Sharper Corners

Despite the fact that I've been quilting off and on for 10 years, I never really did any pillow case quilts or blind faced quilts until last November.  I had several 8" blocks from a project I started years ago and never finished.  I decided I might as well turn them into potholders since we were in short supply of them.

I mentioned my struggles with the new technique to a long-time quilter.  She leads the local 4H quilting unit, and she shared some advice that one of the judges gave her at the fair.  Instead of clipping the corners on a diagonal, clip them parallel to the line of stitching as shown on the right side of my drawing.





After, the corner is clipped, it will look like this.

The corners of the my sunflower hangings were trimmed this way.  Both hangings included a layer of Craft Fuse in addition to the normal ingredients of a quilt sandwich, so the seams are really bulky.

What If I...? -- Fused Hanging Sleeve

I've done a couple of small sunflower hangings that I finished with a blind facing.  I didn't mind hand-finishing the facings, but I really didn't want to hand-stitch hanging sleeves for them.  Magic triangles are my go-to method of hanging small quilts, but they only work when you bind the quilt.  I tried adding rings to the upper corners to hang my sunflowers, but I didn't like the look.  Unfortunately, these little hangings (approx. 10x12) are a little to large for the hanger I created for the little bear quilt.

The idea crossed my mind that I could fuse a hanging sleeve to the back of these quilts.  I searched the net, but couldn't find any mention of using fusible for this purpose.  Hmm.  That really made me wonder, is there some drawback to fusing the sleeves?  Certainly, I wouldn't use it for a large quilt, but these little hangings weigh next to nothing.

I decided to go a head and give it a try.  I decided a 2" deep sleeve would give me the option of using a dowel rod or a wooden ruler to hang the quilt.  Here's how I proceeded:

1.  Cut a piece of material 4.75" wide and the width of your quilt plus 3".  (E.g., if the quilt is 10 wide, cut the strip about 13" long.)

2.  Turn under one end of the strip (wrong side to wrong side) by a 1/4".  Press.  Then turn under the folded edge so you have a nice, neat finish, and press again.  Place the material on top of your quilt and eyeball the length of your sleeve.  Fold the fabric and press.  Open up the fabric and cut the material 3/4" beyond the fold line (i.e., the material will be 3/4" longer than you "measured").  Press under 1/4" and then repress on the original fold.

3.  Stitch the folded edges.

This is where the instructions differ from how I normally make a hanging sleeve.




4.  Fold the material in half lengthwise, RIGHT side to RIGHT side.  Press and then stitch with a 1/4" seam.




5.  Press the seam flat, but instead of placing it in the middle, roll it up toward the top by about 1/4".  This will give you a good indication of how wide to cut your fusible since the fusible will be place between the original fold line and the top of the sleeve.

6.  Cut a piece of fusible about 1/4" less in width than the depth of your hanging sleeve.  This will be about 1.75".  The length of the fusible will be about 1/8" less than the length of your hanging sleeve.

9.  Place the fusible on the back (the side with the seam) of the hanging sleeve and check if it fits from side to side and from top to bottom.  Side to side, you want to have it about 1/16" shy of the edges.  From top to bottom, you want to fit snugly in the space between the bottom and the new fold line you created in step 5.  Leaving the 1/4" strip on the back unfused will allow the sleeve to expand when a dowel rod or ruler is inserted.

10.  If you are satisfied with how the fusible fills the space, apply to the sleeve following the manufacturer's instructions.  Allow it to cool before proceeding.

11.  Place the sleeve on top of the back of the quilt.  Be sure you have the quilt oriented correctly.  Place the sleeve about 3/8"-1/2" down from the top edge so that it won't show when the quilt is hanging on the wall.  Fuse the sleeve to your quilt and allow to cool.








Leaving 1/4" of the back of the hanging sleeve not covered with fusible, allows the sleeve to accept a dowel rod or ruler  without deforming the face of the quilt.