New facing technique – even easier corners – 2016.06.12

‘Wildfire’ is almost finished.  The facings are sewn, and just need to be hand-stitched to the back.

I experimented with a new technique and I’m very pleased with how it turned out.  Instead of cutting the batting larger than the quilt top, I cut the batting to exactly the size I wanted the finished size to be.  I made the quilt top and back about 1″ bigger on each side than the finished size.  I machine basted the batting to the backing just inside the edge of the batting, as seen below (excuse the over-exposed photo).

Then I basted the quilt top to the back as close as I could to the edge of the batting, but without actually sewing through the batting.  I couldn’t see where the edge of the batting was, but I could feel it through the top.

Once the quilting was finished, I trimmed the top and back to about 1/2″ from the machine basting, then attached the facings as usual.  When I pressed the facings to the back, the fold was right at the edge of the batting, which made for a nice straight edge.  And because there was no batting in the seam allowance, there was no excess bulk and it was much easier to turn.  The facings cover the basting holding the batting in place.  And the basting on the top can be easily removed.

And the corners are very square, without having to trim batting away!  I’m planning to update my tutorial on facings, and I will include this technique as an option.

Here’s a photo of the almost finished quilt.  It doesn’t look ‘square’ in the photo – but only because I can’t seem to take a good photo today.

Thanks for stopping by.  Today, I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.