It’s a logical assumption that, when you make a pieces of artwork, you will account for how to display it. In fact, if you’re at all canny, you keep this element firmly in mind and construct the piece with an eye to its eventual installation.

One of the parts of designing my smaller, lower-priced quilts and wallhangings that constantly evades me is how to hang pieces elegantly and well, without breaking the bank in terms of materials or time. Let’s face it, if you’re making a 35$ product, there is no sense in spending more time on getting it to hang properly than on creating the visual impact within the composition of the piece. Also, a $50 frame is probably going to cut a goodly bit out of your profit margin.

So I’m always on the lookout for ways that will allow me to streamline the two most proportionately time-consuming parts of constructing small pieces – hand binding and attaching the hanging sleeve.

Wandering around today, I found this marvelous page by Ami Simms, which discusses a myriad of ways of displaying small quilted pieces. The one that caught my eye in particular was the use of fast finish triangles. For small to medium-sized rectangular pieces that are quilted using a traditional top-batting-backing formula, it looks like just the ticket for streamlining the hanging sleeve portion of the process. No hand-sewing required (the stitching is integrated into seams already sewn), stable, doesn’t distort the piece and easy. What could be better?

The originator of the idea is Terry Chilko, who kindly provides further instructions for her triangular tip on her tips page. There’s a link to a pdf of the pattern & instructions on that page.

So that takes care of hanging one portion of my work. Thanks, Terry! I needed a quicker way of going about a traditional hanging sleeve!