How To Make a Rag Quilt

My Sis-in-Law turned me on to these quilts.  She sent me a Christmas themed one which I love.

She wanted one so bad that I made her one for Christmas.  It was so much fun that I decided to document it and share how to do it.

First you need to decide your color or pattern.  She likes bright tropical prints so that is what I chose.

After I ironed the fabric I used my rotary cutter to cut 10" squares of several colors plus the same amount of flannel for backing.  This will give me an 8" finished area since I will leave a 1" seam allowance for fringing.

Since I used flannel to back it I chose not to put batting inside.  I wanted a thinner blanket type quilt but if you wanted a heavier quilt you can put thin batting inside.  It has to be something like warm & natural as a poly batting won't fringe.

I stacked them with the backing in the order I wanted them in the quilt.

I chained the squares together as I sewed an X pattern from corner.

After I did this I wished I had either started with a smaller square or did some more quilting on it.  The X seemed a little light once it was done.

When you put your quilt together you sew it wrong sides (backing) together, leaving a 1" seam. I fringed my seams as I went along.

Use a sharp pair of sissors and cut down to your seamline a very narrow fringe, it does not have to be perfect but be careful not to cut through your seam.

I used a pair of spring loaded sissors which is a lot easier on the hands.

You have the choice of binding your quilt in the normal way or fringing all around which is what I did.

When seaming the fringed rows together just pull it to the side when sewing over the cross seams.

This is what the quilt looks like after sewing, before the magic.

Once it's all finished you throw it in the wash.  The washing and drying will really soften up the fringe.

 

When it comes out of the dryer is it all soft and fuzzy.

The entire quilt took five hours from cutting the squares to getting it in the washer.  It was a lot of fun and pretty easy.

Comments

[Jennifer]

I am so making one of these with my fabric scraps! Thanks!

[Veta]

I'm currently making a rag quilt for a Christmas gift. I'm wondering - when you sew the rows together how do you match the seams? Do you sew them open, sew them in opposite directions or all going the same way?

[Jane]

When puttng the rows together I used lots of pins to match up the seams. Not sure I paid a lot of attention to what direction I sewed them in. If you cut your blocks with a rotary cutter and ruler then they will be pretty consistant and match up perfectly.

[diane mcwilliams]

how do you figure how much material you need for 10 squares??For aprox. a twin size quilt??thanks for your help
diane in VA