Jaybird Quilts: diy

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Hanging Sleeves

I like to hang quilts around my house. One of the easiest ways to do this is with a hanging sleeve. I used to make my own sleeves until I discovered the pre-made sleeves from Quilters Hangup.

The sleeves are pleated which means that once they are hanging on a rod the front will still stay flat. Not sure what I mean? Check out the comparison photos on their website.

The sleeves come in pack that is 3 yards long. You can cut it apart and create a few sleeves for small quilts at the same time. I suggest cutting it about 1" narrower than your quilt width & attaching it 3/4" to 1" from the top of your finished quilt. The pleated part needs to be placed facing out & then the sleeve can be hand stitched in place. Be careful & make sure your stitched only go through the backing and batting and not the quilt top as you don't want them to show on the front. Full directions are available on Quilters Hangup.

This shows how the pleat will enable the quilt to stay flat.

Here is the back after stitching it in place.

...and here it is hanging on the wall!

I used the same methods to create a sleeve for the mini-quilt that Rachel made me. For small quilts like this one and my Jaybird Quilts sign above I used 3/8" dowel rods. I get them at Home Depot & cut them down to the width of the quilt.

Since I frequently change my mind & want to move things I avoid using nails unless I really need to. Larger quilts will probably need them due to weight, but these were both small enough to use Command Hooks. I've found that the Command Adhesive Mini Hooks & the Command Adhesive Micro Utility Hooks both work great for hanging mini quilts.

So grab one of those mini-quilts you have sitting around... add a sleeve & hang it up!