Northern Cottage: February 2012

HOW TO MAKE A RAG QUILT

Remember the

I shared with y’all a little while back?

I promised to show you how to make it & here I am with instructions!

Ready. Set. Go!!

Now with any sewing project I share here, I need to preface that I don’t actually know how to sew. I’m just going for it, playing, making mistakes. So do you know what that means for you newbie seamstresses?

YOU CAN DO IT – too!

Really YOU CAN!

This is a wonderful first quilting project to get your feet wet.

I don’t live in a big metropolitan area so had limited choices when it came to fabric but here is what I bought:

* 5 coordinating pieces of flannel
{1/2 yard each}

You can buy bigger pieces if you want & then use varying widths within this project, make this quilt bigger and/or use any leftover in your next project.

See – we’re flexible that way – no rules!

* Also bought 3 yards of white flannel (or other batting material like warm & natural for the inside) & had lots leftover

* you’ll also need Coordinating thread

I already had on hand a rotary cutter, clear ruler, cutting mat,
sewing machine and scissors

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Don’t be SCARED!!
yes – this project does involve cutting and sewing. But you can do it!

Ok let’s get cutting

For each section of the quilt you’ll cut a front piece and back piece as well as a smaller piece of the white flannel for the middle

so you’ll be making a little quilt sandwich with each section

Take your first piece of fabric & smooth it down on your cutting mat & place your ruler over the top and cut to how wide a piece you’d like.
(I just did the width of my ruler the whole length of the material for all the pieces except the white in the middle was double that.)

Cut these pieces out of each fabric
(a front & back of each)

Now cut out all your middles of the white flannel.

So (example) if your top & bottom pieces are 6 x 36 in
then your white middle piece will be 5 x 35 in

Here’s a shot of the sandwich:

Ok now let’s head to the sewing machine
with your sandwiches

Just a straight line of sewing
down the middle of each sandwich

Now lay out your quilt. You can make it
symmetrical or not
(whatever is pleasing to YOUR eye)

Now line up one short edge of a piece
{the other edge will probably be uneven}

and pin these two pieces together the long way

Sew these pieces together with a 1/2 inch allowance (this is what will become your ruffled rag edge on top)

Keep adding additional pieces
(with the exposed seams/rag edge on top)

Now you have most of your quilt together

yay!

Notice how one edge is all lined up straight & the other edge might be a little uneven?

No problem, we’re just gonna trim the extra off

Pop it on your cutting mat, use your ruler to cut off the extra so your quilt is now square

You can bind your quilt or do a rag edge. If you do a rag edge - now head back to the sewing machine and sew a seam (or two) all the way around your quilt

Next step is to start snipping for our rag edge

little snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip
on all those exposed seams
(including around the outside edge)

ya got it?
this part takes awhile and may involve some hand cramping from extended scissor usage - I snuggled up on the couch & vegged watching some tv with the kiddos while I did all my snipping!

Now you really have the foundation of a quilt right?

Excited??

I had heard washing a rag quilt in your home washing machine can wreak havoc due to the abundance of threads that come off (apparently you can really clog up your machine) so I went to

the laundromat
{read about my adventures here}

It comes out all
ruffley and raggedy and delightful!!

and it just gets
softer and lovelier
with each wash!

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I’ve since had a few trips to a more major metro area & stocked up on cool flannels for my next quilts

enough for several new quilts

mmmmm – aren’t those fabrics yummy?

now I just need to find a few spare moments to whip them together!
{that’s always the challenge, isn’t it?}

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Again – don’t be scared!!
just cut, just sew, just do it!!

It doesn’t matter if you mess up. This quilt is very forgiving and won’t even really show if something is a teensy bit off. No one is gonna die in the making of this project
{unless you get out of control with your scissors!}

so just breathe & get going with it ok?

If you make a quilt I’d LOVE if you’d share your results with me!

xoxo!!

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