Facing an art quilt

How to finish the edge of an art quilt with a facing.

I face my pieces with the same fabric I use for the top when making a whole cloth painted quilt. When finishing a pieced quilt with different fabric colors I will use the dominate color in the piece are a color in the same value as most of the fabrics.in the top.

Begin by cutting  4 facing strips 3 to 3-1/2" wide.   WIDER width for larger quilts. 
I prefer to cut the strips for the length of the fabric,  salvage edge rather than cross grain which has more stretch.  If the quilt is large and requires longer length strips you should piece them together on the diagonal in the same manner traditional binding strips are created.

Press the 4 strips in half.  I do this with a dry iron.
When the quilt top has been blocked and trimmed to size . Sew the facing strips to the front of the quilt using a scant 1/4  seam allowance.  In the past I sewed my facing on using a  1/2 inch seam allowance because I felt this  made a more stable edge when not using a stabilizer in your quilt sandwich.  You can try using this larger seam  to see if you have better control of the edge when turning it back to do the hand stitching when making quilts using only one layer of batting.
For best results and appearance use the same color thread as the binding fabric.
The following step by step tutorial using photos should be self explanatory.

When the quilting is completed and for the best look.  Steam press your quilt from the back on a large flat firm padded surface.  Trim the edges and true the corners or as I say "square-up"  the quilt.

Cut strips 3 to 3-1/2 " wide

Press in half lengthwise, matching raw edges.

Lay folded strip on top of quilt, aligning the raw edge of the folded strip with the unfinished edge of the quilt

Sew strip to  both the right and left side of the quilt using a 1/2" seam.  I am now using a scant 1/4 inch stem.  Use matching thread (for demo I used a thread that is visible)

When left and right sides have been sewn, sew on the top and bottom strips.

Because of the shadow and color of the facing it may be hard to tell where the top and bottom pieces edge overlapping the previously sewn facing strips.  But it does by about 1/2 inch and does not overlapping to the corner.  Picture below makes this a little clearer.

 Note that the top and bottom strips are placed and sewn about 1 inch down from the edge and over-lap the previously sewn strip by about 1/2 inch.

 Sew across the corner edge creating this triangle with your stitches.  Although it is not shown as such,  I would shorten the stitch length to insure against raveling once the corner is trimmed.

Trim the corner close to the diagonal stitched line.  Take care not to cut the stitches.

Steam press the facing away from the quilt. 

Top stitch with matching thread color close to the seam.  Not in the ditch.  This is a garment facing technique that keeps the facing in place.

When the facing is turned to the back of the quilt, make sure that the trimmed corners make a neat miter.  I have on occasion whip stitched these mitered edges to hold in place.

You may need to use a blunt pointed object to push out the corners.  If you do, do so gently.

 

 Once all of the facings have been turned to the back of the quilt give the edges of the quilt a good steam press from the back, then with a press cloth and steam from the front.

 With matching thread, hand stitch the facing to the back of the quilt.  Add a sleeve to the top.  I also add a second sleeve on the bottom  of my larger quilts too so a rod, can be inserted to add weight to the bottom of the quilt when displaying.  he weight keeps the quilt hanging flat and prevents it flapping away from the wall.

Ta-da, nice finish.