Finishing a quilt with facing
I use binding to finish off most of my quilts but sometime I use facing. The reason is I like quilting stretching all the way out on some art quilts and I think it is less distracting.
I have tried various way to make it and I settled single layer facing.
Miter corner was fine but I don’t see the point of creating it with extra difficulty and having seams on the already bulky corner is not nice.
Double folded facing removes the time of hemming but I don’t like the extra thickness especially on the corners.
So this is how I do.
Cut four of 2 – 2.5″ strips. Two of them to be full height of a quilt and other to be about 2″ shorter than the width of quilt. You can set the length of strips either way. The important thing is two strips have to be full length of one side and others are bit shorter. I just prefer to have full length on height side.
Fold one side of edge twice length way about 1/4″ and stitch. Other words, hem it.
Stitch two of full length strips on the right side of quilt with 1/4″ seam allowance. Like in the picture below, edge to edge.
Stitch other two strips with same manner. As you can see the photo below, these two should be starting and finishing somewhere in the centre of previous strips. They don’t need to be exact of anything. The stitching should go through all the length of the quilt.
Now to turn the strips to the right way. The corner will be bulky with wadding but I don’t trim because I don’t trust it won’t unravel. Instead I fold the corner neatly twice on the seams. Each time hit with blunt object to make it as flat as possible.
While keeping folded part firmly folded, turn strip right way out. Do not poke or push from inside to make it pointy. If you push extra material towards the corner, it won’t be square or flat. Just gently pull out the corner with large thick needle or pin. If folded neatly before turning, it should be easy. Flatten again with hitting with a blunt object. I recommend rubber or wooden mallet.
In order to keep folded quilt edge to be flat, it needs to be stitched down. You can machine stitch with matching or invisible thread. But I don’t like the look of extra stitch over quilting. So I hand stitch from the back without going through to the front. Just catching two layers of wadding and facing strip.
And then stitch down the hemmed edge of strips to the back which may not necessary but I like to get it done.
Facing to finish a quilt is also useful if the quilt is not regular shape like curvy or not having right angles. For the curved edge, make strips wide enough to cover ins and outs of curves, stitch and trim the excess.
I hope this helps!