04 Dec Facing a Quilt

As I was quilting my Project Modern quilt, Ephemeral Elegance, I decided on a facing for the finishing instead of a binding.  For those of you not familiar with this technique, it is similar to a binding, but it is all turned to the back so you don’t see it from the front of the quilt at all.

I think this clean finish suits some quilts.  You can see at left and in the picture here, that the table edge and the tulip go right off the edge of the quilt and are not interrupted by binding.

I have faced a few quilts before, but it has been a while and I couldn’t find the directions I had written down.  So, I googled “How to face a quilt.”  Susan Brubaker Knapp’s tutorial was the first one to pop up.  I followed the tutorial and I think her method is fantastic!

The other method I had used before involved adding the facing to each side of the quilt separately.  Since the facing was also double fold like most bindings are, I always had trouble with the corners.

Susan’s method uses a single thickness of fabric and mitres the corners on the back.  Doing this was a little more complicated than the other method, but I like the results MUCH more.  My corners stayed much flatter and the whole facing was smoother and cleaner.  Thanks Susan!

Give it a try sometime and check out Susan’s quilts at http://bluemoonriver.com/.