A hanging sleeve can be attached to a quilt either during the binding process or after completion. The sleeve should run across the entire width of the quilt but not be visible from the front. it should also have a bit of 'give' so that the hanging rod does not make the quilt bulge outwards. Attaching it to a finished quilt is fairly simple and the steps are outlined below.
1. Cut the sleeve 9” wide and the length to be the exact width of your quilt.
2.Fold the ends in twice (¼” and ¼” again) and sew to finish each short end of the sleeve.
3. Fold the sleeve in half lengthwise and press to give you a center crease. Using the crease as a guide, press the long sides of the sleeve so they meet in the center.
4. Fold wrong sides together and stitch a ¼” seam on the long edge of the sleeve making a tube. No need to turn the tube. Press the seams open with the tip of the iron and roll the tube so that the seam is centered. You may need to press the fold lines again. You will now find a 'give' in the tube which is needed to keep the quilt front flat in the front when hung.
5. Center the sleeve across the width of your quilt. The edge of the sleeve should lie just inside your binding on each side of the quilt. Using the fold, pin your sleeve in place ½” from the top edge on the back of the quilt. Doing this ensures that the sleeve will not be visible once it is hung.
6. Pin the top of the sleeve along the fold and hand sew in place using a blind stitch with matching thread. Use the opposite fold line to pin the bottom edge of the sleeve in place and blind stitch to the quilt.The sleeve will fit flat against the quilt from fold line to fold line while the rest of the sleeve cups out giving enough play in the fabric to fit over the rod.
How to adapt an existing flat sleeve
If your sleeve is already sewn to your quilt and is positioned at least 1/2″ from the top edge of the quilt, you can simply remove the stitching on the bottom edge of the sleeve, fold it up ½” from the stitching line, and resew that edge to the quilt as mentioned above.
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