Whilst hand quilting I have come across a very small area of seam allowance (approx. 1½") which has frayed, possibly from being pulled to tightly in the frame, but despite trying to hem it against the adjoining piece of fabric, which incidently is a narrow sashing, it is still fraying and by doing so I appear to have made it worse. Has this happened to anyone else, or is it only me? P l e a s e any suggestions on how best to deal with it. :(

If you have any of the same fabric you could applique over the frayed part.

or, to expand on Ruth's idea - just applique something on the area - a heart, etc...

I've had luck slipping some fusible interfacing underneath, glue side up, then tacking the pulled sections together over it and ironing down to fuse. This used to happen with wooden hoop frames, but since I switched to pvc, no problems. I think pvc is a lot gentler on fabric.

Thankyou ladies. In most circumstaces applique would have been an ideal solution, but in this quilt it would not "flow". I seem to have used all the fabric up so I cant even patch it. The fusible seems my best option, wish I had sought your wisdom in the first place before I started fiddling with it. Another lesson learned.

Did you try fray check or fabric glue to hold the raw edges?

I have combined the two methods, using fusible interfacing and fabric glue. It looks as though it is holding, but I think I will also do a decorative machine quilting stitch around the entire seam, with invisible thread (it's on the edge of a sashing strip) just to be on the safe side although I have never used invisible thread before! Thank you ladies for all your tips.