My 1st Rag Quilt!

Here's my 1st attempt at a rag quilt! I've made several of the rag quilt bags, so I thought I would give the quilt a try. It was basically the same- just more squares. And actually, after finishing, I wish I would have added even more squares! If you ever try this, keep in mind that if you don't pre-wash your fabric, some of the pieces might shrink during the wash/dry rag process. Plus, the scallop edges kind of curl up more and I just think the whole thing kind of looks smaller. I made this one 6x6, so it's small and could be considered a lap quilt. I used Beatrix Potter flannel fabric + several others including cotton, chenille, & fleece. They all worked great together and give the quilt lots of texture. Here's some basic instructions and some pics of the assembling process.

1. Cut squares w/scallop square die through Big Shot. You will need squares for front & back of quilt.

2. Cut cotton batting 3 1/4" x 3 1/4". One piece for each square 'sandwich.'

3. Use sewing or all purpose glue stick to hold batting in place between each sqaure.
Sew an 'x' on each sqaure from corner to corner. This gives it the quilted look.

4. Lay out and then pin all sqaures together- scallops up.

5. Begin sewing- piece by piece in each row. You should end up with long strips of sqaures sewn together. Aim to sew your seams at the same place on each 'sandwich.' I think mine were a littl under 1/2" and I actually put a mark on my machine to guide me.

6. Then, each strip has to be sewn to the one above it. Pin before sewing and LINE UP seams! This will make a difference on a quilt! I had to re-do several of mine. Also, the chenille fabric I used kind of stretched, so it made it a bit more difficult. Here's a pic of the back (where you can really see the seams) before I re-did some of it. You can see where I was off.

7. The final sewing step is to sew a seam around each outside edge.

8. And to finish, throw it in the wash on a gentle cycle and then dry! This starts the rag quilt process which will continue w/each wash.

That's about it! I actually started this one last Sunday. I cut all the squares and sandwiched them together with the batting. It took me a couple of hours. Then, I did the sewing Thursday evening & finished it up Friday evening. I think I'm definitely getting better with each project. It just takes time for beginners, but don't give up! I love working on something and going through each phase of putting it together and in the end, seeing the finished product.