Saturday, February 4, 2012

Hang Your Quilt! (Hanging Sleeve Tutorial)

If you want to hang your quilts, having a sleeve makes it easy and also protects your quilt. A D-sleeve is the standard sleeve for hanging. The "D" shape allows the quilt to hang flat and provides "give" in the sleeve.  When I made the sleeve for the Bridges quilt I remembered to take a few pictures so I thought I'd share.  Please forgive the lighting in the photos.  It was a gray Chicago day!

This is how I make mine.
This tutorial makes a 4" finished D sleeve.

Start by measuring the width of your quilt.
Cut a strip 8 1/2" wide by the exact width measurement of your quilt.  Depending on the width of your quilt, you may have to piece multiple strips to achieve that measurement.
Hem each side of the sleeve by turning the edge 1/4" and then another 1/4".  Press and pin.  Sew close to the folded edge.
Fold the strip in half lengthwise wrong sides together and press to create a center fold.
Open the strip and fold each edge in to meet at the center fold.
Press so that the folds on each edge are well defined.  You'll need those fold lines later.
Match the raw edges again wrong sides together and pin the length of the sleeve.  Sew using a 1/4" seam. (Sewing wrong side together allows you to place the seam under the sleeve rather than inside it.)
Place your sleeve so that the seam is centered facing up.  One of the folded edges will lay flat.  The other will not.  Press the seam open.  Be sure not to press down the opposite edge.  (You will need that fold that you created later.)

Place the sleeve seam side down with the two folds you created earlier flat on your surface.  Notice how the D-shape is formed.  This is how the sleeve will be placed on your quilt.

Position the sleeve 1/2" to 3/4" below the top of your quilt. Pin along both folds making sure to maintain the D-shape. Hand stitch along the top and bottom edges of the sleeve. Be sure not to stitch into the front of the quilt.


Slide in a rod and hang!

22 comments:

Esch House Quilts said...

Great tutorial! Love that number fabric - it reminds me that I have some of that around somewhere :) Must decide how to use it.

shannon said...

thank you so much for this!! the D sleeve has always given me trouble- i'm a need-pictures type of girl!

Sarah PingsAndNeedles said...

perfect timing! I have to put a hanging sleeve on my Bletchley Park Quilt for an exhibition ... I'm going to take my crappy one off and replace with this D affair ... thank you :)

Nicole said...

Thanks for the tutorial! Your photos make the process easy to follow.

Helen said...

yep, that's what I do....and when I'm in a real hurry I stitch it into the binding 'ditch' by machine too. But tell us the next bit ... show us how you hang them, pretty please!... what rod? how is the rod attached to the wall? that's the bit I keep experimenting with but haven't found a perfect solution.

Hannah said...

Thanks for the tutorial! I've always been confused about what comes next, though - how do I use a rod to make it go onto the wall?

Molly said...

very nice tutorial, thanks for the info!

Minka said...

Excellent! Thank you!

Linda at Roscoe's Ma said...

Great method and wonderful tutorial. Thanks!

Rumi said...

Great tutorial. I made the same way, depending of the width sew one or two tunnels :)

folksmith said...

when i worked in a quilt store we use to just pin the sleeve on the back and hang it with the pins. it just made it easier to get them up quickly without waiting to hand sew the sleeve on and then we were able to reuse the sleeve on the next quilt that we would have to hang.

Regina said...

Thanks so much! Off to make a sleeve now!

Little Bluebell (Adrianne) said...

Thank you!! I never needed a sleeve before last night and I was so happy to find your tutorial. Worked like a champ! : )

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this great tutorial! This is what I'll be working on this weekend, and you've made it so much easier!

Leanne said...

Thank you so much for this tutorial. I have been using it today.

Katrina said...

THANK YOU!

ChristaQuilts said...

What a great tutortial! It's very clear and easy to follow. You know a lot of us will be using it this weekend as we get our quilts ready to ship off to QuiltCon :-)

Jenn @ A Quarter Inch from the Edge said...

Thanks so much for your wonderful tutorial. I've used it on a four quilts now and they hang better than any I'd done previously!

Emily Breclaw said...

Thank you for this tutorial- it helped me tremendously. Great pictures!

Frederick Nunley said...

Pictures help so much. I added a sewn seam on the edges to make sure I kept my D shape before I pined it to the quilt. Thank you for your tutorial! Now my quilt is ready to go hang in a art exhibition.

Anonymous said...

Thank-you for an easy to do tutorial! Saw a video but they never said where to sew it.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, this is so wonderful.

How do you hand sew? What stitch?