Not So Perfect Miter

Yesterday I was in a decluttering mood and in the middle of throwing away/still hanging on to stuff in the storeroom, I discovered that I have several embroidery all completed but somehow still in an unfinished stage. I mean once the embroidery is done, what do you do with it? I don't really like to frame anything so I usually throw it into a box and not think about it again.

I completed Harriet The Hen in 2016. This was done in back stitch. The original done in free motion quilting was done in 2014. That piece is somewhere in my home. Maybe it'll show up one day. Anyhoos, I decided to finish this embroidery piece as a "quilt". I don't know what you call this - collage? Anyway, I'll call it a "quilt".

I'm not a quilter. I'm sure you know that. I don't know many ways to finish a quilt. This cheat way is a method I've used during the days when I made cards. Using paper, it's a lot neater. With fabric, it requires some fiddling... So if you're ok with not so perfect miter, I'm happy to share with you the steps.

1. Cut batting same size as embroidery piece. Mine measures 10" across and 12" tall.

2. Cut backing larger than embroidery piece by 1" all round. Mine measures 12" across and 14" tall. It is actually easier to place the backing below the embroidery piece and cut the backing with the extra 1" using a ruler and rotary cutter.
p.s. please ignore the pins.

3. I find that pinning the 3 layers together doesn't work. Instead I spray basted the embroidery piece to the batting. Worked really well and I didn't even need any pins after. If you don't have spray adhesive, you can sew large basting stitches 1/8" in around the perimeter of the embroidery piece to the batting and backing.

4. Now we need to do some folding using the iron to create creases. First fold the excess backing all the way in. Do on all 4 sides.

5. At each corner, you will see the creases made. Put a pin through the intersection of the horizontal and vertical crease.

6. Fold the corner backing, wrong sides together and making the creased lines align with the edge of the embroider piece. The pin makes sure you don't pull the fabric too much. Hold this position, remove the pin and iron the diagonal fold.

7. Trim the fold. Leave around 1/4".
Now repeat step 5 to 7 for all corners.

8. At this point, your backing should be open with only the 4 corners folded. Fold the backing along each side in half. The raw edge of the backing should meet the raw edge of the embroidery piece. Iron to get the crease.

9. Fold the backing one more time
I find it easier to do step 8 followed by step 9 for each side.

10. If you managed a perfect miter, congrats. Mine doesn't look perfect but once I sew them down, they'll look a lot better.

11. I find pins create bubbles (for 3 layers) so I use some pegs and whatever clips I can find.

12. Now this part is really important. Use your walking foot. If you don't have one, your regular foot will give you some puckers. Live with it. Anyway, on my Janome sewing machine, my stitch length needs to go up to 2.8 (from regular 2.2) for the walking foot. Sew along the edge of the folded backing.

13. I back stitch at the corners. It's normal for the miter to open up slightly.

14. If the open miter bothers you, hand sew the 2 sides together. Just sew over and over until you reach the end.

Like this.

I'm pretty happy with my results. It's not perfect but at least it doesn't look unfinished.