3 (three) third: Want to make a hanging sleeve for your quilt?

When you display your quilts, it is very important to evenly distribute the weight over the width so that it does not distort or damage the textile.  100% cotton muslin is a fine choice to make any sleeve, but some may want to make a matching sleeve using the same fabric as the back to “hide” the sleeve.  Also, you may want to consider using the leftover fabric scraps from the top of the quilt to sew together a piece of fabric the size you need for the sleeve.  This is a good idea because the sleeve can provide original fabric if at sometime in the future the quilt needs a repair.

The sleeve should not be considered a permanent part of the quilt and therefore should never be stitched into the binding.  The exposure of the sleeve to the wooden dowel over time will eventually cause the cotton to deteriorate and it will have to be replaced.  This is the same reason that your sleeve should be made to completely encase the wooden dowel so that the wood never touches your quilt; the sleeve can deteriorate and be replaced, but damage to your quilt will be heartbreaking!

The instructions you find below in the PDF are for a 6 inch finished sleeve.  You can adjust the width to make it smaller by cutting a smaller width of fabric to start.  A good rule of thumb is to cut a strip that is twice as wide as what you want the finished sleeve width plus one inch.  You will lose about an inch in the seaming process.  So if you want a four inch sleeve, cut your fabric nine inches (4 + 4 + 1 = 9).

Hanging Sleeve Instructions