Rag Quilt Tutorial

I have photos for most of the steps and will verbally walk you through the other steps.

Time investment: approximately 8 to 12 hours.

Step one: Cut 42 squares of lightweight batting into 6 inch squares.

Step 2: Cut 84 squares of high quality flannel into 7 inch squares.

Step 3: Sandwich the batting between two squares of the flannel so that it leaves a 1/2 inch gap all the way around the batting, and the pretty sides show when your "sandwich" is closed.

Step 4: Sew an X in the middle of the flannel square so that the sandwich is "quilted together." Repeat on all 42 squares.  

Hint: The first rag quilt I did, I mixed the front and back pieces so that they were not the same, so when I laid out my quilt, I had to think of what the front and back side would look like.  This created quite a conundrum. I had to do a lot of flipping of fabric and flipping in my brain.  So I got smart and decided the next on that I did (like this pink one) that I would do the front and back side of the quilt with the same fabric so that I wouldn't have to worry about both sides as I lay out my squares.  It would also be cute to do solid on one side and patchwork on the other side.  

Step 5: lay two of your X quilted squares on top of each other. 

Step 6: sew them together on one side, leaving a 1/2 inch seam. 

Step 7: Now add a third square and sew so that the seam appears on the same side. 

Continue this process until you have a row of 7 squares.  

Step: 8 Now make 5 more rows of 7 squares for a total of 6 rows. 

Step 9: Now seam together the rows so that the seam appears on the same side as each square seam. You should now have your basic blanket with 6 rows of 7 squares.

Step 10: The Binding...you can do this several ways. You can simply leave 1/2 inch raw seam around the quilt and sew the seam twice for good measure. Or you can choose a fancy edge like the triangle edge I did for this quilt. (I know there is an official name for this...but I am not a quilter {yet} so I don't know the specific term.)   

Triangle edge: cut 52 6-inch squares of flannel. Fold each square in half diagonally.

Now fold each triangle in half again creating a smaller triangle.  

 Your triangle will have an open end.  Use that open end to insert the neighboring triangle. 

 Evenly space a row of 12 triangles so that they expand the same space as the top of the quilt, and secure with pins.  Make a second set of 12 pinned triangles to expand the bottom of the quilt. Now make two more rows of 14 pinned triangles to expand the same length as the sides.  

Sew through the triangles with a 1/2 inch seam on the edge.

Attach your triangles to the quilt...now I opted to reverse the side where my raw seam would appear...so that there was a fluffy edge on the opposite side of the quilt.  You can opt to keep all of your raw seams on the same side though.  To attach, lay flat on the quilt and line up your straight edges. Make a 1/2 inch seam to attach the triangles to the quilt. When you have attached all 4 sides, go around on that 1/2 inch seam one more time with your sewing machine for good measure.  

Clipping your seams:  Now that your quilt is all attached and sewn together, you are left with an ugly bunch of half inch raw seams. We are going to make them look fantastic by cutting into the seams with 1/4 inch snips that go nearly all the way to the thread of your seam. Do this step carefully through all the seams, just continue to snip in 1/4 inch increments. Be very careful not to snip through the thread on your seams...just cut up to that point. If you do happen to catch a thread with your scissors...just bring the quilt to your sewing machine, and seam that edge again. 

Washing the Quilt to "rag" it: When the entire quilt has the raw edges snipped (including your binding seam edge) then you will put the whole quilt into your washing machine.  Do not wash this with anything else in the machine at the same time, unless you want the other items to be lint and thread ridden.  After you wash the quilt, empty the lint trap in your dry. That step is very important, as you will fill your lint trap when you put your quilt in the dryer until completely dry. Remove from dryer and enjoy your fun fuzzy rag edges.  

I tried a different binding than I did last time I did one of these rag quilts.  I really like the way it turned out.  I'm still not sure if I should have just left all the rag edges on the same side, but I opted to do a reverse rag edge with the binding so that the ragged edge showed on the "clean" side.  I may try it the other way around next time.  I still like how this turned out, though.