Sunday, January 2, 2011

From Fabric to Rags

Last week I began my first quilt...a rag quilt. I got the pattern from a fellow teacher at school. It seemed easy enough for a first project, so I bought all the fabric on Black Friday and began the quilt after Christmas.

You need 1 yard each of 8 differnt flannel fabrics. I went with a winter theme, because that's the most of what I could find in the store.

 For the filling, a crib-sized package of batting. I actually ran short, but luckily I had some purchased for a project I haven't begun yet.
 And of course, a rotary cutter, mat, and ruler.

 The squares of flannel are cut into 8-inch squares, the batting 6-inch squares.

 That didn't take long.

Then match squares of the same fabric with a piece of batting in between and sew across on the diagonal, chaining the fabric squares as you go. Then clip apart and sew across on the other diagonal. Makes a lovely "X" on the square.

 The chaining wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

 All done! 64 squares.

 Next lay out the squares in a pattern pleasing to you. I liked the diagonal pattern here, but the lone red square in the corner was kind of sad.

 Sew each square to the next with a 1/2 inch seam allowance. Then assemble each row to the other until you get your quilt--8 squares by 8 squares.

Now for the tough part...each seam must be clipped 1/4 inch. All of them. It took 2 days and my fingers are still numb.

Then wash and dry. Check the dryer vent every 10-15 minutes because this thing will SHED. A LOT.

Voila!

My first rag quilt. I'll probably make this again. After I get the feeling back in my fingers.

Just what I need--a new craft. I enjoyed this, though. And Nicky has already put it to good use! That's nice...I'm glad he likes it. So do I.

3 comments:

  1. Fantstic job on your first quilt! I have some Fiskars snippers that I got a few years ago, when I made several rag quilts. Makes the snipping SO much easier! If you plan to make several of those quilts, you may want to try to find some! (I have arthritis in my hands, so I feel your pain!) Love the colors of this one!

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  2. You did a great job! I too am working on my first quilt for our baby due in March. I did mess up but that is part of learning. I posted a pic on my blog if you wanted to check it out.

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  3. You did a good job on your quilt!

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