Another rag quilt finished!

Earlier in the year I made a rag quilt for my granddaughter's third birthday and promised Miss Four that I would make her one too. The plan was to make it so that she could use it this winter but, seeing as the temperature where she lives has been in the high twenties for weeks now, I think I may have left it too late for this year. Regardless, it is heading up to the Outback today in a Greyhound coach and hopefully there will be a few chilly mornings left this winter when she can use it.



If anyone would like to make one there are lots of tutorials on the internet but here is how I made mine.



 

Firstly I chose the fabric which was flannelette then worked out the placement of the squares and how many of each colour I would need before cutting them out. There are three layers so I cut 72 squares.

I cut them 10 inches square then sewed an X across each square before placing each row of four squares beside each other to make sure I was happy with the placement.

 

Then I sewed each row of four squares together as shown in the above photo.

 

 I put each finished row next to each other and then started pinning the six rows together. I sewed two rows together at a time as it can get a bit bulky.

 

 Sorry, I must have used the flash for that photo above.  I tried to carefully pin the squares together so that they would match on the other side ....

 

 but try as I may I couldn't get them all to match.

 

 Almost finished with the sewing....just one more row to join.

 

 

 Now comes the 'fun' part. All those seams need to be cut and I tried to cut them about 1/4 inch apart but it doesn't matter if it is not perfectly even as it will curl up when it is washed and dried. I was careful not to cut through the stitching.

 



 

 All the cutting was done and then it went into the washing machine. I had heard a few stories about washing machines being clogged with the threads coming off the quilt so I put it into a large pillowcase to be extra careful. Then it went into the dryer. I stopped the dryer every ten minutes or so to clean the filter as the lint builds up very quickly.

 

 

 This is how the seams look after coming out of the dryer. Nice eh?

 

 

 



This is how the back of the quilt looks. Most of the squares are matching up but, obviously I am no patchworker and I couldn't get them all to match. I don't think a four year old will mind though.

 

There is a great website called Green Apple Orchard which will help anyone wanting to make one of these quilts and the video about Frequently Asked Questions is particularly helpful.

 

Have you ever made one of these quilts? I am rather straight lined challenged but that doesn't really matter with these quilts as they are very forgiving as the seams curl up and hide your mistakes. LOL!