Rag Quilts Revisited

A couple months ago I published this post on rag quilts and how easy they are to make, even for a non-sewer like myself.  Rag quilts are sooo forgiving and, once I made my first one, I am now addicted to them.  I have since made two more with slightly different patterns/measurements to them.  You really can do whatever you want with them so long as you sew all of your fabrics right side out and to the front.  1/2 inch seems were used for both.  1 inch would work as well.

For this one, I cut 12 inch squares to work with and used fleece for the backing.  One of my daughters was given a quilt kit over a year ago that has just sat around in pieces.  I made good use of the cotton fabrics and really had no pattern with the colors, just random.

For the pink one, I cut 6 inch squares and used solely flannel fabrics.  You really do want to stick with softer fabrics.  This is a blanket/throw after all.  While this was a little more time consuming due to cutting 4 times the amount of squares, the finish is a little more fuller because of the extra frayed seams. 

My next adventure will be for my own bed.  I dont even want to think of how time consuming cutting squares will be for a queen blanket when these two are merely throws.  I may meet in the middle and shoot for 8 inch squares instead.

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Rag Quilts

I {heart} Pinterest.  I can spend hours just browsing through that site, filling my head with creative ideas and new projects I should start.  Oh, and I start them!  Problem is, I dont always finish them.  My attention span is that of a fly when it comes to my patience in crafting.  I love it all.  I just want it all done NOW so I can move on to the next.  But this picture by  Do it Yourself Divas stopped me in my tracks:

photo credit

I have never wanted to explore quilting (note my attention span issues). Too time consuming, too precise.....two words that DO NOT describe me.  But, rag quilting?  Who would've thought?  No need for perfection or huge amounts of time.  Just some fabric and the desire to put it all together.  I really was skeptical at first.  Could I really make a quilt in a short amount of time?  Turns out, YES YOU CAN! This quilt took me a total of 4 hours to complete and all of 6 yards total of flannel fabric.  (anyone else take advantage of the 1.49/yd sale at joanns this past weekend?)

The only difference in my quilt versus the one in the above photo is that I chose to snip my sides as opposed to binding them.  And I can't believe how soft and warm this is.  I will definately be making another one once I get my hands on another good fabric sale.

My daughter picked out the owl fabric for its 'cool' factor.

Her favorite colors are lime green and blue.  I don't think I could match this any better to her liking if I tried.

 

**TIP** When cutting your fabric into strips, I found a fabulous short cut that really works.  Simply snip the fabric at the desired width.  Mine was at the 8inch mark. Then, rip it all the way towards the other end.  The rip actually does tear in a straight line and saves you oodles of cutting time.**