A frequent question we get when selling our quilts at the art show each year is how to hang them. We usually have sewn something on the back of the quilt to help the buyer take it home "ready to hang" in case they don't have a quilt hanger at home. What that something is varies.
The most frequent type of hanger we put on quilts includes a wood dowel slid through a fabric sleeve on the back of the quilt. The dowel helps keep the quilt square on top when it is hung. If the dowel wasn't there, the corners would droop.
My aunt attaches eye screws to each end of her dowels so the quilt can be hung with two hooks. This works well with her larger quilts. Mine usually are not as big, so I add a hanging ring with possibly a length of twine to mine.
This works fairly well, but you can see it does pull up on the middle of the quilt. I try to always use matching backing fabric so the dowel sleeve blends in.
Lately, because the quilts I am now making are lightweight and narrow, I have tried a couple of different hanging options.
The first option I tried was a slim, fabric tab that could be slid over any type of hook. While I felt this worked well, I wasn't too keen on making it, nor hand sewing it strong enough to not rip off.
I had seen a picture on Pinterest of tabs sewn into the corners of the quilt to hold a dowel. What if I sewed a tab to the center of the quilt to slide over a nail or hook? I started by cutting a 2" piece of binding. I opened it up, folded the sides in towards the center and pressed.
I folded it in half again, to form almost a square and then sewed the raw edges to the center back of the quilt prior to attaching the binding.
When I hand sewed the back of the binding down, I made small whip stitches down each side of this tab leaving the bottom edge open. The result is a small tab on the back of the quilt that can slip on a nail or hook.
What I really like is that I am not using any extra supplies. In fact, this 2" binding piece would have ended up in the garbage. Additionally, the tab hides the hook when hanging the quilt on the wall. We'll see what buyers say when they see it.
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