Sewing a hanging sleeve to your quilt, the easy way

This week on QUILTsocial I’m creating a Valentine’s Day project using various products that are super useful. The project involves making a plain black quilted banner to which a themed wool applique banner can be attached. This allows the quilted banner to be used year-round by changing the applique attachments. In today’s session, I’ll create and bind the quilted banner, demonstrating how to easily sew a hanging sleeve to the back. I’ll use Odif 505 Temporary Quilt Basting Adhesive Fabric Spray to secure the layers of cotton fabric with Fairfield Poly-Fil Low-Loft Quilt Batting before machine quilting.

An assortment of very useful products

In addition to the products previously mentioned, you will need the following materials to make the quilted banner base:

• 17¾” [0.45m] of black quilting fabric
• Black thread such as GÜTERMANN MCT Sew-all Thread

Step 1 Cut the black fabric.

Cut two 2½” strips the width of the fabric for the binding.

Cut two rectangles 12″ x 16″ for the quilt sandwich.

Cut one rectangle 10½” x 5for the hanging sleeve.

Step 2 Assemble the quilt sandwich.

Cut batting 12″ x 16″ and layer it between the two pieces of 12” x 16” black fabric. Use light spraying of the Odif 505 Temporary Quilt Basting Adhesive Fabric Spray to secure the three layers together.

Use the Odif 505 Spray Adhesive to secure the three layers of the quilt sandwich together.

Step 3 Machine quilt the quilt sandwich.

Next, I’ll quilt my little quilt sandwich using black thread so that it blends into the fabric. I’ve decided that I want this background quilted banner to appear like a frame for the appliqued attachments, so I don’t want it to be overly decorative. You can quilt the sandwich any way you like – I’ve done a meandering stitch all over, but straight or wavy lines from top to bottom or side to side would look great too.

A meandering, free-motion quilting design was used to quilt the background banner.

Step 4 Make the hanging sleeve.

This method suits quilts of any size; you just need to ensure the sleeve is the correct size for your quilt. Measure the width of your quilt, and cut the sleeve to that length, considering that folding over the ends will make it short enough not to interfere with the binding. For smaller items like banners, a 5″ wide sleeve is usually sufficient. However, if you’re hanging a larger quilt for a show, consider cutting the sleeve at least 8″ wide so that when folded in half, it becomes 4″.

Since this little banner is 10½” wide, we’ve cut a 10½” x 5rectangle of fabric to make our hanging sleeve.

To begin, I fold the two ends over twice and press using my OLISO  M2Pro Mini Project Iron. Having this small iron and my UNIQUE Quilting Wool Pressing Mat conveniently placed next to my sewing machine helps streamline the process.

Fold the two ends over twice and press.

Step 5 Topstitch, fold and press.

Next, I topstitch along the folded edge to secure the ends of the hanging sleeve. Then, I fold the sleeve in half lengthwise with wrong sides together and press along the folded edge.

Press along the fold.

Step 6 Pin the sleeve in place.

With the sleeve now made, the next step is to pin or clip it in place on the back of the quilt. UNIQUE Quilting Clever Clips (small) work well for this task. Simply center the raw edge of the sleeve along the top of the quilt, ensuring all edges are even, and then use a few clips along the edge to secure it in place.

Center the sleeve along the back of the top of the quilt and clip or pin in place.

Step 7 Sew on binding.

Next, sew the binding onto the outside edges of the quilted banner. You can use your preferred binding technique. I’ve discussed my favorite method on QUILTsocial, or you can explore posts from other contributors about their binding techniques. The binding serves to secure the top of the hanging sleeve.

Step 8 Sew down the folded edge of the sleeve.

The final step involves hand-sewing the folded edge of the sleeve to the back of the quilt. However, I’ll postpone this step because I’ll be machine sewing hook & loop tape onto the front of the quilt, and the sleeve would obstruct the process. Typically, in quilt-making, this is one of the last steps, so if you hand-sew the binding to the back of your quilt, you can address both tasks simultaneously. Use thread matching the fabric color and take tiny stitches that don’t go through to the front of the quilt.

Hand stitch the folded edge of the sleeve to the back of the quilt.

The quilted background banner is now ready to hang! The Odif 505 Temporary Quilt Basting Adhesive Fabric Spray, OLISO  M2Pro Mini Project Iron, UNIQUE Quilting Wool Pressing Mat and UNIQUE Quilting Clever Clips (small) were all useful in creating this banner. Looking ahead, the next steps involve making the Valentine’s Day wool applique attachment. I have some exciting new products for these steps, and I look forward to sharing them with you. See you tomorrow.

This is part 1 of 5 in this series

Go to part 2: 6 easy steps to add glamour to your wall quilt with OdiShine Glitter Gel

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