I do it Em! Great minds, great minds!