Hanging Sleeves

/ quiltinggail

OK … in THIS POST, I talked about how I hate hand sewing on hanging sleeves. I really dislike hand sewing. period.

Making the sleeve is easy …

Edited

  • Measure the width of the quilt. Add 1″
  • Take the width of the quilt and cut a 8.5″ strip
  • Turn under 1/4″ on each end of the strip.
  • Sew this strip lengthwise with a 1/4″ seam.
  • Secure the sleeve to the quilt
    • sew the top of the sleeve just below the binding
    • Press the bottom of the sleeve, measure up 3/4″ on the side towards the quilt. Press
    • the last pressed line is what you fasten to the quilt (this leaves space for the rod to be inserted so that the quilt can hang

When I’ve done this for quilt shows, I’ve made the sleeves and pinned them on. They’re only going to hang for a couple of days, so I don’t need to worry about rust or too much stress.

Anyhow … after talking about how I HATE hand sewing, I had 2 comments that I thought were worth mentioning.

  • Gene Black an Alabama Artist suggested fusing the sleeve on. I think this is a great idea for a wall hanging!
  • Kathleen, from Kathleen McMusing, suggested putting them on with a blind hem and using invisible thread. I thought this was a brilliant idea.

SEW … when a gal needs to get 3 quilt sleeves on, she uses her sewing machine. As you can see, I used the blind hem stitch. There was a grey thread in the bobbin (that’s what you can see) and I had Aurifil invisible thread on top. There is NO stitching visible on the quilt! Perfect.

Once I had the sleeves attached, I realized that I probably should have cut the sleeves 9″ wide as using the blind hem takes up some fabric.

SEW … I have finished my 3 SECRET quilts … when the time is right, I will show you … until then, be patient!

Inspired by Nature Blog Hop

For a re-cap of all the wonderful quilts this week, check out Island Batik’s blog HERE.

Did you enter to win some awesome fabric?

Click on the link below to have an opportunity to win Fat Quarter bundles of wonderful fabric: either Sweet Hearts or Love and Kisses

Click HERE

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

*****************************

Linking to:

28 thoughts on “Hanging Sleeves”

  1. Hmm never thought of a blind hem, that’s brilliant and sent me thinking. I could use dissolvable thread then they could be easily removed. Otherwise I have been stitching the sleeves under the binding.Thank you for linking up last week and I apologize for it taking so long to send gratitude’s.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hi Denise!
      It wasn’t my idea to use a blind hem for the hanging sleeve. It was Kathleen McMusing’s brilliant suggestion and to use invisible thread.
      Thank you for hosting “Put your foot down!”

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Great ideas for adding sleeves! I’ll have to keep them in mind. I’d love to see the front of the quilt to see how the blind hem stitch looks from the front. Guess I’ll have to wait until you add a sleeve to a quilt you can show! Thanks for sharing this on Wednesday Wait Loss.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hi Jennifer,
      You can’t see a single stitch on the front of the quilt. Even when I’m looking for the invisible thread – I couldn’t see any!
      Thanks for hosting Wednesday Wait Loss! 🙂

      Like

  3. Pingback: Catching Up | Quilting Gail

  5. Good morning, Gail! I think you want to change your calculation above to “+ 8.5” instead of “x 8.5”. I usually add the hanging sleeve when I add the binding. The top edge, which is sewn on by machine and takes all the weight of the piece is really secure. The bottom edge I whip stitch when I’m tacking down the binding. I like the idea of the invisible thread although I can’t imagine a judged event would like that. I don’t know, though! Great post. ~smile~ Roseanne

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thanks, Roseanne.
      I went back and re-wrote the section on making the hanging sleeve. It was even confusing to me!
      I don’t add the hanging sleeve to the binding because I usually do not want the sleeve to be permanent.
      Who knows what a judge would think of a blind hem holding the hanging sleeve in place? Are they judging the quilt or the sleeve?
      I know one quilt judge who says she can’t believe that most judges focus on whether or not a binding is hand or machine sewn. She said that she always looks at the quilt and as long as the binding is neat, she doesn’t worry about it.
      Happy Quilting! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  6. I’ll have to check out the sites you mention. If I know I’m going to enter a quilt in a show AND I remember to do it, I’ll sew a hanging sleeve in the binding. I’m lucky in that I have a lot of quilt hangers around the house and don’t need hanging sleeves for them.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. I rarely use hanging sleeves since I don’t show quilts, but this is super helpful should I need one again. Thanks to you (and Kathleen!) for the idea!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hi Sarah,
      I know … when I was working full time (sometimes 12 hour or more shifts) plus an hour commute each way – I’d come home and sit at my machine for 15 minutes and the stress would go away!
      Quilting IS my Happy Place, too!

      Like

Comments are closed.